Related
Stories
- Indigenous Colombians defy rebels
- Colombia's indigenous peoples face uncertain future
- Colombia communities caught in crossfire
 |
| Many Colombian indigenous peoples are threatened by conflict between left-wing rebels and the army |
Colombia's
president has apologised to indigenous communities in the Amazon for deaths and
destruction caused by the rubber boom around 100 years ago.
Backed by
Colombia's government, a Peruvian firm tapped rubber from 1912 to 1929 near La
Chorrera in the south.
Up 100,000
people were killed and communities devastated, according to indigenous leaders.
President
Juan Manuel Santos asked for forgiveness "for all the dead and their
orphans".
He
apologised "in the name of a company, a government".
Mr Santos
said that in pursuit of progress, the government of the day "failed to
understand the importance of safeguarding each indigenous person and culture as
an essential part of a society we now understand as multi-ethnic and
multicultural."
Torture and
mutilation
Rubber
barons in the Amazon carried out horrendous human rights abuses, first
documented by British diplomat Roger Casement in 1912.
These
included forced labour, slavery, torture and mutilation, says the BBC's Arturo
Wallace in Colombia.
The apology
was issued on the day Latin Americans mark the beginning of Spanish
colonisation.
The Day of
the Race, as the date is known in the region, commemorates the arrival of
Christopher Columbus on the continent on 12 October 1492.
The
president named nine indigenous peoples who were decimated by the
rubber-tapping project of Julio Cesar Arana, a controversial Peruvian
entrepreneur and politician.
"It is
essential to contribute towards healing the wounds inflicted on your lives and
in the memory of our nation," he said.
President
Santos vowed that such abuses would never happen again.
The
Colombian government recognises 87 indigenous groups but the Colombian
Indigenous Organisation, OIC says there are 102.
Up to
one-third of them face extinction because of the armed conflict and forced
displacement.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.