I am an indigenous woman of communal land of the Nasa ethnicity. My region has been battered by the armed conflict for many years and the indigenous movement and its leadership continue to be victims of human rights violation and violations of international humanitarian law, which include threats, harassment, stigmatisation, and political persecution.
From a young age I have participated in the processes of the indigenous movement, holding various offices of indigenous authority, and I have also been the coordinator of the women's programme of the ACIN (Association of Indigenous Chapters of the North of Cauca) at local level for five years. I have also formed part of the governing body of the reservation Huellas-Caloto since 2014, first as captain, and now as governor, exercising the political autonomy granted to us by the Special Indigenous Jurisdiction.
In the context of defending our territory against illegal mining and demanding respect for the territory's sacred lakes, rivers, gorges, marshes, woods, forest reserves and other spaces of mother earth, political decisions have been taken in the defence of our territory. One of those was to organise a protest in which more than 3,000 people from the northern zone participated (April 2014). At that time I was captain of the reservation and since then I have been directly threatened. I have been harassed at my house, harassed via SMS messages sent by paramilitary groups and also collective threats sent by the FARC. The most recent threat I received was two weeks ago (23 October) by telephone, when I was told that I had 24 hours to leave the issue of corruption in the municipality well enough alone.
In the last two years I have received five threatening telephone calls and 18 text messages; I have been followed; intimidated; suffered extortion on the part of the FARC; and been accused of being a guerrilla fighter amongst other things. I have denounced all of these incidents to the authorities, but unfortunately there has been no response to date.
Despite my commitment to the community and my love for the indigenous movement, this tense and precarious situation is affecting me greatly, resulting in insomnia. I feel much distrust towards other people. I often feel fearful – fearful about expressing myself and my experiences, fearful of the night, fearful of being alone – and these feelings are even prevalent when I am with my own people - a fact which makes me sad. In Caloto, the capital, I am afraid when entering and leaving the office. This risk has been recognised and because of this I have been assigned a guard by the state programme for human rights defenders at risk, but due to a lack of staff and resources, I continue to travel alone a lot. There are also people who are afraid to be with me because of the threats I have received, which together with my own mistrust brings a considerable sense of isolation.
About six months ago, because of everything that was happening to me, my daughter took the decision to move to Bogota as she could not tolerate the insecurity of the situation any longer. The final straw for her was a threat which indicated that if I did not cease my human rights work I would be collecting my daughter from the morgue. At the time, I blamed myself for not having taken care of her properly and I felt that I was losing an important part of my support, but today I understand her decision. Despite the distance we maintain good contact and she continues to support me from afar, as do my partner and my son, and for this I am very grateful.
I have been able to count on the cultural and spiritual support of the indigenous elders and the plants of our mother earth. This has given me more spiritual strength and balance in my individual and familial harmonies, and given me the strength to keep fighting.
Despite my commitment to the community and my love for the indigenous movement, this tense and precarious situation is affecting me greatly, resulting in insomnia. I feel much distrust towards other people. I often feel fearful – fearful about expressing myself and my experiences, fearful of the night, fearful of being alone.
