International
Asking for permission to enter the house: the demand of Colombian indigenous people against Mennonites
“Yesterday they returned us,” say the Sikuani indigenous authorities in front of the barrier that prevents them from entering their homes, waiting for authorization to continue, and denounce that their ancestral lands, in the Colombian department of Meta, are now owned by third parties who, they say, bought them irregularly.
On the Santa Catalina farm, owned by the meat company La Fazenda, they receive a refusal to pass by the entourage of journalists that accompanies them; they try their luck with the other entrance, that of the Mennonite ultra-religious community, which does authorize them to pass.
“Our grandparents are buried here,” says Jairo Ortiz in front of one of the sacred sites of the Sikuani, now in Mennonite territory.
“In times of violence they left here, they did not sell the land to anyone and left them thrown away, at that time other people who are not indigenous arrived and they took over,” says the captain, a position of authority of this semi-nomadad people displaced in several episodes of Colombian history.
In the Meta they lived until the so-called period of “violence”, which began in 1946, when they had to flee to the neighboring departments of Vichada and Guaviare. Then they returned but came back to persecution with the “guahibiadas” and “jaramilladas”, terms used to refer to the hunts of indigenous people to displace them from their lands and seize them.
A few years ago they returned to the land of their ancestors when the Colombian conflict lowered its intensity, but they realized that theirs was now in the hands of others, including the ultra-religious Mennite community that, coming from Mexico, found the promised land in the Colombian Oriental Plains.
The problem of land in Colombia is one of the great debts of the State; it is very difficult to know whose property each property is because many territories are not entitled.
Now, the 135 Sikuani families of this settlement claim their lands and denounce their appropriation and accumulation by foreigners.
The Mennonites, when they saw the potential of the Meta, hired a lawyer who advised them on the purchase of land, so “in principle” they are legal, explains Diana Quintero, a lawyer of the National Commission of Indigenous Territories, who accompanies the Sikuani in their lawsuit, explains to EFE.
The problem comes when the titles that the Mennonites bought are analyzed, awarded by the state National Land Agency because they were vacant of the nation.
The rule says the wastelands have to remain in the hands of their owner for a certain time, but those who were sold to the religious community did not meet this deadline and the indigenous peoples were not taken into account.
Another alleged irregularity, Quintero continues, is that the allocation of vacant lots has a limit of hectares, something called the Family Agricultural Unit (UAF), and the owners of these lands acquired more than allowed by law, incurring hoarding.
Quintero maintains that the Mennonites hoard because “although they say they are different families, they are part of a nucleus” and link all their lands in the same production process, exceeding the legal limit of UAF.
“Two years ago the Mennonites began to enter little by little. He could not be told anything because they have someone who supports them,” explains Alexander Álvarez, governor of the Iwitsulibo community, which brings together 80 families, in reference to the alleged alliances of the religious community.
According to the indigenous people, in the area there is the presence of paramilitaries of the Gaitanist Self-Defense of Colombia (AUC), allied with the Mennonites to provide them with security. They travel with motorcycles without a license plate and do not identify themselves, while all the Sikuani authorities report having received threats for their demands.
The Sikuani demand a total of 58,000 hectares to be distributed among the four communities and ask for a receipt to be made. Tsabilonia is the community that is closest to getting its claims, since it has been awarded – pending formalization – a territory in extinction of domain that belonged to drug traffickers, but they demand more hectares.
At the entrance of Tsabilonia the difference in the use of the land made by both communities is visible: on the Mennonite side there is not a single tree, only hectares waiting to be cultivated, and on the Sikuani side, pasture and native vegetation.
“They are pressuring us, we are being contaminated by foreign Mennonites who come from Germany, Canada and Mexico,” denounces Albarrubiela Gaitán, the traditional authority of the Barrulia territory: “We want to be calm in our territory, cultivating our uses and customs because as indigenous people we need our motherland to live in peace and freedom.”
The plantings of the Mennonites arrive almost at the door of the house of Albarrubiela; for the moment, the religious community continues to expand the agricultural border while the Sikuani expect the Colombian Justice to issue a decision on a land that went from hope to dispute.
International
Ecuador’s Noboa vows to continue “war” on criminal groups
Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa said on Sunday that his government will continue the “war” against criminal organizations and warned that he will not yield to criminal gangs operating in the South American country.
During his state-of-the-nation address before the National Assembly, Noboa stated that criminal structures “will tire first” before his administration abandons its fight against violence and drug trafficking.
The president reaffirmed his hardline security strategy amid ongoing concerns over organized crime and drug-related violence in Ecuador.
International
Iran says agreement with U.S. to end Middle East conflict is in final stages
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baqai, said Saturday that Tehran and the United States were in the “finalization phase” of a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking to Iranian state television Irib, Baqai explained that Iran had initially sought to draft a memorandum consisting of 14 clauses as part of the negotiations.
“We are currently in the phase of finalizing these memorandums of understanding,” he stated.
Shortly before Baqai’s remarks became public, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was “a possibility” that Iran could agree to a deal to end the conflict as early as Saturday.
“There is a possibility that later today, tomorrow, or within the next couple of days, we may have something to announce,” Rubio told reporters in New Delhi, adding that he hoped for “good news.”
Despite acknowledging progress in the negotiations, the top U.S. diplomat warned that President Donald Trump could still decide to resume military strikes against Iran if talks fail to produce a final agreement.
International
WHO Warns Ebola Outbreak Is Spreading Rapidly in DR Congo
The World Health Organization on Friday raised the risk level of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from “high” to “very high,” the highest alert category used by the organization.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak is spreading rapidly across the country, particularly in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.
“The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading rapidly,” Tedros stated during a press conference.
He explained that the WHO had previously classified the risk as high at both the national and regional levels, while maintaining a low risk assessment globally.
“We are now revising our risk assessment to classify it as very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level,” he added.
A WHO spokesperson told AFP that “very high” represents the organization’s highest risk category.
The outbreak has expanded across North Kivu and South Kivu, regions divided by the frontline between Congolese government forces and the armed group M23, which is reportedly backed by Rwanda and has seized large areas of territory since 2021.
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