Colombia's indigenous groups say church mediation shows results

Published: 2004-05-11

MEDELLIN, Colombia (CNS) -- Peace may still be a distant prospect in Colombia, but some of the country's indigenous people's organizations say they are seeing the results of church-organized, grass-roots peace mediation. Despite the indigenous people's position of "active neutrality" in the ongoing government-guerrilla conflict, whenever an armed group approached their territory days later another group would approach and accuse them of collaborating with the opposite side. In this way, between 1991 and 2001, more than 300 indigenous leaders were killed by different armed groups. Others disappeared or were forcibly recruited into the guerrilla ranks. Now, indigenous organizations say that they are at least sitting down to talk with the two leading guerrilla groups as well as with the illegal paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. "The dialogue with the armed groups has demanded huge efforts, time and energy," said William Carrupia of the Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Antioquia, a Medellin-based group that represents the Embera, Tule and Zenu peoples. "We used to flee from these groups in terror, but now we are the ones calling them to sit down and dialogue."

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