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News > Colombia

Displaced Indigenous Community Maintains Camp in Bogota

  • Indigenous people displaced by violence have had to sleep with their children on the streets of Bogotá.

    Indigenous people displaced by violence have had to sleep with their children on the streets of Bogotá. | Photo: @marthaperaltae

Published 21 June 2020
Opinion

At least 370 indigenous people are in the Bogota camps, of which 215 are children.

At least 370 people from the Embera community, displaced from their places of origin due to violence in their territories, have been maintaining a camp in a park in Bogotá, Colombia for two weeks.

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In the Third Millennium Park, located a few blocks from the Casa de Nariño, headquarters of the government, the indigenous people improvised camps with sticks and plastic, according to reports in the local press.

The indigenous people who kept rented houses in the Colombian capital, but were evicted weeks before, have managed to survive on donations from organizations and people from the community. In addition, they accuse the government of President Iván Duque of not providing aid.

"The district government is not giving anything ... or food or housing," said indigenous leader Agobardo Queragama, who assured that at least 70 percent of the people in the place are children.

The indigenous people belong to the Embera-Chamí and Embera-Katío peoples of the Risaralda and Chocó departments, in the center and western part of the country, respectively, and most have lost their jobs due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

Those affected stopped receiving income due to not being able to sell their products due to the quarantine imposed to avoid the virus and were unable to pay their rent, so they were evicted almost three weeks ago.

Most of them arrived in Bogotá because they have been victims of displacement due to the clashes in their territories between illegal armed groups, while the indigenous people are exposed to the Covid-19 contagion, since there is no water to wash their hands in the area and, Furthermore, only a few have face masks.

They have also requested food, housing and, in some cases, aid to return to their places of origin.

Queragama said in statements to the Spanish news agency EFE that some of them have received money from the Mayor's Office to pay rent and buy food, but that aid is not for everyone.

Those affected stopped receiving income due to not being able to sell their products due to the quarantine imposed to avoid contagions and were unable to pay their rents, so they were evicted almost three weeks ago. 

Currently - about 370 adults and 215 children - live in a provisional camp that they established on the Third Millennium plaza, in the center of Bogotá, where they do not have food or sanitary protection.

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