Resguardos de Indígenas

Abstract

This image contains news about the feeling of regret because the laws enacted on October 11, 1821, March 6, 1832 and June 2, 1831, intended to improve the situation of the indigenous people, have had the opposite effect . These laws, enacted by the legislators of Colombia and New Granada, have driven many indigenous people to begging due to the greed and ignorance of some. The legislative, executive and provincial chamber provisions that seek to prevent these evils have been circumvented or misinterpreted, allowing the gradual dispossession of indigenous properties. The laws intended to separate portions of land to encourage population, provide schools and cover the costs of surveying and distribution, leaving the rest to be divided among the tributary indigenous people. However, in many parishes, indigenous people have been dispossessed of these lands. Priests sometimes demand payments, and in other cases, indigenous people have sold their land despite legal prohibition, often under the influence of politicians or personal interests who facilitate these sales. In some cases, indigenous people have indefinitely pledged their land to immediate owners, resulting in the loss of their land despite legal provisions. In all parishes, there is a constant tendency to take over indigenous reservations. These indigenous people, without the ability to defend their rights and deceived by those who should protect them, cannot preserve their property or understand their true interests. News published in the Constitutional newspaper of Cundinamarca, No. 129, April 3, 1842.