La Minga: Colombian Indigenous Peoples March Toward Bogota

Thousands of representatives of Colombia's indigenous peoples have been mobilized and marching since October 10. The mobilization, called "La Minga" began in the Cauca region of Colombia, home to many of Colombia's indigenous peoples. "La Minga" means a gathering of all the peoples, and indigenous leadership only call for it when something very important needs to be addressed.

Indgienous communities, who live on traditional, ancestral lands which are communally owned, are protesting, among other things, a government decision to charge them taxes on their lands. They are protesting the privatization of the sources of the waters located in their territories. Privatization has led to contamination of their waters as a result of resource exploitation by large, multinational companies. And they are protesting governmental failure to honor past agreements signed with indigenous peoples.

Shortly after La Minga began in mid-October, the Colombian military opened fire on the marchers which resulted in a number of injuries, some of them serious. Since then, the group, which consists of representatives of most of the indigenous peoples in Colombia and their national leadership, has marched through Colombia, with plans to end in Bogota this week. The marchers say they are peacefully exercsing their rights to social and civil resistance. They are currently camped in the Bogota suburb of Soacha.

For more information about Colombia's indigenous peoples, please go to www.onic.org.com