Community leaders in the region are under increasing threat (Photo: SCIAF)

SCIAF focuses on Colombia in a special update today looking at issues in Patadó

ABColombia* has stated that the Embera Eyabida indigenous communities of Patadó has been victim of forced displacement and land thefts of their territory on several occasions.

Patadó is a community supported by SCIAF through our partner SNPS/Caritas Colombiana.

Patadó is situated just outside the indigenous reserve in Carmen de Darien Chocó. Chocó is a region that has experienced terrible acts of violence and massacres that often terrorised communities into displacing or forcing them into selling their land.

The worst period of armed conflict in this area brought about terrible consequences for the people. One community leader was persuaded to sell 40 hectares of land without informing the rest of the community.

This community received just half of what was offered and were forced to live outside their own territory for nine years. Two years ago they managed to return to their ancestral lands, but face a legal dispute over the territory now.

They are currently limited to living across just two hectares, undermining the health and food security of their people. This is leading them into crisis. The land has been heavily deforested and newcomers are farming in the area.

They have an ongoing dispute with a pineapple farmer, who is encroaching on their crops and contaminating their water source.

The gallery below shows the community of Patadó and some of the issues faced:

October 2011

This pineapple field is encroaching on the land of the community (Photo: SCIAF)

Throughout October the community has been under mounting pressure. Community leaders have continually faced threats to their safety in targeted paramilitary attacks. Furthermore, the community has endured theft of vital livestock and other items by armed men.

The Community of Embera Eyabida is situated in the same region as Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó, two afro-Colombian Communities who have seen community leaders killed and are under increasing pressures of their own. These events have led to enforced temporary displacement of members of these communities.

These communities have been denouncing increased paramilitary activities in the area and the cultivation and trafficking of coca. According to reports no action appears to have been taken against these groups by the 17th Brigade of the army that operates in this region.

Mark Camburn, SCIAF International Programme Officer for Latin America said:

I recently visited the community of Patadó to meet local leaders and see how SCIAF’s money is being used to increase food security and improve nutrition. The families in this isolated village live a precarious life, with little land to farm on and few chances to hunt and gather food from the forest due to the presence of new farmers and illegal armed groups. It is very worrying to receive news of the increased presence of these actors around and within the community, and we will continue to closely monitor the situation together with our local partner SNPS/Caritas Colombiana.

ABColombia have made the following recommendations to the UK Government:

ABColombia requests that an urgent representation be made to the Colombian Ministry of Interior, asking that the lives of the leaders and members of the indigenous community of Patadó be protected, and that food security for the community be guaranteed.

ABColombia requests that the British government monitor closely the human rights situation in the Embera Eyabida community of Patadó.

*UK based advocacy platform of British and Irish NGOs working in Colombia, or which SCIAF is an active member