[act-ma] 09/08: Protest Massacre of Awa People in Colombia!

[Sofia JarrinT]

STOP THE ETHNOCIDE OF THE AWA PEOPLE IN COLOMBIA


Please join us to protest the most recent massacre of the Awa people. Armed men in camouflage broke into a home early on the morning of August 26, 2009, shooting and killing 11 people, including four children and three teenagers, and wounding three more, according to Human Rights Watch. 

Although the Colombian government was quick to blame the FARC, there are signs that the Colombian Army was involved and was trying to eliminate witnesses of an earlier extrajudicial killing of an indigenous man, Gonzalo Rodríguez. 

WHEN: 
Tuesday, September 8, 4:30-6:00 pm 

WHERE: Colombian Consulate
31 St. James Ave., Boston
(we'll be meeting accross from it. Please bring your own signs!)

The Awa people have also been victims of the FARC guerrilla, when militants assassinated 12 people on February 4, 2009, according to an indigenous organization, ACIN. So far this year, 38 Awa people have been killed.

Civilians in Colombia are often caught in the crossfire in this conflict without end. However, there are also transnational interests in Awa territory, including mining, as well as the control of land for the trafficking of cocaine, rubber, and palm oil.

We are asking the Colombian government for a full investigation and, in direct coordination with the Awa leadership, to take steps to protect the indigenous people of Colombia.


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SOURCES:
ALER, bajar reporte informativo
http://www.aler.org/audios/aler/csur/cs01092009-16pm.mp3

Human Rights Watch, press release
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/08/27/colombia-investigate-massacre-southern-region

NACIN, in spanish
http://www.nasaacin.org/noticias.htm?x=10417

UNIPA, in spanish
http://www.polodemocratico.net/La-UNIPA-denuncia-el-exterminio

NAASACIN, via Colombia Indymedia, in spanish
http://colombia.indymedia.org/news/2009/02/98551.php