Who Are the Nasa?
The Nasa (formerly known as Páez) are Colombia's second-largest indigenous people, numbering approximately 250,000 primarily in the Cauca department of southwestern Colombia. They speak Nasa Yuwe, a language isolate unrelated to any other known language family. The Nasa are renowned for their strong political organization, territorial resistance, and cultural preservation despite centuries of violence. Their resguardos (collective territories) in the Andes have been battlegrounds between guerrillas, paramilitaries, and the Colombian state. The Nasa have developed unique nonviolent resistance strategies while maintaining armed indigenous guards.
Quintin Lame and Resistance
Manuel Quintín Lame (1880-1967) was a Nasa leader who organized indigenous resistance to land dispossession in the early 20th century. Self-educated in Colombian law, he led movements to recover resguardo lands and resist hacienda expansion. Repeatedly imprisoned, he became a symbol of indigenous rights. His legacy inspired later movements, including the guerrilla group bearing his name. The Nasa tradition of resistance—combining legal advocacy, direct action, and territorial defense—traces to Lame's organizing. This history of organized resistance distinguishes the Nasa from many indigenous peoples who faced colonialism more individually.
Indigenous Guard
The Guardia Indígena (Indigenous Guard) is the Nasa's distinctive institution of nonviolent territorial defense. Guard members, recognizable by their staffs of authority (bastones de mando), monitor resguardo boundaries, expel armed actors, and maintain community security without weapons. The Guard has physically confronted guerrillas, paramilitaries, and military forces, relying on collective action rather than armed force. This approach has sometimes succeeded where violence failed, and sometimes resulted in assassinations of Guard members. The Guard represents a creative response to Colombia's armed conflict—maintaining autonomy through organized civilian resistance.
Contemporary Nasa
Modern Nasa are among the most politically active indigenous peoples in the Americas. The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) coordinates political action across resguardos. Protests against mining, military operations, and land grabs regularly draw thousands. Nasa Yuwe language programs work in schools; the language has more speakers than most Colombian indigenous languages. Violence continues—activists and guards are regularly assassinated. Coca cultivation and drug trafficking pressure communities. How the Nasa maintain political organization and cultural practices while surviving ongoing conflict shapes this warrior people's determined resistance.
References
- Rappaport, J. (2005). Intercultural Utopias: Public Intellectuals, Cultural Experimentation, and Ethnic Pluralism in Colombia
- Castrillón Arboleda, D. (1973). El indio Quintín Lame
- CRIC. (2020). Historia del movimiento indígena en Colombia