Pubdate: Sun, 26 Aug 2001
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2001 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: John Otis

COLOMBIAN INDIAN GOVERNOR SEEKS ALTERNATIVES

Death Threats From Guerrillas, Paramilitaries

OPAYAN, Colombia -- As a Guambiano Indian in a region ruled by blue-blooded 
political bosses, Floro Tunubala says he faced racism and outright ridicule 
during his campaign for governor last year.

"Some people said, 'We don't want him, because he wears a skirt,' " says 
Tunubala, referring to his anaco, the bright blue woolen kilt worn by most 
Guambianos.

Proud of his heritage, Tunubala refused to tone down his wardrobe. And by 
reminding voters of the corrupt practices of traditional politicians in the 
southern state of Cauca, Tunubala coasted to victory.

In January, he was sworn in as Colombia's first Indian governor.

For many of the nation's estimated 1 million Indians, Tunubala's journey 
from the Guambiano reservation high in the Andes to the colonial-style 
statehouse in Cauca's capital of Popayan serves as an inspiration.

Yet his emergence comes at a critical moment for Colombia's indigenous 
groups, which are increasingly being targeted in the nation's 37-year-old 
civil war.

Tunubala's independent streak and his vocal opposition to U.S.-backed 
efforts to fumigate drug crops have angered government officials in Bogota. 
And due to his strident criticism of Marxist guerrillas and right-wing 
paramilitaries, groups that are fighting each other and operate throughout 
his state, Tunubala has received a string of death threats.

"Floro is a very high-profile figure," says Catalina Toro, a political 
science professor at the University of the Andes in Bogota. "He is trying 
to show that there are alternatives to the war on drugs and to military 
confrontation."

Tunubala, 44, left the Guambiano reservation as a youngster to attend 
school in Popayan. He won a college scholarship to study agricultural 
engineering in Mexico and returned to Colombia as the indigenous rights 
movement was gathering steam.

He took part in a special assembly that drafted a new Colombian 
Constitution in 1991. Through a provision in the magna carta that 
guarantees representation of ethnic minorities in Congress, Tunubala was 
appointed senator and served for three years.

But analysts describe his current post as far more important, because he 
was elected in a statewide vote.

Backed by union leaders, students, peasant organizations and Indian groups, 
Tunubala entered the race for governor as an independent just two months 
before election day. By winning, he broke a century-old stranglehold on 
power by the two main parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives.

"They are still in shock," says Lorenzo Almendra, a Guambiano Indian from 
the town of Silvia. "Cauca has always been run by a few prominent families 
that act like we're still in the colonial period."

Indians make up just 19 percent of Cauca's population, a sign that 
Tunubala's support came from a broad sector of society.

"Non-Indians are starting to believe in Indians," says Francisco Rojas 
Birry, a senator and an Embera Indian. "But that means we have a huge 
responsibility. We must not make mistakes."

Though his every move is being scrutinized, Tunubala has not shied away 
from controversy.

In fact, he has become one of the nation's most outspoken and influential 
critics of Plan Colombia, President Andres Pastrana's effort to crack down 
on the illegal drug trade with the help of millions of dollars in U.S. 
assistance.

A cornerstone of the plan involves fumigating crops of coca and opium 
poppies, the raw materials for cocaine and heroin. Thousands of peasant 
farmers in Cauca grow drug crops to survive.

But Tunubala calls the program a dead end.

He says that chemical defoliants used by police crop-dusters poison the 
land and water and also kill food crops, such as corn and yucca. Farmers 
who lose their drug crops will simply move deeper into the wilderness to 
grow more, he says.

Rather than antagonizing peasants, Tububala says, the government should 
encourage peasants to eradicate their own plots of poppies and coca in 
exchange for government assistance to grow legal products.

The Pastrana government has backed a wide range of crop-substitution 
programs. Yet police spray planes, some flown by civilian U.S. pilots 
contracted by the State Department, continue to fumigate drug crops across 
much of the country.

"We are trying to defend our people," says Tunubala, as he sits in his 
office wearing a bowler hat, a black cape and a red scarf. "How would you 
like it if foreigners came to Florida and began fumigating even though the 
governor of Florida was against it?"

Along with two other Colombian governors, Tunubala has traveled to the 
United States and Europe to denounce the fumigation program and to urge 
independent groups to provide rural development funds directly to the 
states rather than to the Pastrana government.

After a visit to Washington last month, Tunubala came away with the 
impression that U.S. drug warriors are out of touch with Colombian reality.

"They know all about the number of acres of drugs, but they know nothing 
about the social problems in Colombia," he says.

Critics of drug fumigation are often dismissed as allies of the guerrillas 
or the paramilitaries, because both groups are deeply involved in the 
illegal narcotics trade and fund their war, in part, with drug profits.

But Tunubala is largely immune to such accusations due to his stature as a 
governor and as a longtime Indian-rights advocate.

However, his barnstorming and his efforts to promote a greater autonomy for 
Colombia's southern states have led to accusations that Tunubala and a few 
other outspoken governors are scheming to form a break-away republic.

"It's very dangerous for a group of governors, just because they are angry 
with the president, to proclaim independence for a region," says Sen. Juan 
Martin Caicedo.

Tunubala smiles at such comments and points out that he and Pastrana are 
old friends. But he insists that Colombia's states have been deliberately 
underfunded and ignored by the Bogota government. To get anything done 
during his three-year term, Tunubala says he must find a way to pay for his 
own projects.

Despite his crossover appeal, Tunubala never strays far from his roots.

He spent a recent Sunday in the village of Toez at an emergency conference 
of Cauca's indigenous groups. The meeting had been called to discuss a new 
wave of violence by paramilitaries and the guerrillas.

Both armed groups have stepped up their recruitment of Indian youths and 
frequently trespass on remote reservations. Rojas Birry, the senator, says 
that nearly 200 Indians have been killed in the past two years, including 
10 prominent tribal leaders in just the last eight months.

Tunubala has urged Indians to remain neutral and to resist overtures from 
the guerrillas and the paramilitaries. As a result, both groups have 
threatened to kill him, forcing Tunubala to work and travel with armed 
bodyguards.

"Cauca is going through some very difficult times," Tunubala says as he 
sips a cup of organic, Indian-grown coffee. "The threats have come from all 
sides. But I believe we are doing the right thing. People can judge me when 
my term is over."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager