Although the children of Magüi Payán were given musical instruments, the municipality of Nariño has been marked by the neglect of the State and the violence

Through social networks, a video made originally by James Tenorio, leader of the Young Educators Foundation and mayor of Magüí Payán, was made viral, in which several children appear playing their instruments, made by hand with cans, drums or buckets that contain water and kitchen utensils, while marching through one of the uncovered streets of Magüí Payán, Nariño.

Leer en español: ¿Que hay detrás de los niños de Magüí Payán y su banda musical?

The recognition achieved, led to their being invited and brought from their town to the ceremony of the reconnaissance of troops of the Military Force, in the Military School of Bogota. There, attended the president Iván Duque, his wife María Juliana Ruiz, the defense minister, Guillermo Botero, the vice president, Marta Lucia Ramírez, senior military officers, among others. All descended from the rostrum and gave new instruments to the children present, which were donated by the musical house Ortizo, thanks to the campaign made by several media, including W Radio.

However, not everything is "rosy", because the reality faced by the population of Magüí Payán for years does deserve a prompt State intervention.

Magüí Payán: between violence and oblivion

An investigation carried out by Semana magazine revealed that in the town of Pueblo Nuevo, of Magüí Payán, which is reached only by the Patía river, the ELN killed 13 people who were completely defenseless. "This is an area that at that time was controlled by dissidents of the Farc. The "elenos" (members of the ELN) broke IGNORE INTO a party and fired at whatever moved. Three children who ran out were missing for three days. There was so much anxiety, that nine of the dead were for two days out in the open because not even the Army could arrive."

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The relatives of those who died in the attack of the ELN took refuge full of fear in Magüí Payán, says the investigation by Semana. What happened, leaves a precedent of violence that both children and adults have lived in the municipality, which lives from illegal mining and coca crops, according to the same means.

The mayor of the time, Walter Quiñonez, said in an interview to Semana, in relation to the inhabitants who live in the nearby villages, that "the one who gets sick comes to ask for drugs; the one who dies, the coffin; who wants to be transported, gasoline. The people have nothing. Touch to give them food, everything ", which is a sample of how forgotten the State has to this territory, which, according to Week, presents cases of malnutrition, does not have good access roads, does not have an aqueduct and is precarious. medical care.

The SOS for Iván Duque

Among those attending the event held with the children of the musical band at the Escuela Militar de Bogotá, was the former mayor of Magüí Payán, Walter Quiñonez, and the personero, Ramiro Angulo, who, apart from thanking the Government for his gesture, made an SOS to the State, currently represented by Iván Duque, asking them to go to Magüí Payán and appear, "either with the road or with the aqueduct that they do not have: That they go there, because the needs are many".

De esta forma la banda de paz de #MagüíPayán dale sale del Campo de Paradas de la #EscuelaMilitar. Con instrumentos musicales hacen patria desde el sur del país. CC @FuerzasMilCol @infopresidencia @COL_EJERCITO pic.twitter.com/RtW3ScQ70x

— Mindefensa (@mindefensa) 14 de agosto de 2018

Although the video of the children achieved an enormous media impact, the underlying problems such as the violence that is experienced, the lack of access roads, the precarious medical attention that the population of Magüí Payán has had, was in the background. Probably, if it had been the contrary, the government of Iván Duque, before the noise caused by the media, would have placed the magnifying glass and ordered the installation of the much-needed aqueduct, the repair of the access roads or the construction of a hospital.

A trip by President Iván Duque to Magüí Payán, in which he recognizes his problems and implements measures to solve them with the help of the mayor's office and human rights organizations, would make the forgetting of the State stop being part of his reality and become part of the book of its history.

LatinAmerican Post | Edwin Gustavo Guerrero Nova