Colombian Police Violently Remove Anti-dam Protestors | Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie

ESMAD (riot police) in Huila, Colombia began the forced removal of the fisher-people, campesinos, miners, day laborers and others who have been blocking the diverting of the Magdalena River for the Quimbo Dam early Tuesday morning. The diverting of the river was being blocked by a peaceful occupation of the area known as Domingo Arias. The ESMAD used tear gas, pepper spray and brutal force to corral the people protecting the Yuma/Guacahayo/Magdalena River. At least six people have been injured, including Asoquimbo member Luis Carlos Trujillo who lost an eye.

Since noon Monday, ESMAD blocked the entrance to the Paso del Colegio Bridge to all traffic except the Quimbo´s constant traffic of workers, engineers and machinery. The President of Asoquimbo, Elsa Ardila, members of regional organizations, Local, National, International Press as well as Observers from the International Observatory for Peace were not permitted to enter, effectively creating a black out of what the State was doing in the area. Only after some journalists did an interview on the air stating they were being kept out and blasting the message from a car, media with documentation from the Ministry of Communication were allowed to enter. Meanwhile, independent journalist and human rights observers were denied entry.

During the ordeal elders, children and expecting mothers were not spared from the baton strikes, punches, kicks and shoves with shields of the ESMAD. One child was removed from their parents and later was returned only after. The people, who were forcibly removed, were taken out in six Chivas (local rural buses) that rushed past those outside and the groups of people were not permitted to interact Those removed were taken back to the towns closest to their community. In the last two Chivas, the fisherman of Hobo forced the drivers to stop and jumped out to unite with those who had been blocked out.

The people occupying the banks of the river were within 30 meters of the shore, which is an area that is legally permitted to the inhabitants of the country as a public area to inhabit freely. When the ESMAD came at everyone with violence, the Defenders of the River held hands and stood in the water. Tear gas and violence were then used to force people out. The Mayor of the Municipality of Paicol, Norberto Palomino Ríos, supporting the National Government and Emgesa, issued the order for the forced removal of about 200 affected people in the area.

While the local autonomous environmental organization CAM pronounced in a meeting with the Minister of Interior last week they would be present for the forced removal, no one ever showed. