“As the U’wa Nation, we have a special mission for the Blue Planet, our Mother Earth, which is to defend her, protect her, safeguard her. Not just for the U’wa but for the whole world. This is the essence of the U’wa struggle from time immemorial.”
U’wa leader Heber Tegria
On April 25 and 26, a legal journey initiated over 25 years ago by Colombia’s U’wa Indigenous people will culminate in a hearing before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. As the U’wa have defended their territory from oil companies, mining projects, and unwanted eco-tourism efforts on their sacred sites, they have complemented legal strategies with community mobilization, campaigning, and important protection of their territories through spiritual work.
Amazon Watch is privileged to have been invited to accompany the hearing in Santiago, Chile. And our team won’t be alone: The U’wa also encouraged other Indigenous peoples from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to stand in solidarity with them, an initiative to which we are providing financial and logistical support.
To demonstrate a united legal front, those Indigenous peoples – the Kichwa of Sarayaku, the Siona of Buenavista, and the Achuar people of Peru – are also providing amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) statements to demonstrate the similar threats they face from extractive industries and how they are also resisting nonviolently.
A strong Inter-American Court ruling in favor of the U’wa people’s collective rights would have a ripple effect in favor of Indigenous rights across Colombia and beyond.
What is the U’wa case?
Though Indigenous peoples from Colombia have brought cases before the Inter-American human rights system writ large, this is the first time the government will have to address issues of Indigenous peoples’ rights before the Inter-American Court. Overall, the vision is to advance legal precedent in favor of Indigenous peoples’ right to free, prior, and informed consent, which is important for the exercise of many other rights.
Key issues that will be argued include differing visions of “development,” the U’wa right to control the natural resources within not only their titled resguardo (Indigenous reservation) but also within their ancestral territories, and the tensions around control of the Cocuy National Park, which contains the snow-capped mountain peak of Zizuma, one of the most sacred sites for the U’wa. These are also issues being faced by other Indigenous peoples in Colombia and beyond, and the rulings of the Inter-American Court will be watched closely for their applicability to many other situations across the region.
Dating back to Amazon Watch’s founding in 1996, we have walked a path alongside the U’wa. According to U’wa leader and spiritual elder Berito Kuwaru’wa, our organization was actually created by Sira (God) as a response to U’wa prayers for global solidarity. At the time, the U’wa were emerging as an international symbol of resistance and inspiration while they vigorously opposed plans by U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum to drill within U’wa ancestral territory.
Since that period – and in close collaboration with many allied organizations like Rainforest Action Network, EarthRights International and Mujer U’wa – we have supported the U’wa on numerous fronts. These include but are not limited to: organizing innumerable international advocacy trips for U’wa leaders, carrying out civil disobedience actions at oil company headquarters, supporting international media coverage of U’wa leaders, and providing financial backing for U’wa actions within their own territory.
And the threats facing the U’wa remain latent. Though Colombia’s current government has pledged to not open new oil drilling projects, they are working to re-activate existing projects like those within U’wa territory. For the first time in several years, hundreds of U’wa community members recently rallied outside the Gibraltar gas plant to reiterate their opposition to either existing or expanded oil and gas extraction on their lands.
We call on you to follow the U’wa case and to put your solidarity into action by amplifying their calls. Last month, Amazon Watch hosted a conversation between U’wa leaders and international allies, at one point featuring U’wa leader Heber Tegria, who currently represents the U’wa before the Permanent Coordination Roundtable of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC).
We leave you with Heber’s comments from that event, which offer an excellent summary of the U’wa situation, past and present. We hope they inspire you to follow their work at the Inter-American Court over the next few weeks:
I’m reiterative in my joy that you all continue listening, accompanying, and contributing to our process.
Whereas this is a space for conversation, I would like to start by remembering some historic moments, reuniting through the word, thought and spirituality.
As the U’wa Nation, we have a special mission for the Blue Planet, our Mother Earth, which is to defend her, protect her, safeguard her. Not just for the U’wa but for the whole world. This is the essence of the U’wa struggle for time immemorial.
The defense of territory in its entirety is what characterizes the U’wa. We understand oil as the blood of mother earth and water as an element that strengthens our spirituality and our cultural permanence within our territory.
That which we have achieved over the last 20, 25, 30 years, we have achieved thanks to you – our political and spiritual allies from around the world – and our ancestral spirits and divinities.
Back around 1992, when the oil company Occidental Petroleum, alongside Ecopetrol and the Colombian government entered our ancestral territories, we began an exercise of territorial defense. But it is important to take into account that the policy of the Colombian government and many other governments is to exploit our Mother Earth for her riches. This is a source for the country’s economy.
And where are these resources – which are sacred and divine to us – found? Within our territories are oil, gold, water, and air. So this is to say that our ancestral territories are a focal point for constant pressure from the government and international economies.
We must understand that the U’wa Indigenous people, as with all Indigenous peoples of Colombia, have always been under continuous pressure from not only the Colombian government but also national and international extractive companies. A concrete case – we are under constant pressure of the Colombian oil company, Ecopetrol.
Whereas in the early 2000’s, Occidental theoretically left our territory, in reality it continued in our territory in Arauca where it maintained concessions. We say in that moment Ecopetrol continued developing exploratory and exploitation activities in our territory.
In 2006 the U’wa published a hard-hitting political posture toward the State and the world. It was that we wouldn’t accept any extractive processes within our territories, both for the resguardo (reservation) and our ancestral lands.
However, even though we put out strong and clear postures, the government continues arriving in our territories with extractive projects for oil and mining, including coal.
Though we talk about the Gibraltar Block, the government strategy is to divide and fragment this block. Before it was called the Catleya Block, then the Siriri Block. In 2014, they started to talk about the Magallanes well. Thanks to you, our allies, we were able to carry out a large mobilization in 2014, through which we were able to temporarily suspend the Magallanes project.
This was a great triumph. In Colombia, few projects are actually suspended. Now eight years later, the project continues to be suspended. However, the project’s environmental license is still current.
International solidarity has been important for us, very significant, and a source of encouragement within the U’wa Nation that it’s worth it to continue defending our territories, culture, and our ancestral uses and customs.
So even though we were able to suspend Magallanes, just in the last several months Ecopetrol and the government are generating new pressures. We learned that the national government – led by Ecopetrol – has plans to advance in the prospection of a new project called Well 4, which once again is generating new concerns.
Additionally, they are also issuing mining concessions in our ancestral territories in the states of Norte de Santander, Santander, Arauca, and Casanare.
From our spirituality and positive thinking, we thank you for continuing to accompany us!
