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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Colombia-3-Indigenous-Social-Leaders-Murdered-20190610-0004.html">https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Colombia-3-Indigenous-Social-Leaders-Murdered-20190610-0004.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Colombia: 3 Indigenous Social Leaders
Murdered</h1>
June 10, 2019</div>
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<p>Three Indigenous leaders from <a
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Colombia-Awa-Community-Mourns-Loss-of-Two-Social-Leaders-20181202-0023.html"
target="_blank">Colombia’s Awa community</a> were
killed in different sectors of the municipalities of
Barbacoas and Tumaco over the past week.</p>
<strong><em></em></strong>
<p>The leaders were receiving threats via WhatsApp while
commemorating the 29th anniversary of the creation of
the Indigenous Unity of the Awa People (Unipa). During
the celebration, a general assembly was held on June 4
and 5.</p>
<p>A spokesperson of the Awa people said one of the
counselors got a text message from a criminal group
known as Oliver Sinisterra threatening the life of the
social leaders.</p>
<p>An 18-year-old student of the Awa Bilingual
Agro-Environmental Technical Education Institution,
Leidy Jacqueline Burgos Pai was disappeared after June
5. The young woman was part of the Indigenous guard and
belonged to Resguardo Honda Rio Guiza in the
jurisdiction of the municipality of Barbacoas. She was
found dead later in a rural area between the
municipalities of Ricaurte and Tumaco.</p>
<p>Rocio Garcia Pai, a member of the Awa shelter Hojal la
Turbia de Tumaco was found dead as well. She had
been missing since last Tuesday. Her lifeless body,
marred with signs of violence was found three days later
at the banks of Nulpe River.</p>
<p>Robert Dionisio Garcia Bisbicus, 21, was shot in front
of his house Friday morning by unknown people on a
motorcycle. He died at the spot. He belonged to the Awa
Indigenous reservation of Gran Rosario located in the
municipality of Tumaco.</p>
<p>"We feel that we are attacked by all the actors in
conflict and that our rights are being violated," said
one of the leaders.</p>
<p>A statement from the Indigenous Unity of the Awa People
(Unipa) announced that pamphlets from multiple armed
actors had appeared since the previous month,
threatening Awa social leaders directly.</p>
<p>"Already there are more than 73 leaders who have been
threatened to present an extreme risk to their lives,
adding to the 29 murders between August 2016 to date,
demonstrating the extermination we have been
subjected to," the statement said.</p>
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