District denounces that indigenous Embera “instrumentalized” minors to commit acts of violence

On the night of April 6, the Embera community that is settled in the National Park in Bogotá demonstrated after the accident in which a minor from the indigenous community was hit by a taxi driver in the Seventh race in Bogotá on the night of Tuesday, April 5.

This sparked a confrontation between the indigenous community and Esmad, which was deployed to regain control of race 7 with 36th street.

But on April 7, the Secretary of Government, Felipe Jiménez, denounced that minors who were within the community are being used to carry out “acts of violence”.

The secretary rejected acts of violence and assured that, “citizens have the right to demonstrate, but not to resort to violence or vandalism.”

Jiménez added that it was an attempt to dialogue with the community, but that seeing how they used minors to commit acts of violence, it was considered an exhausted remedy.

He accused the community of initiating “vandalism and violence against citizens, vehicles and officials of the Government Secretariat, the Office of the Ombudsman and even the medical personnel who were on the scene”.

The Secretary insisted that the authorities acted “in accordance with established protocols” and on safeguarding the integrity of detainees and entity dialogue teams.

He said that the Embera community used children for violent purposes; and “very likely there will also be citizens who report kidnapping”, after they do not allow vehicles to travel.

“The administration has been a guarantor and has always been in permanent dialogue with the Embera communities that have been illegally settled in the National Park for almost seven months. We have given them different alternatives to leave the park, but they have not accepted”, he said.

The Zero Asymmetry Foundation rejected the presence of ESMAD and through Twitter they stated that, “The presence of ESMAD in the vicinity of the National Park is unheard of. That this does not become a new scenario of regret for what has been committed, Mayor Claudia López! There are more than 300 babies, children and pregnant women accompanying #ParoIndigena.”

The director for the Andes of The Washington Office on Latin America, Gimena Sánchez. wrote on Twitter that in March her organization visited the National Park “and it is full of indigenous children, it is unusual that esmad fired gas and stun guns at these vulnerable displaced persons.”

For his part, Senator Feliciano Valencia also rejected the intervention of ESMAD, recalling that “the indigenous population that has been staying for 7 months in Minga Permanente in the Bogotá National Park is being attacked by Esmad. Claudia López there are children, pregnant women and older adults. We hold her responsible for the violence caused by ESMAD.”

KEEP READING: