Colombia: Army Shoots Peasant in the Foot During Operation Against Illegal Mining
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a report from the democratic newspaper Nueva Democracia on recent attacks from the repressive forces on a protest in Mandur, Colombia.
On September 10, in the village of Mandur, in the municipality of Puerto Guzmán, Putumayo, troops from the 27th Engineer Battalion carried out an operation to destroy machinery used in illegal open-pit gold mining. During the operation, around 80 local peasants attempted to expel the Army, some of them armed with machetes or stones. During the retreat, the army fired at the ground, injuring one of the farmers who was there in the foot.
The army has said that this act was in self-defense, even though they have rifles and the peasants have stones, and criminalized the peasants by declaring that they were being used by armed groups.
This incident adds to the dozens of riots that have taken place in the country over the last year. Some media outlets speak of 35 riots, others of 50. In several of them, peasant masses have captured and held soldiers for a few hours or days.
