Colombia
Hoyt, Josue W.
In the large town Vitonico the son of the star Juan Tama studied the coca leaves and fortold: even more terrible times will come times of war and bloodshed where every voice that...
...They have also engaged in literacy programs for their members and have established a series of co-operative stores in the Indian communities...
...We fight for our land, our language, our customs...
...Alternativa) 39 JulylAugust 1979update * ate update updt update Cauca region, which make conflict almost inevitable...
...For years he has been resting and some even forgot him...
...While the resolution of the events in Cauca and in the rest of Colombia remains unclear, what is clear is that the government has not succeeded in its efforts to destroy or intimidate CRIC...
...There has been a more or less constant conflict over land ownership between the Indians and the large landholders since the time of the Spaniards...
...They will destroy the earth and flesh...
...She then explains, "Juan Tama did not die after fighting the Spaniards...
...The one constant in their history has been their passive, and sometimes active, resistance to outside influences and threats to the sovereignty of their land...
...His observation is confirmed by a member of the Carabineros (military police) stationed in Tierradentro...
...Using the power of the thunder, he slew thousands of invading Pijao Indians (Indians contracted to fight for the Spanish Conquistadors) in one terrible battle...
...A roundup of more than 200 leftists, union leaders, Indian leaders and other progressives was begun and still continues...
...they will strive to erase eternally our language...
...They are suspected, according to the government, of belonging to the recently discovered urban guerrilla group named M-19...
...Julio Casar Turbay Ayala Presidente de la Republica Bogota, D.E., Colombia Sr...
...The woman speaking with so much pride is a members of the Indian defense organization CRIC (Regional Council of the Cauca Indians...
...Her husband is on the executive committee of CRIC...
...A poem based on the Paez myth of Juan Tama 38 A Paez woman stoops over the cook fire in her mud hut and says, "The Indians have always fought alone...
...Says a local schoolteacher, "They're starving...
...Given the charges against our leaders," says the spokesman, "it is important to point out that we always worked in the open, we have never advocated violence and we have always been independent of all political parties...
...It's a witchhunt," says CRIC lawyer Alvaro Velasco Alvarez...
...Six other Indian leaders and four white sympathizers have been in prison since mid-February...
...According to an Amnesty International report on the situation, they have all been subjected to tortures including electric shocks, beatings, starvation, neardrowning in mud, and lighted matches applied to their testicles...
...This gave the newly-elected liberal government of President Julio Turbay Ayala a perfect opportunity to use its recently approved "Statute of Security," a statute which passes all crimes "against the integrity and security of the State" to the military tribunals...
...Throughout history they have remained marginalized in Colombia, and on occasion they have rebelled violently...
...But the repression isn't intended just to destroy CRIC or stop the popular movement, but rather to begin a new model of development like the famous 'peace' of Pinochet...
...Despite their poverty and isolation-or perhaps because of itthe Indians of the Cauca, and especially the Paez, have been famous for their long history of resistance to outside "invaders...
...Indeed, so fiercely did the Paez resist the Conquista that the Spaniards termed them Indians of "mala paz" (ill-peace), and were forced to withdraw their one settlement from within the reservation...
...We know they are paid by the landlords," says the spokesman...
...The group has fought openly for these ends, principally using court battles and non-violent "land recuperations" (moving onto and planting unused lands) as its tactics...
...We know they have a death list...
...The rest live in mud huts scattered throughout the mountains and connected to the outside world only by treacherous horse paths...
...When he saw that the Paeces were free he left, leaving his titles and his possessions and he disappeared into the Lagoon of Juan Tama...
...The most recent group of arrests of Indian leaders began with the robbery of a large number of arms by the urban guerrilla group M-19 on January 1st...
...It is also one of the poorest regions in all of Colombia...
...Under military "justice" they face up to fourteen years in jail...
...Amnesty International urges concerned people to send letters or telegrams to support CRIC and its imprisoned leaders: Marcos Avirama, CR1C president Taurino lZluscuk, CRIC secretary Edgar Avirama, CRIC exsecretary Miguel Nuscue Mario Escu6 Laurentino Apusta Communications should be sent to: Sr...
...A Catholic priest in the area confirms, "Any violence in this area has been directed at CRIC, not by it...
