We denounce the attack on Colombian activist Gabriel Marrugo

(Castellano) (Euskara)

The undersigned organisations denounce the attack on our colleague, friend and protégé Gabriel Marrugo, leader of the organisation CAMIZBA (Asociación de Cabildos Indígenas del Bajo Atrato) of Colombia on 26 March.

At the same time, we rejoice that he is still alive and that the attackers did not achieve their objective. We hope for his speedy recovery and that this event will not affect his life. We want to recognise Gabriel’s commitment for so many years and aware of so many risks, always prioritising the defence of the rights of the people and of his people.

We denounce this attack and all its connections, which we know go beyond the mere fact of the attack, and correspond to transnational extractivist interests, almost certainly with links in the North and in Europe.

Gabriel Marrugo suffered this attempt on his life when he was travelling with his bodyguard (National Protection Unit of Colombia) from Quibdó to the indigenous community of El 20. He was shot three times, one of the shots hitting him in his body. Gabriel was saved by the bulletproof vest he was wearing, but was wounded by a 9 mm pistol bullet and hospitalised in Quibdó. The shots were fired by para-military agents wearing balaclavas on board a black XTZ motorbike. The escort repelled the attack, but the attackers escaped unharmed.

The activist is part of the Guardians of the Forest network, created in 2019 by the non-profit organisation RESEDA Eco-Institute to support activists defending the planet’s primary forests. His work has focused on promoting respect for human rights, international humanitarian law and peace in the indigenous communities of Bajo Atrato. In addition to CAMIZBA, Gabriel has worked with the collective Artesanos por la Vida in Riosucio (Choco), the network of the Ethnic Communities of the Department of Choco of the Association of Women of the Victoria de San Isidro (ASOMAVIC). He is also a member of the Valencian international trade union INTERSIDACAD and the Italian-based organisation Guardians of the Forest.

Marrugo is affiliated to the political party MAIS. Movimiento Alternativo Indígena y Social, a Colombian political party created to bring together the historical process of indigenous resistance and one of the parties representing indigenous peoples in the Colombian Congress.

Marrugo has already been to Spain and Europe as a leader at risk and as part of a temporary protection project for threatened activists. Thus, despite being in the difficult time of the pandemic, Gabriel spent some time in Valencia, but was also able to visit Donostia and other places in France, Italy and Germany. His stay was not merely to get away from the risk, but also to denounce the state of abandonment suffered by the peoples of Chocó, and more specifically his own people, the Embera Dobidá. This region of Colombia is characterised by historical neglect and an acute lack of infrastructure and resources.

The Embera people are under pressure from external actors, para-militaries and guerrillas, who wish to appropriate their territory. This violence between these agents is also directed at the people themselves, and more specifically at their leaders, to force them to leave. In particular, one of the reasons why these territories and ecosystems are coveted and destroyed is the existence of coal in their subsoil. Coal imports from Colombia have increased since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The German company, Glencore, supplies itself with coal from this country.

The attack against Gabriel Marrugo is not an isolated incident, but, as is already widely known, is part of a global offensive against ecosystems and territories, for resources. More than 1700 environmental activists have been murdered  around the world in the last decade. Many of them in Colombia, where more than 300 environmental and human rights activists are murdered every year. As we said at the beginning, we are glad that this is not the case, but we are horrified that this would have happened to Gabriel or to so many other threatened activists we have met.

The fact that he is still alive is largely due to the measures introduced in recent years and the recognition of his vital work. Despite this, despite the new government, it is clear that Colombia, like many other countries, is far from resolving the violence it has suffered for much of its history. For this reason, we demand that international bodies and organisations continue to accompany this process, and above all, that they be clear when it comes to determining responsibilities when the interests correspond to European or Northern agents.

As we say, this case is not the only one of its kind, and violence does not only target leaders. In recent days, we have also learned of the murder of 5 Yupka children  poisoned by glyphosate. These people, like the Wayú, are also under pressure because of the existence of coal in the subsoil of their territory. On the other hand, forest guardians of the Maje Embera Drua people (in Panama, next to Chocó), have initiated legal proceedings against private individuals for the burning of 5 hectares of old-growth forest and community farms.

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