The terror of antipersonnel mines stalks the Awá people

For the Awá people, living well or

wat auzan,

in their language, is increasingly difficult.

A door of hope for that to change was opened in 2016, with the signing of the Peace Agreement of the Santos Government and the extinct FARC-EP, but it did not take long to close.

The organization Indigenous Unit of the Awá People (UNIPA) denounces the escalation in the dispute between illegal armed actors in its territory, halfway between the department of Nariño and neighboring Ecuador.

The clash between members of the dissidents of the extinct FARC grouped under the Second Marquetalia and the so-called Clan del Golfo, among others, has turned their reservations into minefields, has triggered massive displacements and has multiplied accidents due to the presence of antipersonnel mines.

The UN anti-mine agency (UNMAS) confirms that this problem is still alive in Colombia, and that it especially affects indigenous civilians, led by the Awá.

Jonathan Estiven Pascal Taicus, 12, was the most recent victim.

On December 25, 2023, he was injured after he activated the explosive while taking a walk with his parents, in the district of La Guayacana, in Tumaco, Nariño.

The teenager had to be transferred to Pasto, five hours away, where they performed two surgeries that managed to avoid the amputation of his left foot.

Like him, 50 minors have been victims of mines in Colombia between 2022 and 2023, according to figures from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

A month earlier, the victim was leader of the Indigenous Guard, Cristobal Nastacuas, who died after stepping on a mine when he was leaving his reservation in Ricaurte, Nariño.

The NGO also points out that last year Nariño was, precisely, the department with the highest number of incidents involving this type of weapon.

The effect of this increase in southwestern Colombia has particularly affected the Awá people, who live in the rural area of ​​the Pacific coast between the Telembí River, in Nariño, in the north, to the province of Esmeraldas, in the south, already in Ecuador.

Because they are gatherers and hunters, their reservations are usually located in the middle of the jungle, at least three hours away from the main roads.

These remote places coincide with strategic points that criminal gangs dispute in the area, since they are part of their corridors to transport drugs between the Andean mountains — where there is more population and coca crops — and the Pacific Ocean or the neighboring country.

These confrontations have been on a permanent increase since 2017, when the departure of the extinct FARC left a power vacuum that new illegal groups have been filling.

This new phase has meant a renewal of the planting of explosive devices, with which the groups seek to avoid the presence of rivals in areas that they see as strategic for their illegal economies.

This is how Pablo Parra, former representative of UNMAS in Colombia, details it.

“In the department of Nariño, in the last quarter of 2022 we saw a very strong rebound in victims of antipersonnel mines and unexploded ordnance.

33 of the 39 victims were civilians.

In such isolated municipalities, where there are no roads and you can only access by trail, river or sea, there is very little State surveillance and illegal economies have grown a lot,” he maintains.

“The community, notably indigenous and Afro, is in the middle of the territorial dispute, where antipersonnel mines play a fundamental role.

We have seen that many communities, after the clashes, fear the installation of antipersonnel mines and move to urban areas.

Or they confine themselves, they don't dare to go out because they don't know where the danger is,” adds Parra.

The UNIPA leaders agree with him.

They tell EL PAÍS that the presence of mines affects their social fabric, particularly their eating habits.

Many of these have been lost due to the fear of falling into explosives when going out to hunt and collect their catch.

“The installation of mines affects spirituality and cultural practices, to the point that one can no longer walk peacefully,” says Ana*, one of the leaders.

“We have a strong connection with the territory.

We are

Inkal Awá

, the people of the jungle.

That connection is unique from spirituality, since it is our living space, where we walk, it is the only place we know,” adds María, Education Advisor of the organization.

Ana narrates that the conflict has also impacted the original knowledge and the structure of her community.

Only in May 2023, a traditional doctor died after stepping on a mine.

And a few days later, a similar situation was experienced by Alberto García Pai, substitute governor of one of the Awá reservations, who was injured in one of his legs.

The problem has crossed the limits of international humanitarian law, as UNIPA reveals that organized crime has planted explosives around educational centers.

The Guisa Sábalo reservation, in Tumaco, is one of the most affected.

There they have had to improvise tents to use as classrooms, worsening an already bloody situation due to illegal detentions, homicides and threats.

Parra, who was a member of UNMAS for almost a decade, emphasizes the concern about the Awá.

“We went from having very few victims to 40 per year in Nariño alone.

Most of them are indigenous,” he says.

And he adds another obstacle to measuring the tragedy: the possible under-reporting of victims.

“Many of the victims live in very remote places, without the ability to make this type of representation to the authorities.

We do not know how many people have not been reported,” he warns.

The phenomenon has serious collective impacts.

Among them, forced displacement and confinement of entire communities, with the social, economic and emotional impact that this entails.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented that, by 2023, 10% of all displacements in the country occurred due to the presence of these explosives.

For the communities and NGOs consulted, the Government must prioritize humanitarian demining in the dialogues it maintains with illegal structures within the framework of the total peace policy.

“From the United Nations we call for bilateral ceasefires to be respected, including the non-installation of explosive devices in antipersonnel mines.

Although it is an issue that has been on the negotiating tables, the armed groups are reluctant because they consider that they are in a ceasefire with the State, but not with the rest of the groups," says Catalina Velásquez, the current head of UNMAS. In colombia.

The expert also points out a weakening in attention.

“We are making progress, but there is still a lot to decontaminate.

In the last year, we feel that it has been falling in rank and level of incidence,” she emphasizes and reveals that in the midst of an exacerbation of the problem with mines, the team in charge of it in the office of the high commissioner for Peace has been reduced.

The indigenous leaders of UNIPA point out that they have proposed that Awá members of the Indigenous Guard be part of the demining teams in their territory.

They remember that they are the ones who know the area best and who provide first aid in the middle of the jungle.

“We do not want to be in the middle of armed actors, whether legal or illegal.

We insist that it be humanitarian demining,” says Ana.

The tragedy for the Awá does not stop even with the precautionary measures in their favor ordered by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2011. Among the reasons that the international body found to order the Colombian State to protect the rights of that people , there were accidents with antipersonnel mines;

One of his orders was to carry out “actions to demine the ancestral territory and educate the members of the town on the risk of antipersonnel mines.”

More than a decade later, nothing has changed.

The war continues making them prisoners in their own

Katsa Su

, as they call nature, the big house that they can no longer visit.

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