11 November 2021
Bilbao Campus
On 11 November, a small ceremony was held in tribute to Cristina Bautista Taquinas, an indigenous leader who was assassinated late in October 2019. The students on the Expert Diploma in Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples, who are in Bilbao, together with staff from the Institute of Human Rights and authorities from the University of Deusto remembered the defender by placing a picture of her photo and a bibliographic review in the Institute's meeting space.
Cristina Bautista Taquinás was born in Toribío (Cauca) on 12 November 1988. She studied Social Work at the Universidad del Valle in Santiago de Calí (Colombia). She had a deep vocation for community work, intervention and assistance to people and families who were victims of the conflict in Nasa territory. Her motivation was to ensure compliance with the legislation on care, assistance, reparation and restitution of rights for people affected by the armed conflict. Cristina was an indigenous woman born in a context where 98% of the population is indigenous, and an area that is considered one of the most insecure places in the Colombian state. In Toribío more than 15,000 people (2016 data) somehow underwent some form of experience that positions them as victims of the conflict (displacement, attacks, harassment, loss of property, etc.) and Cristina was aware that the effects of the conflict were part of her daily life. This is precisely what motivated her at all times to continue studying, learning, sharing experiences with other communities, and leading processes that sought the well-being of her community. The path she chose was to work as a defender of life and territory through the defence and promotion of human rights.
In 2017, Cristina had the opportunity to study at the University of Deusto as a fellow of the Human Rights Training Programme for Indigenous Leaders, which is taught jointly by the Pedro Arrupe Human Rights Institute and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Her strength, integrity and motivation to work for the well-being of her community was a constant feature of her life. On her return to Colombia, she continued her work as a defender and thanks to her leadership style she became a neehwe'sx authority (ancestral authority), an activity in which she was assassinated on 29 October 2019 in Tacueyó (Colombia), along with five other people, by FARC dissidents.
