BOGOTA, Colombia — (AP) — The United Nations human rights office in Colombia warned Tuesday that five Indigenous groups in a storied mountain range face “physical and cultural” extinction, a critical threat that stems from armed groups fighting over their territory and insufficient state protection.
Scott Campbell, Colombia’s representative for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement that the risk of physical and cultural extinction of Indigenous People of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is “an ongoing tragedy that we can and must prevent.”
Campbell urged the Colombian government to protect the Kogui, Wiwa, Kankuamo, Arhuaco, and Ette Naka Indigenous groups, whose combined population is approximately 54,700 people.
Campbell’s statement followed a visit to the Sierra Nevada region, where U.N. officials spoke with representatives of these Indigenous tribes.
“These groups are under various forms of cruel attack from non-state armed groups,” Campbell said, highlighting the “devastating …