Exploding rates of suicide among tribes in Colombia have indigenous leaders and outsiders worried.

More and more young people, often girls, are committing suicide, a once unheard of practice among Colombia's Natives. Among four related tribes, there have been 15 suicides since March 2003.

Some blame Colombia's bloody civil war. Tribal spiritual leaders say the spirits of people killed in the war are coming back to take young people.

Others blame Western encroachment and the loss of traditional culture.

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In a Land Torn by Violence, Too Many Troubling Deaths (The New York Times 11/23)
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