The indigenous leader and authority Erik Ánderson Menza Pavi, 32 years old, was shot dead in Toribío, in the troubled Colombian department of Cauca (southwest), denounced this Sunday the Association of Indigenous Cabildos of North Cauca (ACIN).

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“On Saturday, 12 April, 32-year-old Erik Anderson Menza Pavi, a Khabuwes’sx authority (…), was killed. His body was found with gunshot wounds on the side of the road,” ACIN said in a statement.

Menza held the position of authority Khabuwe’sx (guard) in his territory, added information from ACIN, which recalled him as a man “committed to community work and care of life and territory.”

“We alert the communities, the national government and the international community about the acts of violence that continue to be committed against the indigenous population in northern Cauca,” said ACIN.

For its part, the Office in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the murder of Menza, while expressing its “deep concern for systematic attacks on the Nasa people, their authorities, guards, elders/elders, children and women”.

“These systematic attacks put at risk the survival of this people,” added the Office in its X account, which recalled that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted “collective precautionary measures to the Nasa project life plan.”

This year, according to ACIN, three indigenous leaders have been murdered in Toribío, an area where the Dagoberto Ramos front, a dissident of the FARC, is strongly present.

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