When he was returning from the El Roncón settlement, a rural area of the Becerril municipality, a van-type vehicle assigned by the National Unit for the Protection of the Sokorpa Reserve, of the Yukpa indigenous people, was shot at by unknown subjects. None of its occupants was injured.
The events occurred at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. In the vehicle, which received six shots, were the two bodyguards and the legal adviser for the Sokorpa reservation, Ana Erika Benavidez. The Governing Council of the Sokorpa Reserve, Adolfo Garcearan, was not in the truck.
In view of these facts, authorities of the Yukpa Indigenous People issued a statement rejecting the attack and asking the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, to fulfill his constitutional duty to guarantee the life and physical and cultural integrity of the indigenous community.
“This attack against the Yukpa indigenous people is added to the one that occurred on May 13, 2023 in the municipality of La Paz, against the governor of the El Rosario Bellavista and Yukatan Reservation, authority Jaime Luis Olivella Márquez, where unfortunately he lost his eye in the hands of a criminal gang that everyone points out as the Clan del Golfo, but that in a suspicious and dangerous way the National Police harassed our authorities so that the three people involved in the act and who had been captured by our protection authorities known as the indigenous guard, were handed over to the Ombudsman’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.
The unfortunate thing is that the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, less than 12 hours after they were handed over, released them and without taking the statement from the victim governor and the Yukpa indigenous people,” the statement read.
Likewise, the indigenous authorities assure that they have requested from President Gustavo Petro, through two rights of petition, a hearing with the Yukpa people, but neither has been answered by the Presidency of the Republic.
“Clearly the President considers that there are first, second and third class indigenous peoples. We hold the President of Colombia, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Defense and the Director of the UNP responsible for all the acts against our people”, they assured.
