They came by the dozens—young men, mothers with babies strapped to their backs, shamans and tribal leaders. Dressed in dark, woolen shawls and black bowler hats, the Indians leaned into their thick wooden staffs as they crossed the rivers and climbed the steep, green mountains of Colombia’s Central Cordillera. They were looking for Manuel Antonio Ramos, a Paéz Indian governor who disappeared shortly after setting off on his mule for the highlands on May 1 from the town of El Playón, in northwest Cauca state. Few participants in the June 13 search in Cauca’s Alto Naya region held out hope they would find their governor, one of 20 Paéz Indians believed assassinated or abducted over the past year in Cauca by left-wing guerrillas... [Log in to read more]