José Albino Cañas Ramírez, a defender of Indigenous lands, has been assassinated, aged 44
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José Albino Cañas Ramírez did not die in a war zone, though war had shaped the place where he lived. On the evening of February 16th, two men came to the shop he ran from his home in Portachuelo, in Colombia’s Caldas department, opened fire, and disappeared along footpaths threading the Indigenous reserve.
Cañas Ramírez was a cabildante — a member of the governing council — of the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta, an Emberá Chamí territory of more than 23,000 people. Leaders said the killing struck at Indigenous self-government itself.
The Emberá Chamí, “people of the mountains,” inhabit steep, biodiverse lands long contested by guerrillas, paramilitaries, criminal groups, miners, and state interests. Activists describe a double pressure: illegal armed actors on one side, development and extraction on the other. Leaders occupy the narrow space between them.
Cañamomo Lomaprieta has faced threats linked to illegal gold mining for years. In 2002 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures recognizing grave danger to its authorities, which remain in force, a sign that the risk never disappeared.
Cañas Ramírez entered leadership young, organizing around territorial rights and cultural survival. He mediated disputes, strengthened community institutions, and held practical posts overseeing water systems and local projects — unglamorous work that tethered governance to daily life.
Leadership in such places often means defending land without the means to enforce that defense. The Resguardo maintains its own Indigenous guard, an unarmed community force intended to provide protection through presence rather than coercion.
Violence against leaders in Cañamomo Lomaprieta predates Cañas Ramírez’s death. In 2015 another authority, Fernando Salazar Calvo, was killed after monitoring compliance with rules on artisanal mining. At least 21 social leaders have been killed in Colombia so far this year, a statistic that risks normalizing the deaths.
To his colleagues, the killing could not be dismissed as random crime. They described it as part of a historical pattern of attacks on those defending territory, autonomy, and cultural survival.
Obituaries often seek defining anecdotes. None presents itself here. What emerges instead is a portrait of a man embedded in communal structures, elected repeatedly because others trusted him to keep showing up.
After his death, the authorities of Cañamomo Lomaprieta declared that they would not allow fear to halt the defense of their territory. It was not a promise of victory. It was closer to a statement of necessity.
💐 https://mongabay.cc/H359yc
Cañas Ramírez was a cabildante — a member of the governing council — of the Resguardo of Colonial Origin Cañamomo Lomaprieta, an Emberá Chamí territory of more than 23,000 people. Leaders said the killing struck at Indigenous self-government itself.
The Emberá Chamí, “people of the mountains,” inhabit steep, biodiverse lands long contested by guerrillas, paramilitaries, criminal groups, miners, and state interests. Activists describe a double pressure: illegal armed actors on one side, development and extraction on the other. Leaders occupy the narrow space between them.
Cañamomo Lomaprieta has faced threats linked to illegal gold mining for years. In 2002 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures recognizing grave danger to its authorities, which remain in force, a sign that the risk never disappeared.
Cañas Ramírez entered leadership young, organizing around territorial rights and cultural survival. He mediated disputes, strengthened community institutions, and held practical posts overseeing water systems and local projects — unglamorous work that tethered governance to daily life.
Leadership in such places often means defending land without the means to enforce that defense. The Resguardo maintains its own Indigenous guard, an unarmed community force intended to provide protection through presence rather than coercion.
Violence against leaders in Cañamomo Lomaprieta predates Cañas Ramírez’s death. In 2015 another authority, Fernando Salazar Calvo, was killed after monitoring compliance with rules on artisanal mining. At least 21 social leaders have been killed in Colombia so far this year, a statistic that risks normalizing the deaths.
To his colleagues, the killing could not be dismissed as random crime. They described it as part of a historical pattern of attacks on those defending territory, autonomy, and cultural survival.
Obituaries often seek defining anecdotes. None presents itself here. What emerges instead is a portrait of a man embedded in communal structures, elected repeatedly because others trusted him to keep showing up.
After his death, the authorities of Cañamomo Lomaprieta declared that they would not allow fear to halt the defense of their territory. It was not a promise of victory. It was closer to a statement of necessity.
💐 https://mongabay.cc/H359yc
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
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