Debora Barros Fince, Indigenous Wayuu

Debora Barros Fince of the indigenous Wayuu has accompanied BRIDGES to several SOA demonstrations. The following is the transcript of one of her speeches.

Demonstration to close the School of Americas, Nov. 20, 2005

Good afternoon to all of you. I am here because my family and my community were the victims of a massacre of the 82 indigenous groups in Colombia. We are the largest group, the Wayuu indigenous community. We are located in the northern part of Colombia.

At 6:30 in the morning 150 paramilitaries came into our community. Now these are paramilitary who work together with the National Army. And they began to kill women and children in my community. They had no mercy. They cut them; they cut their heads off.

As you were marching it was very painful for me to see how many crosses there are. And how much grief and pain there is in each one of us who are victims of all of this. That’s why I ask each one of you to please tell your government and your president to stop the bloodshed in Colombia. The blood not only of indigenous people is being spilled in Colombia. People are being killed constantly. Labor union leaders. Human Rights defenders. These are people who, in one way or another, are helping the indigenous groups to defend ourselves against this huge monster. Tell Bush not to give ANY more money to President Uribe for military in Colombia. And I also want to ask you to continue coming here each year. This action helps to guarantee at least a little bit of peace in Colombia, and not only in Colombia, but also in other parts of the world.

And in the name of the 12 people who were killed in my community, I thank you for this solidarity. Good luck.