Colombia's Indigenous Conflict in Cauca

Colombia's Indigenous Conflict In Cauca
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (C) delivers a press conference Colombia's Army General Commander Alejandro Navas (L) and Colombian Air Force Commander Tito Pinilla (R) at the 3rd Army Divission in Popayan, Cauca department, Colombia, on July 18, 2012, on the conflict between natives and soldiers in Mount Berlin. AFP PHOTO/Guillermo Legaria (Photo credit should read GUILLERMO LEGARIA/AFP/GettyImages)
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (C) delivers a press conference Colombia's Army General Commander Alejandro Navas (L) and Colombian Air Force Commander Tito Pinilla (R) at the 3rd Army Divission in Popayan, Cauca department, Colombia, on July 18, 2012, on the conflict between natives and soldiers in Mount Berlin. AFP PHOTO/Guillermo Legaria (Photo credit should read GUILLERMO LEGARIA/AFP/GettyImages)

As the Colombian government’s historical conflict with its own indigenous population wages on, the nation finds itself trapped by past international agreements it has signed as well as it’s own constitutional charter, something that has given its indigenous people sovereignty and protected rights.

In the department of Cauca, an area in southwest Colombia known as a hotbed for the armed conflict between the military and the left-wing FARC rebel group, indigenous communities have protested the presence of both state troops and guerillas, saying that it puts the residents’ lives at risk.

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