Raizal
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (~70,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina | |
| Languages | |
| San Andrés–Providencia Creole, English, Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Protestant, Roman Catholic | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Afro-Colombian, Jamaican people, Miskito people |
The Raizals are a Protestant Afro-Caribbean ethnic group or a mulatto ethnic group of mixed Afro-Caribbean and British descent, speaking the San Andrés-Providencia Creole, an English Creole, living in the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, at the Colombian San Andrés y Providencia Department, off the Colombian Caribbean Coast. They are recognized by the Colombian authorities as one of the Afro-Colombian ethnic groups under the multicultural policy pursued since 1991. Some notable raizals are musician/composer/producer Elkin Robinson from Providence, and producer/composer/singer Jacob Bush (DJ BUXXI) from San Andres.
In 2005, Raizal constituted 57% of the 60,000 inhabitants of the San Andrés y Providencia Department, according to official statistics, but other sources claim they are now a minority population in the archipelago, as a consequence of migration from and to mainland Colombia. The Raizal community in the mainland is represented by the Organización de la comunidad raizal con residencia fuera del archipiélago de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina (Orfa, based in Bogotá).
In 1903 the local Raizal population of the Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands rejected an offer from the USA to separate from Colombia as Panama had done.
Towards the end of the 1960s, separatist movements became active in the archipelago. The first separatists, an underground movement, were led by Marcos Archbold Britton, who addressed a memorandum to the United Nations, asking for the inclusion of the archipelago in the list of colonized territories. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) paid a private visit to the archipelago shortly afterwards, arousing suspicion in mainland Colombia.
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Wikipedia