Traditional indigenous authorities in Antioquia department issued a statement protesting that three residents of the Embera Eyabida reserve Jaidezabi, in Tarazá municipality, were killed by men identified as members of the FARC‘s Front 18. Luis Orlando Domicó Majore, 32, was killed near his home July 20. The gunmen announced they were seeking other residents. Two days later, Ana Luz Soto, 40, of the indigenous pueblo of Senú, was was shot in the back numerous times in the center of the nearby village of El Bagre.
Meanwhile, another indigenous resident, Silverio Majore, died of his wounds two weeks after accidentally detonating a anti-personnel mine placed by the FARC ahead of an army advance into the region. The statement says the violence has “generated a situation of forced displacement,” with many indigenous residents fleeing for the urban centers of municipalities adjacent to the reserve. The statement also recalls that on May 13, Manuel Martínez Velásquez, indigenous governor of the community of Senú de Tigre Dos, was killed by unknown gunmen. (Asociación de Cabildos Indígenas de Antioquia, July 23 via Enlace Indígena, July)
An Embera leader was also killed by unknown gunmen in Córdoba department earlier this month. In February, the FARC admitted responsibility for the massacre of eight Awá indigenous people in Nariño department.
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