With anger, repudiation, and pain, we inform and denounce before the entities of the Colombian State, international organizations, and the general public that:
Today, the indigenous leader of the Nasa people, Sandra Liliana Peña Chocué, who was the governor of Laguna Siberia, municipality of Caldono, Norte del Cauca, was assassinated.
According to the information available so far, four armed men arrived at Sandra's house. They forced her to leave and shot her without saying a word. Sandra, as an authority, had previously rejected the illicit crop cultivation that was increasing in her territory.
The Ombudsman's Office had warned through the Early Alert 040 of 2020 about the risks to indigenous communities brought about by the presence of illegal armed actors. However, the authorities did not adopt measures to guarantee collective protection of the community. The indigenous, peasant, and Afro territories are disputed by almost a dozen armed groups and other actors with economic interests due to the geostrategic importance of the territories. As a result, communities are subjected to forced displacement, abandonment, and confinement.
Sandra's murder worsens the severe human rights crisis faced by human rights defenders and indigenous communities that relentlessly defend their territories and their physical and cultural survival in Colombia.
There are now 1,166 human rights defenders murdered since the signing of the Peace Accord in Colombia and 52 so far in 2021. These killings must stop now and justice to the families of victims should be addressed immediately.
We call on the Colombian government to:
1. Adopt all individual and collective protection measures to guarantee the rights to life and personal integrity of indigenous communities and their leaders, considering the risk aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the socio-economic processes taking place in their territories; and
2. Investigate and punish with speed and diligence the assassinations and aggressions against indigenous leaders and community members.
