The detention was confirmed by sources close to ACIN and by the Technical Investigation Force of the Police. Valencia was detained in the afternoon of September 15 in Popayán, presumably for an event related to the Social, Indigenous and Communal Minga from 2008. This case adds to the denouncements being made by Human Rights organisms about persecution to the social movement.

 

Juan Houghton, a defender of indigenous people’s rights, confirmed that the detention which occurred in La Agustina, north of Popayán in the afternoon, and that the motive for the arrest employed by the Public Force refers to «an old case in which he was already declared innocent in the first instance trial. It is related to the retention of the soldier Jairo Danilo Chaparral, whom had infiltrated the indigenous mobilizations in 2008 and for this reason he was judged by the community.» In response to these incidents, the court of the ordinary accused the indigenous people of committing «cruel, degrading and inhumane treatment,» and Valencia was judged and absolved of these charges in 2010 when a judge from Popayán determined that the Attorney General did not present sufficient evidence to support his detention.

This incident and the recent threats and attacks against members of the Patriotic Union, add to the persecutions and imprisonments denounced by social organizations like the Patriotic March and the People’s Congress.