In a public communiqué, this July 9th the Association of Traditional Indigenous Councils and Authorities of the Department of Arauca ASCATIDAR, denounced the assassination of two indigenous people in the jurisdiction of Saravena.
The incident involved two U’wa, Rafael Segundo Tamarán Cobaría, 18 years old, and his wife Maribel Sepúlveda Bokotá, only 17 years old, who was 7 months pregnant.
The incident took place this past 7th of July, at roughly 7pm, in their house in Playas de Bojaba, Saravena municipality, carried out “by two individuals who rode a motorcycle. According to witnesses, these two were seen several times circling around the location before escaping along the road toward Saravana.”
The wake of the two will be carried out today (Thursday) in a traditional ceremony in the city of Saravena, as confirmed by Ascatidar President Ismael Uncacia. He also stated that “the victims are close family members. This event shows once more the degree of decay that has been brought on indigenous communities, through displacement caused by the policies and greedy interest in our natural resources on the part of the government and transnational oil companies.”
In addition to Ascatidar, ONIC also “demands that the state justice agencies advance the necessary investigations, which should establish penal responsibilities so that this incident doesn’t remain unsolved and in order to guarantee the physical and social integrity of the U’wa people.”
We request that the national and international communities follow this case and mediate so that violence doesn’t continue permeating our ancestral territories.
Council of Indigenous Government of the ONIC
