Historic National Park of Bogotá portrays the reality of indigenous people displaced by violence

The central Bogotá National Park concentrates dozens of cambuches or improvised capras made of wood and plastic bags, which serve as shelter for a hundred families from the Embera Katío and Chamí indigenous communities, who arrived there for the first time in 2021 displaced by violence.

The two towns are originally from the departments of Chocó and Risaralda, from where, their leaders tell the Voice of Americathey fled from the clashes in the ELN guerrilla and the Gulf Clanwho dispute the control of these areas for the illegal mining business and drug trafficking corridors.

Since they settled in the park, located about 4 kilometers from the Casa de Nariño and the Plaza de Bolívar, which houses the center of the country’s political power, they were relocated in 2022 to various shelters in the city, but decided to return to the park last year because they “failed to comply with the agreements for a safe return to their territories.”

Its leaders, who spoke with the VOAexplain that they have expressed to the different state authorities with whom they have held meetings that they “want” to return and that for some time they have “demanded” security guarantees, decent conditions and productive projects in their territories.

“We are accompanying these families, 157 in total, who in the company of their governor have all decided to return to their territories, but they are asking for a return with guarantees, with decent housing, productive projects to be able to resume their lives in their territories,” he told the VOA Lot Villazón, legal representative of the Association of Indigenous Councils for Colombia.

Without food and waiting for solutions

Demetrio Tucai, leader and spokesperson for the Embera Katío indigenous community, says that they are in a “difficult” situation due to the difficulty of finding solutions. “The situation here is very difficult, we are enduring hunger, the women have suffered a lot from this situation, the children the same because we are living on the streets.”

Between the trees that surround the park and the stream that runs through the place, the landscape reflects minors wandering around barefoot and without clothing to protect themselves from the rain and cold of the city.

“They are in deplorable conditions, with plastic, sleeping on the floor, the children in deplorable conditions, they do not even have the best guarantees or drinking water because they have to bathe here in the pipe,” says Villazón.

For its part, the Ombudsman’s Office said that the “non-compliance” with agreements that had been reached on previous occasions have not “allowed” the integration of these communities into their territories.

“We can say that 80% of the people who have returned to their territories returned to the city. “Return, as the only solution strategy to the settlement of indigenous communities in Bogotá, has failed,” Colombian ombudsman Carlos Camargo said in a statement.

In that sense, Villazón said that they hope to find a quick solution to this situation in the meetings they have held with the Colombian government. “The government committed to restarting the conversations that have been underway with indigenous leaders to find a solution as quickly as possible.”

“Really the demand is the same as the commitments that were signed and that involve productive projects in the territory, improvement of housing in their territories so that they can return because they no longer want to be here,” he added.

For now, the Bogotá mayor’s office is working on health and care services programs for indigenous people who need it. Meanwhile, the government assures that they are working to “find” a “definitive” solution to the problems faced by these displaced communities in Bogotá.

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