Video: massive farewell to murdered indigenous leader José Miller Correa

A heartfelt tribute was paid to the indigenous leader José Miller Correa, who was finalized last Monday, March 14, after presiding over a meeting in Popayán (Cauca). Hours later he was found dead on the road that leads from the Caucan capital to the municipality of Tambo.

Correa was highly appreciated by the indigenous communities in that area of the southwestern part of the country, where he studied at school and began his leadership within the communities in the south of that area of the country.

For this reason they named him as' Thu'tenas' (councillor) of the Association of Indigenous Councils of North Cauca (ACIN), as reported in the newspaper El Tiempo.

Tacueyó was the municipality where, with massive assistance, the social leader was dismissed, who repeated the tragic fate of his father and was killed in the midst of the conflict that this department of the country has suffered.

“I'm going to miss Miller a lot, his jokes, his teachings, but I think we'll keep him alive if we follow his legacy,” said in that media outlet what Dora Muñoz, Correa's widow, said.

In addition to the massive tribute paid to him by the indigenous communities of Cauca, there were also videos they made about Correa's life and published on their social networks by indigenous media, such as some regional ones.

Toribío Turístico, a Facebook account of the Indigenous Guard, Tejo de Comunicación Pueblo Nasa north of Cauca and even at the CECIDIC Educational Institution prepared the audiovisual records on the leader's biography.

After this murder, the threats against these communities have not stopped, where the self-described Black Eagles issued an intimidating pamphlet against Senator-elect Aida Quilcue, who stated that these events are repetitive, since this is not the first time she has been threatened, it should be noted that in January of this year, Infobae reported threats against him.

Indigenous Senator Feliciano Valencia pointed out that at least 89 indigenous people have been killed in Colombia in the last four years, most of them in that department. During Correa's funeral ceremony, the congressman asked the Colombian government to give them guarantees not to continue killing them.

According to Valencia, these murders have occurred “especially in the department of Cauca. Many threats, but these threats (...) are materializing, as was the case with Albeiro Camayo and Miller Correa”, also referring to the former regional coordinator of the Cauca indigenous guard who was killed last January by FARC dissidents.

(With information from EFE)

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