One-quarter of Colombia's Indians displaced - report

One-quarter of Colombia's Indians displaced - report
By Anastasia Moloney (Reuters)
Reuters. Axis of Logic
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014

BOGOTA - More than a quarter of Colombia’s 1.4 million Indians have been forced to flee their tribal lands in recent decades, the head of the government’s programme to protect indigenous peoples has said, highlighting the threat that some tribes may disappear entirely.

In a recent interview with Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper, Gabriel Muyuy, head of the presidential programme on indigenous peoples, said these communities are driven from their jungle reserves to escape fighting between warring factions or death threats issued by armed groups, and to stop their children from being recruited into rebel groups.

Decades of fighting between the government, leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups have killed at least 220,000 people and uprooted about 5 million Colombians, according to government figures. Colombia is home to one of the world's largest displaced populations, and its Indians bear a disproportionate brunt of the displacement.

While indigenous tribes make up some 3 percent of Colombia’s population of 47 million, they represent roughly 4 percent of the total number of displaced people.

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