“This horror has gone unpunished for years,” says President Petro Gustavo as he orders probe into stories of sexual abuse of Nukak tribe women in Amazonia “including mostly by white men, someone of whom are soldiers.”
(Reuters Archive)
Colombia President Gustavo Petro has ordered an investigation into the alleged rape of underage Indigenous women by US and native troopers.
Spanish-language US tv community Univision claimed in December that an American soldier residing with a Colombian military battalion in 2019 had sexually abused and impregnated a 10-year-old woman from the Nukak tribe within the southern Amazonia area.
After talking to native sources and state our bodies, Univision reported a “growing phenomenon of the rape of Indigenous minors in the Guaviare department (in Amazonia), including mostly by white men, someone of whom are soldiers.”
Petro mentioned on Friday he had requested a fee from the household wellbeing institute and the presidency to journey to Guaviare to research the accusations.
“This horror has gone unpunished for years,” Petro mentioned on Twitter.
Public prosecutor Isabel Leon advised Univision that each Colombian and US troopers have been being investigated for the alleged abuse of Nukak women.
Petro mentioned 118 members of the Colombian military have been below investigation.
The US embassy in Bogota launched an announcement saying its troops had not been stationed in Guaviare in 2019.
He pedido que una comisión del ICBF y de Presidencia se desplace inmediatamente al Guaviare y atienda las denuncias de violaciones a menores de edad. Este horror lleva años estimulado por la impunidad. Se iniciarán todas las investigaciones, incluso por la omisión de funcionarios
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 13, 2023
Nukak in harsh circumstances
The historically nomadic Nukak have been displaced from their ancestral lands on the finish of the twentieth century by the brutal decades-long armed battle that has introduced distress to thousands and thousands of Colombians.
The multi-faceted battle has concerned radical left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug traffickers and the armed forces.
Today, the Nukak stay in precarious rural settlements and beg in cities to outlive.
Many kids and youngsters from the group find yourself managed by networks that supply them meals in trade for sexual favours, NGOs say. Some are compelled into drug dependancy.
In 2020, prosecutors opened an investigation into the alleged rape of a 15-year-old Nukak woman by eight Colombian troopers in Guaviare.
That similar 12 months, a 13-year-old Indigenous woman was raped by seven troopers within the northwestern Risaralda division.
The troopers have been convicted and sentenced to 16 years in jail.
Source: AFP
