Colombian bishop laments plight of the Wayuu

February 18, 2016

Nearly 4,800 children from Colombia’s indigenous Wayuu people have died of malnutrition or lack of safe drinking water over the past eight years, according to a report from the Spanish news agency EFE.

Lamenting the indifference of “the political class,” Bishop Héctor Salah Zuleta of Riohacha said that drought and the closure of the Colombian-Venezuelan border have worsened the plight of the Wayuu, the Fides news agency reported.

 

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Further information:

• Wayuu communities abandoned by all (Fides)
• Girl dies from malnutrition in Colombian Indian community (EFE)
• Colombia's abandoned Wayuu people (Al Jazeera)