The young man was killed on Friday when he was carrying out surveillance work together with other indigenous people, all unarmed and barely carrying canes.
As reported by the nasa community, men opened fire on the indigenous guard in a rural area of the municipality of Buenos Aires, in the department of Cauca, one of the hardest hit by the violence that followed the peace process with the then FARC guerrilla.
In the attack, whose culprits and causes have not been determined, two indigenous people died, including Breiner Cucuñame. Two more were injured, according to the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC).
Breiner was a “caretaker of Mother Earth, guardian of the territory, student indigenous guard, child protector of life,” the CRIC lamented in a statement.
After his murder, this week the photo of the teenager began to circulate cut short, with his cane and the blue vest that identifies the indigenous guard, which acts in the original territories to prevent the entry of armed groups.
President Ivan Duke expressed in a tweet his sadness for the “death of the young Breiner David Cucuñame, a champion of environmental protection in his community in Cauca.”
At the same time, he assured that the government will support the prosecution to clarify the fact “quickly.” The UN human rights delegation in Colombia also condemned the “armed attack against the indigenous guard.”
According to Indepaz, an independent think tank, Breiner Cucuñame is the second environmentalist assassinated in the first days of this year.
The NGO and indigenous authorities pointed out to the dissidents of the extinct FARC as the alleged perpetrators of the attack.
Without a unified command, these groups were marginalized from the peace agreement that led to the disarmament of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and are waging a struggle with other organizations for control of drug crops and the illegal exploitation of gold and other resources in remote areas of Colombia.
The NGO Global Witness describes Colombia as the deadliest country for environmentalists. In 2020, 65 environmental defenders were killed, according to the organization’s most recent report.
Source From: Ambito
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