The 12 of October is the day of the extermination of indigenous peoples, subjected to the imposition of other forms of life and government that systematically displace and colonize their own wisdom and knowledge, thus increasing physical and cultural extermination, the ONIC representative said on Twitter.

Furthermore, National President of the Alternative Indigenous and Social Movement (MAIS), Martha Peralta Epieyu, recalled that ‘America was not discovered; it was invaded and looted,’ referring to the European conquest and colonization.

She said that on 12 of October, 529 years ago, ‘our word started to resist, to fight, to live.’

It has been more than 500 years of exploitation and persecution and they have not been able to exterminate us, the national leader emphasized.

Colombia is one of the nations with many indigenous communities in Latin America (102), especially the Wayu people, the Embera Choco, the Guambino peoples and the Amazonian Ticuna and Nukak Maku ones, among others.

In the ratification of the 1991 Constitution, the country’s ethnic multiplicity was acknowledged, and the indigenous communities were allowed to participate in Colombia’s public life and politics, which allowed their entry into the Congress of the Republic.

However, these people still suffer stigmatization, segregation and racism, and their rights, acquired and stipulated in the Constitution, are violated many times.

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