The conflict in Cauca between the Nasa and Misak indigenous peoples for land has left a toll of seven dead. All of the dead are indigenous, not one bourgeois, not one landlord, and neither are there any high ranking government officials, police or military i.e. nobody who influences or decides upon land policy. I am not asking for them to kill anyone, just pointing out that in the land war they killed each other, whilst others sipped coffee at home. However, the indigenous are not the only dead. Various governmental and non-governmental discourses on agrarian reform also died, discourses on indigenous organisations, in particular the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) and the perspective on who are the agents for change in Colombia.
The dispute is centred around an 800 hectare plot of land and a resolution on its fate acknowledging a colonial deed in favour of the Nasa. They are not fighting to take over a 2000 hectare farm belonging to one of the racist oligarchs in Cauca. No, not that. That would require a fight against the state and the rich. The Department of Cauca is one of the most unequal in terms of land distribution. The majority of peasant farms are no more than 1.5 hectares.
Since the founding of the INCORA (Colombian Institute for Agrarian Reform in the 1960s the state’s policy on agrarian reform has been one of market led agrarian reform. The peace accord signed by the FARC does not used the term, agrarian reform but rather rural reform (which are far from being the same thing), but what it proposes is for the state to buy lands and share them out amongst some, though not all peasants. This model does not break with the power structure in the countryside, in fact it strengthens it. State policy is to promote a type of agrarian reform where the peasant is obliged to grow cash crops, industries which are dominated by the large landlords and oligarchs in Colombia.
This model places peasants, indigenous and blacks in a fight amongst themselves for crumbs. This is not the first episode of this nature though the death toll is noteworthy. Once upon a time the Colombian left used to denounce a market led agrarian reform. They stated bluntly that there will a land market or there will be an agrarian reform but both of these proposals cannot coexist.
The land dispute between the Misak and Nasa will not be resolved in a piecemeal fashion. That much is clear. What is required is the regularisation and expansion of the indigenous reserves along with an agrarian reform for the peasants. To do it bit by bit is to invite the indigenous, peasant and black communities to fight amongst themselves for each portion.
Another discourse that died is in relation to indigenous organisations. There are sectors of the left, particularly those close to the now demobilised FARC who denigrate the indigenous peoples and their organisations whilst other sectors idealise them and concede a protagonism to them and their organisations that they often do not deserve. Sometimes they came to Bogotá to protest the situation in Cauca and put forward their demands. Other times they came to support national mobilisations. But in reality they arrived to usurp the moment and try to impose their agenda, as if the future of the country was settled in Cauca. In the large social explosion of 2021 the CRIC joined the strike a few days later and said they were going to Cali. They saw in the strike another opportunity to present themselves as the salvation of the country and in passing lambasted the urban youth fighting in the streets of Cali and Bogotá, vilifying them as vandals:
They tried to reduce the national strike to just another episode in their Minga and the strike as an ancillary activity, and claim the strike began in earnest because they joined it a few days later. In fact in their communiques they always talked about the Minga and the national strike, and in that order. It was a brazen attempt to impose their agenda on a national agenda. But they did not last long in Cali and by May 11th they withdrew, not just because it went badly for them, as it is not the same to fight in the territory that they know than an urban city, but also due to political questions.[2]
Nonetheless, the CRIC is accepted as a permanent reference point, unlike other indigenous organisations, when it doesn’t always deserve to be so. The indigenous peoples are like any other community. There are left wingers and there are also right-wing sectors, amongst them the ex-governor of Cauca Floro Tunubala, who following his term of office went to work with the Coca-Cola Foundation, which is not exactly renowned for its defence of Mother Earth. There are others still that aim to do deals with mining companies in exchange for money.
The dispute is centred around an 800 hectare plot of land and a resolution on its fate acknowledging a colonial deed in favour of the Nasa. They are not fighting to take over a 2000 hectare farm belonging to one of the racist oligarchs in Cauca. No, not that. That would require a fight against the state and the rich. The Department of Cauca is one of the most unequal in terms of land distribution. The majority of peasant farms are no more than 1.5 hectares.
Since the founding of the INCORA (Colombian Institute for Agrarian Reform in the 1960s the state’s policy on agrarian reform has been one of market led agrarian reform. The peace accord signed by the FARC does not used the term, agrarian reform but rather rural reform (which are far from being the same thing), but what it proposes is for the state to buy lands and share them out amongst some, though not all peasants. This model does not break with the power structure in the countryside, in fact it strengthens it. State policy is to promote a type of agrarian reform where the peasant is obliged to grow cash crops, industries which are dominated by the large landlords and oligarchs in Colombia.