...LIFE IN CAUCA The Cauca region is one of the most important Indian centers in all of Colombia...
...The Indians are also plagued by endemic tuberculosis, parasites and malnutrition...
...The entire Cauca province is now under official military state of seige...
...Lately, however, the struggles have sharpened...
...Although the government continues to deny its use of torture, Velasco Alvarez says, "I, as a lawyer, swear that my clients, the Indians, have been tortured...
...The latest victim was Benjamin Dindicue, a member of CRIC's executive committee, who was murdered in his home by fifteen pajaros on February 4th...
...Another factor is the growing population pressures and unequal landholdings in large parts of the Benjamin Dindicud, ex-vice president of CRIC and governor of the Paez community of Belalcazar, was killed February 4, 1979...
...Sevilla Casas points out that in the Indian stronghold of Tierradentro alone, the Indians have lost 25% of their lands since 1954...
...And if we survive, we'll know we did it alone...
...The officer remarked to this author, "Of course they're torturing them...
...Says WRITE...
...NACLA Reportupdate * update . update * update According to the study of the Indian town Tierradentro done by the Colombian anthropologist Elias Sevilla Casas, only 10% of the population lives in towns...
...Groups of armed thugs (parjaros) roam the mountains at night...
...You see it just by looking at them...
...It is not uncommon for the few dirt roads to be a week's walk from each other...
...Sevilla Casas estimates that the infant mortality rate is 20% and that the literacy rate may be as low as 8% in some areas...
...Around their cook fires they still tell their children about their legendary warrior protector, Juan Tama, son of the rivers...
...The province contains 58% of all the Indian reservations officially recognized by the Colombian government...
...He adds, "From the Indian point of view, the most pitiful situation is that of reservations which suffer population pressures because part of their lands have been seized by white landlords...
...An anthropologist who works in the area, and who asked not to be identified, explained the recent conflicts...
...What is the cause of such heavy repression...
...When the Indians organized themselves by forming CRIC, of course the situation became graver...
...But from the embers, from the rubble, from the despoiled land, from the condemned people, from oblivion, will arise new beings...
...But the government has never prosecuted a single case for the murder of an Indian...
...But we are going to ask his help, and as long as there is a single Indian there will be a CRIC...
...Now the government wants to destroy us...
...In the eight years since its foundation CRIC has seen more than 40 45 of its leaders assassinated, according to group spokesmen...
...The martial tunes from reeds announced the hour had arrived for Juan Tama...
...The author spent a week travelling through the region, interviewing the Indians, anthropologists, churchmen, lawyers and police officers...
...We are a movement...
...Since the undeclared civil war called the 'Violencia' of the 1950's the whites have been taking advantage of new roads and markets, consolidating their control over their large landholdings and also absorbing Indian lands...
...The elders say he became lost in the mountains on the road which travels to the Patalo lagoon to take his place in the heavens...
...The diet consists mainly of rice, potatoes, yucca root, and an occasional egg...
...The purpose of CRIC," says one of its spokesmen, "has been to recover lands, protect out languages and customs, strengthen the Indian reservations, and fight for the rights of the poor...
...New hands will seize arms and injustice will be driven out forever...
...He and thirty other Indian leaders have been hiding in the mountains from government troops since early March...
...Paradoxically, these landlords do not take advantage of the lands, but simply 'have them.' " THE ORGANIZATION CRIC Since its foundation in 1971, CRIC has had strong support among the Paez, the Coconuco, and the Guanaca Indians, and a lesser support among the Guambianos of the region...
...Gilberto Cruz Villegas Gobernador del Cauca Popaydn, Cauca, Colombia CRIC Apartado Aereo 516 Popaydn, Cauca, Colombia NACLA Reportupdate * update * update * update the Paez woman in her hut, "The government doesn't understand, but we are not just an organization or an office or an executive committee...
...They wouldn't talk if they didn't torture them...
...In the large town Vitonico the son of the star Juan Tama studied the coca leaves and fortold: even more terrible times will come times of war and bloodshed where every voice that rises shall be silenced...
...Accusations of torture have been made by churchmen, lawyers and international human rights organizations...
...All of the arrested are accused of being members of the M-19...
Vol. 13 • July 1979 • No. 4
