Sinergias advises the Constitutional Court on the health situation of indigenous communities

Sinergias recently gave its opinion to the Constitutional Court on the health of the indigenous communities in the southern department of Vaupés.

The Sinergias document was sent to the high court within a tutela process that was promoted by the Ombudsman's Office against several official entities and with which it seeks to protect the rights to health of the indigenous peoples of the aforementioned department.

In a 27-page document signed by its director, Pablo Montoya, Sinergias responded to five questions formulated by the Constitutional Court in order to provide a serious analysis, based on evidence, to the judicial proceeding to be held in Mitú, capital of Vaupés, next Monday and Tuesday (February 13-14).

Each of the questions will be resolved in a special report published on this website throughout the week.

The tutela is in the office of Judge Gloria Stella Ortiz.

1. What are the indigenous peoples that inhabit the department of Vaupés, how are they organized and in which areas are they located?

R/. In Vaupés - a department of 42,000 inhabitants - 60% of its population is considered indigenous. There are a total of 27 communities (some of which are in the process of physical and cultural extinction), including the Cubeo, Desano, Tukano, Bará, Barasana, Curripaco, Guanano, Jupda, Jujup, Kakua, Makuna, Piratapuyo, Pisamira, Siriano, Taiwano, Tatuyo, Tuyuca, Yurutí, Tanimuka, and Tariano peoples, among others.

Each group has a particular language and cultural characteristics, although most of the indigenous population identifies with the Eastern Tukano language.

Their social organization is patrilineal (descent is transmitted through the paternal line), virilocal (when there is a union between a woman and a man, the woman moves in with the man's family) and dradivic (marriage is between crossed cousins).

When this organization gives rise to extended families, lineages or clans are formed, resulting in a group that possesses ethnic belonging and cultural identity.

The traditional power figures are represented by the shamans, payés, singers or storytellers who are founding grandparents of the lineage and who are in charge of making decisions of utmost importance in relation to the rituals.

Those who relate to state entities and exercise administrative functions with “the white world” are called captains or secretaries. However, their position depends on the community (in some communities, grandparents occupy administrative positions).

Traditional Indigenous Authorities

The 1991 Constitution granted autonomy to ethnic communities to organize themselves administratively according to their customs and worldview.

Although in practice they lack the tools to exercise this autonomy, the Traditional Indigenous Authorities have been characterized by their emergence in areas with cultural, geographic and kinship relations: there are currently 18 formed and two of departmental character - Regional Indigenous Council of Vaupés or CRIVA and the Major Council of the Self-Government of the Great Indigenous Resguardo of Vaupés - which have assumed the representative role of the communities of the department, although not all associations feel properly represented by the latter two institutions.

In general and for multiple reasons, communities are suffering an accelerated acculturation process, which is leading to the loss of traditional knowledge and the weakening of their cultural identity.

The process originated several decades ago with the colonization process, the entry of missionaries, large traders of rubber, balata, syringa, skins and recently coca and mining.

The elders vividly remember the abuses suffered and their chronology.

The historic visit of the Constitutional Court to Mitú and its surroundings will set a precedent to vindicate the rights of the indigenous population and the urgent need to implement comprehensive solutions that are planned and executed under a differential approach and built together with the communities and local authorities.

At Sinergias we connect efforts to support health and development throughout Colombia.