This model places peasants, indigenous and blacks in a fight amongst themselves for crumbs. This is not the first episode of this nature though the death toll is noteworthy. Once upon a time the Colombian left used to denounce a market led agrarian reform. They stated bluntly that there will a land market or there will be an agrarian reform but both of these proposals cannot coexist.
The land dispute between the Misak and Nasa will not be resolved in a piecemeal fashion. That much is clear. What is required is the regularisation and expansion of the indigenous reserves along with an agrarian reform for the peasants. To do it bit by bit is to invite the indigenous, peasant and black communities to fight amongst themselves for each portion.
Another discourse that died is in relation to indigenous organisations. There are sectors of the left, particularly those close to the now demobilised FARC who denigrate the indigenous peoples and their organisations whilst other sectors idealise them and concede a protagonism to them and their organisations that they often do not deserve. Sometimes they came to Bogotá to protest the situation in Cauca and put forward their demands. Other times they came to support national mobilisations. But in reality they arrived to usurp the moment and try to impose their agenda, as if the future of the country was settled in Cauca. In the large social explosion of 2021 the CRIC joined the strike a few days later and said they were going to Cali. They saw in the strike another opportunity to present themselves as the salvation of the country and in passing lambasted the urban youth fighting in the streets of Cali and Bogotá, vilifying them as vandals:
We are really going to begin the strike. Because now we see how the city of Cali and the department of Valle de Cauca are being militarised in order to continue repressing the Colombian citizens demands for their rights. We also call upon the vandals to not tarnish the process of the Minga and the national strike.[1]
They tried to reduce the national strike to just another episode in their Minga and the strike as an ancillary activity, and claim the strike began in earnest because they joined it a few days later. In fact in their communiques they always talked about the Minga and the national strike, and in that order. It was a brazen attempt to impose their agenda on a national agenda. But they did not last long in Cali and by May 11th they withdrew, not just because it went badly for them, as it is not the same to fight in the territory that they know than an urban city, but also due to political questions.[2]
Nonetheless, the CRIC is accepted as a permanent reference point, unlike other indigenous organisations, when it doesn’t always deserve to be so. The indigenous peoples are like any other community. There are left wingers and there are also right-wing sectors, amongst them the ex-governor of Cauca Floro Tunubala, who following his term of office went to work with the Coca-Cola Foundation, which is not exactly renowned for its defence of Mother Earth. There are others still that aim to do deals with mining companies in exchange for money.
I took part in an event in the UAIIN (The Indigenous Autonomous Intercultural University where I explained the social, ecological and cultural damage that gold mining would bring and following my presentations a leader warned those in attendance that whilst my interventions were interesting, Colombia needed the gold i.e. to allow the entry of mining companies. Other leaders, however, invited me to hike through their reserves carrying out a series of workshops with the indigenous communities. The indigenous peoples and their organisations are like those of the peasants and urban sectors. There are all sorts. But some sectors of the Left treat them as icons that cannot be criticised. They have even gone as far as the ridiculous point of trying to replicate indigenous rites and ceremonies in events. The Colombian Left has a problem with religious mysticism and superstition and not just in the case of the indigenous. More than once I have had to momentarily withdraw from a secular event, where I was a speaker, whilst a priest or religious person (generally Catholic) blessed the event. It is shameful but common amongst an incoherent Left.
According to some sectors of the Left, the indigenous have an ancestral millennial knowledge. All cultures in the world come from times past. In some cases we can talk of centuries and even millennia, but all those cultures have changed. The idea of a static millennial culture is just as racist as the colonial vision of indigenous cultures. But now that those peoples with their ancestral knowledge and unique wisdom have murdered each other in a fight for land and against an administrative decision of the National Land Agency, where is that unique wisdom? It doesn’t exist because it has never existed.
According to some sectors of the Left, the indigenous have an ancestral millennial knowledge. All cultures in the world come from times past. In some cases we can talk of centuries and even millennia, but all those cultures have changed. The idea of a static millennial culture is just as racist as the colonial vision of indigenous cultures. But now that those peoples with their ancestral knowledge and unique wisdom have murdered each other in a fight for land and against an administrative decision of the National Land Agency, where is that unique wisdom? It doesn’t exist because it has never existed.
