Protection unit would withdraw security scheme from indigenous senator

The elected senator for the indigenous constituency of the Indigenous and Social Alternative Movement (MAIS), Aida Quilcue, informed through her Twitter account that she was notified by the National Protection Unit about the dismantling and reduction of her protection measures.

Quilcue said that such dismantling does not guarantee a differential approach to its protection since, he said, he is at “imminent risk” with more than a hundred threats against him.

The senator had previously criticized the dismantling of her scheme, especially during electoral periods, which put her in a vulnerable position with regard to the intentions of armed actors against their integrity.

“I have had a too precarious scheme in the sense that not only me, but many social leaders, are given the oldest tank with the worst mechanical conditions. Here I call for my safety to be protected and to many people who are at risk, but as it should be, not as they are implementing it at the time,” he said at the time for W Radio.

The leader, who has served as senior adviser to the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, Cric and the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, Onic, stressed that the escalation of intimidation has led to the resignation of their escorts.

Since 2008, threats from criminal groups have been a constant, when her husband was murdered and she registered the first complaint.

In addition, he stated that, during election time, the situation had worsened. The most recent was last December 31 in the indigenous reservation of Páez, northern Cauca, where two armed men entered the territory and intimidated a group of children into giving information about Aida Quilcué, his family and other leaders of the area.

“We have no information about the criminal group or who they were,” he said at the time.

Faced with Aida Quilcue's recurrent situation of insecurity, members of his security scheme have resigned because of the growing threats against her: “On January 1st, one of them resigned, because they consider the situation complicated,” he said.

A Disturbing Balance: Murders of Social Leaders on the Rise in Colombia

The Special Investigation Unit (UEI) of the Prosecutor's Office, says that by 2021 it managed to clarify at least 68.35% of the killings of social leaders recognized by the United Nations UN Organization. In addition, the investigating body reported that in 285 of the 417 cases of social leaders killed until 2021, there were arrests, charges, calls for trial or convictions. That leads to the fact that the Prosecutor's Office mentioned that it has generated a clarification of almost three-quarters of the proceedings. A 16 percentage point increase in effectiveness compared to 52 percent in February 2020, director Hernando Toro said.

The report highlights that 284 incidents correspond to murders, 47 to attempted murders and 21 cases to enforced disappearances of reinstated members of the demobilized FARC guerrillas. Regarding the families of former combatants, the report records 56 cases of homicide, 5 cases of attempted and 1 of enforced disappearance.

The UEI identified 94.70% of the damage to civilians, reinstated persons and their families, members of the armed forces, officials and social leaders. All this thanks to a strategy implemented jointly in the areas of Putumayo, Bajo Cauca, Norte de Santander, Antioquia, Huila, Casanare, Meta, Tumaco, Riosucio, Caquetá and Southern Bolivar.

The communiqué names the criminal structures that are most responsible for the aggressions and violence generated against rights defenders, leaders, reincorporated persons and their families. Among the groups that warn the investigations are the dissidents of the FARC, the Gulf Clan, ELN and other criminal structures that have been tried 25 of their members the previous year. The report generated by the Office of the Prosecutor provided evidence that allowed a total of 46 convictions to be issued to those responsible for the crimes committed.

“These achievements are possible thanks to the articulated work within the entity, as well as the implementation of 13 research projects Putumayo, Antioquia, Bajo Cauca and South of Córdoba, Norte de Cauca, Norte de Santander, Huila, Meta, Casanare, Riosucio (Chocó), Arauca, Caquetá, Southern Bolívar and Tumaco (Nariño),” said the director of the UEI, Hernando Toro Parra.

KEEP READING: