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Nazareth Cabrera fights for Colombia’s Indigenous Uitoto with the strength of her words 17 December, 2020 - 20:10
Nazareth Cabrera is like a manicurist, they say. Everything that is bitter, she sweetens and makes good; what is dark, she makes light. This is how she is described among her people here in the Uitoto de Mesay Indigenous community in Araracuara, in Colombia’s Amazonian department of Caquetá. Cabrera is known for defending her people and their land from mining threats, from harassment by illegal armed groups, and from outsiders who seek to impose themselves on the community. Another thing that they say of her: that at age 52, she is not afraid of anything, and that her strength is possessed by few. It shows. The Uitoto people live in the Andoque de Aduche reservation, which they share with the Andoque, Muinane and Nonuya nations. According to legend, it is sacred land. But that did not prevent the governor of the reservation, Milciades Andoque, from asking the Nat