Their organisations are like the rest of Colombia, with a particular vision that competes with the rest. In the case of the CRIC it is worth highlighting that it is an indigenous organisation, an NGO and a company that tenders for state contracts and manages a significant chunk of the state budget. So far, under the current government it has signed contracts for 405 billion pesos (roughly 100 million US dollars).[3] Some of them are health related matters and ethno-education, legitimate and necessary things. Though when they hire indigenous teachers for ethno-education they don’t always get good contracts but rather short term contracts etc.. There is a worsening in working conditions compared to the whites they replaced. This is called capitalism and job insecurity a la CRIC. It is worth pointing out that this is not something new under Petro’s government but rather also a reality under the governments of Duque and Santos.
So let the idea of indigenous organisations as the vanguard of social struggles die! There is nothing special about them. They represent a variety of positions, some progressive others openly reactionary. They are simply one political current more in the country and deserve the same respect as other organisations. They are social organisations with wide support base and have played an important role in various struggles at various times. But no more than that. We should no idealise them just like we don’t idealise trade unions that nowadays are a source of corruption and sometimes act as brake on the struggles of their members. We should also remember that the CRIC is just one indigenous organisation. There are many more.
The response to the massacre of indigenous in Cauca has been very poor. And it was a massacre, a massacre being the murder of four or more people in the same space and time. For example, the Congress of the Peoples asked both groups to engage in dialogue and harmony.[4] It was very soft. I cannot conceive of a situation where workers in two different unions in a company murdered each other and all is asked of them is dialogue and harmony.
The market led agrarian reform is buried in the tombs of the dead whose blood spilled on the fields of Cauca in a fight between the poor and not against landlords or the state. The market led agrarian reform is individual, not collective, and always puts some poor in a fight against others, though in the majority of cases the fight is bureaucratic and administrative and does not result in violence, though it is always ideological. It is never against the state and the oligarchy. And all the ancestral wisdom did not give the Nasa or the Misak greater knowledge about their real enemy.
So let the idea of indigenous organisations as the vanguard of social struggles die! There is nothing special about them. They represent a variety of positions, some progressive others openly reactionary. They are simply one political current more in the country and deserve the same respect as other organisations. They are social organisations with wide support base and have played an important role in various struggles at various times. But no more than that. We should no idealise them just like we don’t idealise trade unions that nowadays are a source of corruption and sometimes act as brake on the struggles of their members. We should also remember that the CRIC is just one indigenous organisation. There are many more.
The response to the massacre of indigenous in Cauca has been very poor. And it was a massacre, a massacre being the murder of four or more people in the same space and time. For example, the Congress of the Peoples asked both groups to engage in dialogue and harmony.[4] It was very soft. I cannot conceive of a situation where workers in two different unions in a company murdered each other and all is asked of them is dialogue and harmony.
The market led agrarian reform is buried in the tombs of the dead whose blood spilled on the fields of Cauca in a fight between the poor and not against landlords or the state. The market led agrarian reform is individual, not collective, and always puts some poor in a fight against others, though in the majority of cases the fight is bureaucratic and administrative and does not result in violence, though it is always ideological. It is never against the state and the oligarchy. And all the ancestral wisdom did not give the Nasa or the Misak greater knowledge about their real enemy.
References
[1] RNC (30/04/2021) Para Nacional: el CRIC anuncia que se unirá a las manifestaciones.
[2] CRIC (13/05/2021) El Paro Nacional y el CRIC: La lucha continua. https://www.cric-
[3] El Tiempo (03/07/2025) Los detalles del nuevo millonario contrato entre el Cric y el gobierno: sería el quinto en lo que va del 2025.
[4] See Communiqué (22/05/2026) Mensaje de armonización y lucha.
[1] RNC (30/04/2021) Para Nacional: el CRIC anuncia que se unirá a las manifestaciones.
[2] CRIC (13/05/2021) El Paro Nacional y el CRIC: La lucha continua. https://www.cric-
[3] El Tiempo (03/07/2025) Los detalles del nuevo millonario contrato entre el Cric y el gobierno: sería el quinto en lo que va del 2025.
[4] See Communiqué (22/05/2026) Mensaje de armonización y lucha.
⏩ Gearóid Ó Loingsigh is a political and human rights activist with extensive experience in Latin America.
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