Local Residents Forcibly Remove Soldiers from Toribio, Colombia
Last week, I reported on the standoff between indigenous residents of Toribio, Colombia. In sum, residents demanded that government security forces and FARC rebels leave native territory and take their fight somewhere else.
In response, the Colombian defense minister not only refused, but suggested that the military would dig in deeper.
Not shy in carrying through with their threat that if the military did not voluntarily withdraw locals would remove them by force, Toribio residents took action this afternoon.
The Washington Post reports that “Several hundred Nasa Indians massed Tuesday against the six soldiers guarding the hilltop. Then a few dozen Indians attacked the soldiers with sticks and rocks. When the soldiers refused to budge, the Indians dragged them off.”
MSNBC ran some extraordinary photos of the clash, which make clear that this standoff is far from over.
