Embera indigenous people displaced by the conflict return to their homes after several years in Bogotá

More than 300 indigenous families, who since 2021 have been living in improvised plastic tents and in precarious conditions in Bogotá’s historic National Park, have begun to prepare their return to their territories, which they were forced to leave due to the armed conflict.

The nearly 800 indigenous people from the Embera community, many of them children, began packing their belongings to return to their territories in the departments of Chocó (northwest) and Risaralda (central west), where they will depart this Sunday.

“It is a joy because as you can see the situation here is very precarious, we did not live in the best conditions. If the signed agreements are fulfilled, the community will not have the need to return, but if they are not fulfilled, we will return. So, hopefully this will become a reality because people died here,” he told the Voice of America Olga Zapata, leader of the Embera Chamí people.

The indigenous people will head towards the Alto Andágueda Reservation, an ancestral and sacred place where they have lived for centuries, and from which the conflict between armed groups forced them to move to Bogotá.

“The most important thing is that in our territory we can maintain and sustain our ancestry. It hurt us a lot to see our children here in Bogotá. Now they will be able to grow up in their ancestral territory,” she told the newspaper. VOA Lot Villazón, senior councilor and president of the Association of Indigenous Councils of Colombia.

For their return to Alto Andágueda, a large area that includes the towns of Pueblo Rico, Chiifa, Dokabú, Paparidó, Santa Marta, Cascajero, Irakal, Pescadito, Río Colorado, Pasaguedá, Conondo, Alto Moindó, Oscordó, Las Torres and Arenales, the Colombian government and the Bogotá mayor’s office have committed to guaranteeing the well-being of these people in their places of origin with productive projects.

“Historic agreements were reached and signed in the National Park. The government promised to give them guarantees so that the Embera people can return in dignified conditions. They are not giving us heaven, because return is a right, and what has been done is to coordinate the entities to fulfill them,” he told the VOA Lilia Solano, director of the Victims Unit.

Thus, families began to dismantle their huts and celebrate their return to their places with a community pot and a spiritual ceremony with sacred dances, music and special rituals, led by their elders and mayoras, as they call their leaders.

“For us, returning to our placenta, to our mother earth, means returning to balance and taking care of our territories and water, which is the most important thing we have,” Villazón concluded.

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