A group of indigenous people and peasants took over the Apostolic Nunciature of Bogotá in the midst of a national mobilization to demand the dismantling of paramilitarism in their territories
Photo: Mauricio Alvarado Lozada
On the morning of this Tuesday, June 4, a group of approximately 30 people, representatives of indigenous and peasant communities, took over the headquarters of the Apostolic Nunciature, in the town of Teusaquillo, to demand security guarantees from the National Government in their territories.
At approximately 9:00 am the group of people carrying command batons and covering their faces entered the Nunciature in order to install a “humanitarian shelter as part of the National Mobilization for Life and for permanence in the territories.” “, according to the Congress of the People, a social organization that brings together the communities that are protesting today.
After the break-in, police and District officials were in the area seeking to mediate the situation to prevent the situation from escalating and de facto avenues from occurring.
Why are they protesting?
According to the press release issued by the People’s Congress, peasant communities, Afro and indigenous peoples, workers, women, youth, students, urban popular sectors, human rights defenders, environmentalists, among others, are mobilizing throughout throughout the country during this June 4, with the objective of denouncing “the genocidal paramilitary attack (…) a situation that constitutes a strategic threat against the social and popular movement, particularly against our social and political movement, which is why we “We have declared a Humanitarian Emergency since April 2019,” the organization says in a press release.
The viewer spoke in an interview with Daniel Salguero, technical secretary of the People’s Congress, and explained that they arrived in the city this holiday Monday, June 3, coming from different places such as César, Magdalena Medio, Cauca, Northeast of Antioquia, the Coffee Region, among other places.
“We are willing to stay as many weeks or months as necessary until the list of requests that we are presenting to the Ministry of the Interior is fulfilled.”
Regarding events of paramilitary presence in the capital, Salguero denounced that pamphlets from the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) have been appearing in Suba, Ciudad Bolívar and Usme, threatening social leaders. “We are threatened both in Bogotá and in the territory by these paramilitary structures, but there has also been stigmatization and violence that has been exercised against the People’s Congress.”
This is the list of demands
Within the framework of the national day of protests, the communities published a list of demands and negotiations that reflects the feelings of the affected communities. In that sense, the bulk of the requests revolve around:
- Change in the national security doctrine based on the internal enemy, for a doctrine in which respect for human rights, the self-determination of peoples, sovereignty and the gender approach prevail.
- Dismantle all forms of paramilitarism
- Destructuring of the economic components that finance it
- Public recognition by the government of the existence of a paramilitary strategy at the national level against the popular movement
- Immediate suspension of all claims to political recognition as a third actor of the paramilitary structures that seek regional, socio-legal or political dialogues.
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