Aida Quilcue

Monday, meeting with Aida Quilcue, leader of the Cauca Regional Indigenous Council in south west Colombia until April, now an influential leader of the Social and Communitarian Minga, a social process which brings together organisations from all social sectors, based around social mobilisation. She was assigned special protective measures by the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights last December when her father, Edwin Legarda, was murdered by the Colombian army in an attack seemingly intended for Aida. Seven soldiers were arrested in April for Mr Legarda’s murder. Richard Solly and Patrick Kane of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign accompanied Aida. Incidentally, she wasn't named Aida after the opera!