He was 14, a member of the indigenous guard and, according to his relatives, a defender of “our mother Earth”: Breiner David Cucuname was shot and killed in southwestern Colombia, which sparked a wave of emotion in the most dangerous country in the world for environmental defenders.
The teenager accompanied members of the indigenous guard on Friday in the rural locality of Buenos Aires, in the department of Cauca, a particularly troubled region of Colombia, where many armed groups operate.
Unarmed and carrying a simple stick, these guards, from the local Nasa community, were carrying out their daily work of surveillance of the territory when they crossed paths with armed men, according to local representatives of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca ( JACK).
These individuals opened fire on the Native Guard and members of the community, killing two people, a member of the guard, and the young Breiner David. Two other people were injured, according to the CRIC.
The photo of the teenager, brush cut, blue jacket and shoulder bag, appeared this beginning of the week in all the national media and on social networks.
A local indigenous association, ACIN, has attributed responsibility for the violence to dissidents from the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), who reject the agreement signed in 2016 between the government and this Marxist guerrilla. According to the local indigenous council, two individuals implicated in the murders have been arrested.
Breiner David “was a defender of our mother Earth, guardian of the Territory […], a child protector of life”, condemned the CRIC.
The death of the young man, “flag bearer of environmental protection in his Cauca community, fills us with sadness”, reacted on Twitter President Ivan Duque, calling on the prosecutor to speed up his investigation.
According to Indepaz, an independent Colombian think-tank, Breiner David would be the second environmental defender murdered since the beginning of the year, for a total of 1,288 since the 2016 peace agreement.
Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for activists, according to several NGOs. Global Witness identified it as the deadliest for environmental defenders (65 dead in 2020).
According to the Office of the People’s Advocate (ombudsman), 145 human rights defenders were murdered in Colombia in 2021.
Social and community leaders, human rights and environmental defenders are the target of many armed groups active in rural areas of Colombia, a country that has experienced a resurgence of violence in recent years.
FARC dissidents, ELN (National Liberation Army) guerrillas, paramilitary groups and drug traffickers are identified as the main perpetrators of these attacks.
On the drug trafficking route, the departments of Cauca and Cauca Valley top the list of the most troubled regions.
Saturday, in the Department of Choco (West), two people, including a ten-year-old girl, were killed by armed men, according to a local community source.
On Monday, the lifeless body of a woman was also found in the department of Meta, in the eponymous river, in Puerto Gaitan. According to two local NGOs, it would be Luz Marina Arteaga, doctor and local figure, who disappeared five days ago and who feared for her safety.