Raizal People is a collective victim of the Armed Conflict in Colombia
Actualizado: 7 ene 2024
On December 15th, 2023, at the island of Old Providence, a protocolary ceremony was held by the Colombian National Government through the UNIDAD PARA LAS VICTIMAS, in order to recognize the Raizal Pople as a collective victim of the Armed Confict in Colombia.
This process of the Raizal People started long ago, timely pushed by Raizal delegates of the High Consultative Commsion, like Juan Ramirez Dawkins, and Raizal Delegates of the National Space for Prior Consultaiton of the Black Communities, Afrocolombians, Raizales and Palenqueras (ENCP), like Sissy Mitchell, Lodesca Livingston and Jairo Rodriguez Davis, and initiating year 2023, through a special request, and by the leadership of the presidency of the Raizal Council (Raizal Authority), Rev. Alberto Gordon May, made the office started to work also on the recognition as collective victims, and some other issues around raizal individual victims.
So, the UNIDAD PARA LAS VICTIMAS, came to the islands and had a series of encounters to educate and socialize with the raizal leaders and people in general, about the understanding of the laws of victims (individuals and collectives) of the armed conflict, previous to comform and prepare a symbolic represenation of the Raizal People to do the formal Declaration as Collective Victim to the OMBUDSMAN OFFICE.
In the month of August, 2023. the president of the Raizal Council conformed a delegation of Raizales from the island of San Andres, and with the sponsoring and assistance of the UNIDAD PARA LAS VICTIMAS, they traveled to Providence and joined with a similar delegaton of Raizales from the sister island, and together rendered the Declaration to the delegates of the Ombudsman Office who came from Bogota.
The Ombudsman Office reported to the UNIDAD PARA LAS VICTIMAS the declaration of the Raizal People, and after a period of evaluation, it was finally accepted. The ceremony organized by the National Government to notify to the Raizal People and to the country, of this result, was very meaningfull for the Raizal People.
What followed now, is a the process of Reparations, which is a challenge to the capacity of the people to define clearly all the damages caused to them in a collective way, and able to be propositive with various forms of reparations.
Previous to this stage of the process, there was the recollection of the truth around the Armed Conflict in Colombia, done by the COMMISSION OF TRUTH (Comisión de la Verdad). Initially, the Raizal People, its members and its territory were not recognized as part of the Armed Conflict, but with clear arguments, Raizal People demonstrated their affection and conections, basically, through the Narcotraffic.
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