Members of the Awa indigenous people on Sunday were allegedly tortured and killed in Colombia’s southwestern Nariño department.
Reports vary as to how many people were killed, ranging from four to five. Newspaper El Espectador named two of the victims as Pastor Enrique García and Juan Carlos Pay.
A motive for the killings is not yet known. Drug trafficking gang “Los Rastrojos” and rebel group FARC both have a strong presence in the area. According to El Espectador, authorities harbor suspicions that the murders may have been in retaliation to military and police operations against drug trafficking in the area, but the crime has yet to be attributed to any particular group.
The population of the Awa indigenous group is estimated at just over 15,000, and populates the Colombian departments of Nariño and Putumayo as well as in the north of Ecuador.
Sources
- Awá (Organizacion Nacional Indigena de Colombia)
- Asesinados miembros de comunidades indígenas en frontera colombo ecuatoriana (Organizacion Nacional Indigena de Colombia)
- Asesinan a cuatro indígenas Awá en zona rural de Tumaco en Nariño (El Espectador)
