Harrowing video shows indigenous Colombians fleeing gunfire

[Judi Lynn]

by Ashoka Mukpo on 28 May 2020

In the midst of a national lockdown in Colombia, a dramatic video showing dozens of indigenous Emberá fleeing gunfire and heavy fighting by canoe in the country’s northwest emerged on May 20. The video, which was shared with Mongabay by the multimedia advocacy group If Not Us Then Who?, is a grim window into the violence that indigenous and Afro-Caribbean communities in the region have faced in recent years, and which may now be worsening amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Filmed by an Emberá with a cell phone in the town of Catrú, the video shows panicked residents of the town hiding and rushing onto packed canoes at a nearby riverbank. In the background, the sound of automatic gunfire can be heard. Catrú is a small settlement in the remote, forested department of Chocó, not far from Medellín and the Panamanian border.

Chocó has been the site of heavy clashes between armed groups looking to secure control of the region’s lucrative coca trade, trafficking routes, and artisanal gold mining industry. The National Liberation Army (ELN), one of Colombia’s oldest left-wing insurgent groups, has been embroiled in a bitter fight for control of the area with a rival paramilitary unit since a 2016 peace deal between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) left a power vacuum in its wake.

Trapped in the middle are the region’s indigenous and Afro-Caribbean communities, who have suffered the brunt of the fighting. The incident in Catrú follows a series of violent battles in recent months that have displaced thousands of Emberá living in the area.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/harrowing-video-shows-indigenous-colombians-fleeing-gunfire/