Pedaling for peace: the indigenous CRIC team that transforms cycling into Cauca

A group of indigenous young people from Cauca is changing the history of Colombian sport. The cycling team of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) Not only competes: pedaling for identity, hope and peace in a region marked by violence.

On the roads of Cauca, a deep transformation is brewing. There, a group of young cyclists from the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) is demonstrating that sport can be a way for pride, identity and peace. The team, led by Jimy Moralesgroups athletes from Nasa, Kokonuko, Totoroez and Misak villagestogether with young peasants and Boyacenses corridors, in a project that transcends competition for a commitment to life.

“We wanted to show young people another life alternative: That you can live from sport. In Cauca there have always been very good cyclists, but many could not get ahead due to lack of support, ”says Morales, 25 years old, today technical director of the team. Jimy was born in the Misak people and has experience competing in Europe.

For more than a decade he was active cyclist and ran with the Trek Junior and GS Maltinti Lampadari teams in Italywhere he became runner -up in the return to Catalonia and third in the return to Cantabria.

“It was a very beautiful experience, of great learning. For the pandemic I could not continue running in Europe; it was my best moment, but I had to return to Colombia. Then I did not favor age, so I decided to study sports training at the Autonomous University of Popayán,” he recalls.

Back in his land, Jimy found in CRIC an opportunity to apply everything learned.
Together with Delio Trujillo, he shaped a dream: to create a professional cycling indigenous team that opened roads to the youth of Cauca.

“He 80 % of team cyclists are indigenous; The others are not, so we say that it is an intercultural team. We start with the Popayán classic, then we participate in Nariño and the Tour of Boyacá. This year we already registered the team before the Colombian Federation of Cycling as a professional and we have been in the entire national calendar, ”he explains with pride.

The CRIC, a historical organization in the defense of the original peoples of the Colombian Southwest, has expanded its work to sport. Morales details that today there are five sports initiatives underway: cycling, athletics, skating, swimming and arc and arrow.

“We have been able to give the boys things that I did not have: bicycles, materials, uniforms, helmets, sneakers, cyclocomputer … even financial support. That makes me very happy. They have responded with commitment and results,” he adds.

One of those boys is the elite category cyclist Leison Damián Maca Viveros, from the Kokonuko peoplebelonging to the Cabildo de San José de Julumito, in Popayán. He is 27 years old and his story is also marked by effort and family. “My passion for cycling was born thanks to my father, who always liked this sport. From 10 or 12 years we saw together the Tour of France and the return to Spain. I actually preferred football, but at age 17 my dad literally forced me to bicycle literally,” he recalls with a laugh.

After passing through the Supergiros professional teamLeison ran out of squad until Morales contacted him: “That was when Jimy Morales, who was starting the Cric project, called me and invited me to join to help boost it. We started last year and from there the project began to grow.”

In it Classic RCN SYSTEM 2025the team was the protagonist: they achieved Three titles and they were measured equally with the greats of the country.

“Being able to bring the image of CRIC at the national level and do it with a great role is a source of pride. We were protagonists, we won three titles and we mark a part of the history of Colombian cycling as an indigenous team,” says Maca, who this year was crowned champion of the fly goals and the big difference, in addition to fighting for the special sprint.

“Our motto is ‘Pedalea for Peace’. We want young people to see in sport a way out, a different way of life, that they can travel, know and fulfill dreams. We are saving lives and creating hope. ” His voice becomes more firm when talking about his land: “In Cauca violence, drug trafficking and the presence of armed groups have greatly affected youth. With this project we want to move them away from that context. Each team cyclist has become a reference in its territory. “

Your partner Edwar Rondón Buitrago22 years old, comes from another landscape: Pachavita, BoyacáLand of cold mountains and peasant traditions. “I started in cycling for my dad, who has always been an amateur. As a child he instilled love for this sport, although I liked football more at first.” His first team was Team Tibaná, then ran with Team Boyacá And in 2024 he lived the experience of competing in Portugal with him Windmob portos.

At the beginning of 2025 he thought about retiring: “I was looking for a team and I couldn’t.

Since then, Edwar has accumulated outstanding results: second in the mountain classification in the return to youth, Sub-23 fourth in the Return to Colombia and Podium in the classic future stars, along with his teammate Leison Maca. Recently, Edwar was the best rookie of the classic RCN systematécédito 2025. “Here I feel like in a family, there is an atmosphere of companionship and we all work for the same goal. There are no envy, only mutual support.”

Team training takes place on routes that unite Popayán, Totoró, Silvia, Santander de Quilichao and El Bordo. “We train between 3 and 4 hours a day and rest only one day a week,” says Morales. The demand is high, but the results are noticed.

In it Classic RCN SYSTEM 2025he National Cric Equipment was revelation: “We were hand in hand with big teams. That trust has been built with work and with the experience I had in Europe, which I try to convey. Mentally I always tell you that we are all equal, that no one is less than anyone.”

The team is also a symbol for its communities. Morales highlights stories that excite him: “For example, we have Fabián Penagos, Toribío, survivor of a chiva bomb. Cycling changed his life; before he did not speak and now he gives interviews. We also have a 15 -year -old boy, national champion of Ciclomontañismo, who lost his father in the armed conflict. Cases like those show us that cycling can save lives.

The impact of the project already feels on the territories. “With this project We have reduced the risk of recruitment. There are now many children practicing cycling and other sports. We want to show that you can live from sport and build peace from the territories, ”explains Morales.

Leison Maca complements it with a reflection: “Sport moves young people away from bad roads, teaches them discipline, responsibility and commitment. Although not everyone becomes professionals, sport forms better people.”

In the future, Jimy Morales dreams of great: “For next year we want to form a prejuvenile, youth, female team and keep the elite and sub-23 categories. We will not go only for the shirts, but to fight the general classification. In a few years I imagine the team as a continental team, running in Europe. That is the dream. “

Each pedaling of the CRIC team is a declaration of resistance, identity and hope.

“That young people fight for their dreams, never stop dreaming. That they prepare and follow the example of the boys of the CRIC team. Dreams are fulfilled. ” Thus closes Morales, convinced that in Cauca, that land of mountains, fog and indomitable spirit, is also pedaling for life.