Aug
06
2020

Humanitarian aid mitigates indigenous needs in Antioquia

There are 80 Embera families, displaced and relocated, those benefited with tons of food and cleaning supplies delivered by the Victims Unit in Urrao and Andes.

AntioquiaAndes

The Unit for the Attention and Comprehensive Reparation of Victims delivered humanitarian aid in kind valued at 49 million pesos to four indigenous communities displaced years ago from Chocó who live in the Antioquia municipalities of Urrao and Andes (Antioquia).

With several tons of food and hygiene kits, a total of 80 families benefited. Of these, 46 homes of the Embera-Chamí ethnic group live in the urban area of ​​Urrao and come from the communities of La Cristalina and La Junta in Quibdó (Chocó), which they abandoned more than seven years ago due to clashes between illegal armed groups.

Meanwhile, in the Andes there were 34 favored Embera-Katío families, 20 of which have been relocated since 2014 in Quebrada Arriba hamlet, while another 14 groups live in the Dojuró reservation. These groups suffered forced displacement more than 10 years ago from Alto Andágueda reservation (Chocó).

According to Wilson Córdoba Mena, director of the Victims Unit in Antioquia, “with this sixth humanitarian aid received this year, food security and habitat conditions are guaranteed for this indigenous population affected by the armed conflict and in a vulnerable situation”.

He added that "since they suffered the displacement, these communities have been assisted in coordination between the Ethnic Affairs Directorate of the Victims Unit, the mayors, the Antioquia Government and the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, while agreeing with the authorities indigenous peoples their return to their places of origin or their relocation to reestablish their rights".

In addition, as the country's first humanitarian agent, the Victims Unit this year delivered emergency aid to indigenous communities confined and displaced by confrontations between illegal armed groups in other municipalities in Antioquia, such as Murindó and Urrao.

(End/JCM/LMY)