Objective:

to understand the suicidal behavior that has affected the indigenous peoples of Colombia along with its social determination processes between 1993 and 2013.

Methodology:

this was a qualitative research project using the interpretive-hermeneutic approach and a narrative analysis. Data were obtained from written press and oral sources.

Results:

suicidal behaviors were observed among the indigenous peoples not only in recent times, but also during historical events, particularly throughout the colonial period, when collective suicide was a form of resistance against invasion and oppression. Today, the emergence of suicidal behavior is due to structural problems and to the imposition of social processes which contradict the indigenous peoples’ views on the world, thus altering their life conditions and their interactions with the land.

Discussion:

for the indigenous peoples of Colombia, the closest interpretation to this problem is associated with an exacerbation of spiritual beings and existences that alters the land’s order and is caused by foreign disrupting processes such as the presence of armed actors, transnational corporations, settlers, direct and structural violence against indigenous people and territory dispossession.

Conclusions:

suicidal behavior among the indigenous peoples of Colombia must be understood and approached as the emergence of destructive structural processes of their own ways of living. These lifestyles ensure the quality of life of the original inhabitants of these lands, but are being limited by the violent invasion of their territories at the hands of the majority society.

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