This is important news and a deplorable killing; but please bear in mind
that the Colombian central government (NOT certain Colombian "landowners")
has been among the most progressive in the world with respect to native
land rights...
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuter) - Colombia's national Indian
organization condemned Saturday the killing of an Indian leader,
describing it as part of a campaign by right-wing paramilitary
groups to take over their ancestral lands.
``It's time to say enough to the assassination of Indians,''
the National Indian Organization of Colombia (ONIC) said in a
statement.
Four armed men in military uniform kidnapped Laureano
Inampuez from his home last Wednesday in the Guachucal Indian
reserve in Narino province, 250 miles southwest of Bogota.
The body of Inampuez, leader of a local Indian group that
sought to drive out land invaders from the reserve, was found
two days later on the side of a highway near the Ecuadorean
border.
ONIC said Inampuez had received several death threats before
being kidnapped.
His death was the latest in a series of attacks against
Indian leaders in the country.
Last March, unidentified gunmen killed three Zenu Indian
leaders near the small town of San Andres de Sotavento near the
Caribbean coast.
The Zenu have been struggling for the last 20 years to
recover land on its reserve that has been settled by local
ranchers.
ONIC, which represents most of the country's Indian groups,
said more than 70 Indians from various tribes have been murdered
in the last four years.