Indigenous people seek dialogue with Colombia president

The National Strike Committee needs direct dialogue with the highest levels of Colombia’s government, namely President Ivan Duque and Interior Minister Nancy Patricia Gutierrez, a representative of indigenous people told Anadolu Agnecy.

Ferley Quintero said problems of inequality and exclusion suffered by indigenous people, Afro-Colombians and farmers affect other sectors of the country.

"And because of that, they must unite to ask for a deep change in the government's economic policies," he said.

Quintero is a leaders of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) in Colombia and member of the Yanakona people, who inhabit the department of Cauca and other areas in the southwest.

He is also one of the representatives of the indigenous peoples in the National Strike Committee, the group that is in negotiations with the government.

AA: What are your conclusions after the last meeting between the National Strike Committee with the delegates representing the government?

FQ: The representatives from the government are not able to carry out a dialogue with the National Strike Committee. We will remain in mobilization and will continue in dialogue with government delegates as long as it delegates people with decision-making power. We have said that the interior minister or the president must be on the table.

AA: So, you do not want to talk more with Diego Molano, appointed by President Ivan Duque for the negotiations?

FQ: The current delegates are slowing down the talks and not mediating to find a good solution. So that's why what we need, as the National Strike Committee, is to talk directly with the minister or the president.

AA: You have achieved a broad organization with indigenous peoples from Cauca, Caldas and Huila. What were the reasons that you decided to come to Bogota?

FQ: The Southwestern Minga is the union of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca, Regional Indigenous Council of Huila and Regional Indigenous Council of Caldas as well as other farmers and Afro Colombian organizations.

We, as indigenous peoples, have been historically mobilizing to claim the right to life and territory. Now, we have moved to the capital to support the political actions that social organizations, popular sectors, and public universities are bringing forward.

AA: What are your specific demands?

FQ: We are demonstrating against some political issues. Among them, we reject the new tax law, the dismantling of prior consultation with indigenous peoples. We are also against modifications to the Peace Accords. These are structural issues that unite us to social organizations and indigenous peoples and that is why we are in a permanent national strike.

AA: What is the importance of the Nov. 4 national strike?

FQ: It is a historic day because we have summoned all organizations and indigenous peoples in the capital, but also in other parts of Colombia.

AA: How would you rate President Ivan Duque's response to your demands?

FQ: The president's response, like other governments, has always been negative. We always have to appeal to the law to ask that the government listen to us. It has not been easy to have a dialogue. The government always slow things down. It does not want to meet with us. We have an agenda, but the government has always tried to avoid dialogue with the people.

AA: How is the National Strike Committee organized?

FQ: There is a good understanding among those who make up the committee. There is Colombia's National Federation of Educators (FEODE), Central Union of Workers (CUT), the Southwest Minga, among other organizations. All sectors are represented.

AA: How many members of indigenous communities participate in the protest in Bogota?

FQ: We come here on Nov. 28 and arrived with an outpost of 150 indigenous guards, representatives of each of the sectors that are in the Southwest Minga.

Now there are between 800 and 1,000 indigenous guards in the capital.

AA: Some people and political parties have criticized the protests saying that they affect the country's productivity. What do you think about those criticisms?

FQ: I want to thank the solidarity that all the people of Bogota and other institutions have demonstrated. We do not come to ask, we come to join forces. The Bogota families have supported us with food and we come to support them with our strength. Students from public universities, such as the National University, have also played an important role in the national strike.

We, as indigenous peoples, are not actors of war. We are actors of peace and we have demonstrated it with the Indigenous Guard. We do not generate damage. They (critics of the protests) have cataloged us as vandals, but we are showing the country and the international opinion that we are not as the government points out. Historically we have been peace actors.

The invitation that we make is to join us. The problems that affect us indigenous peoples, farmers and Afros Colombians also affect the most disadvantaged sector of workers, transporters, and others. We invite all social sectors and also all indigenous peoples of other departments to join us.

AA: With these protests, Colombia seems to be inserted in a Latin-American dynamic of demonstrations. What do you think?

FQ: I want to send a message of solidarity to the peoples of Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and other countries that are also experiencing protests like ours. To them all our support and solidarity.

AA: How long do you think they could sustain these demonstrations?

FQ: This is undefined. It all depends on the national government.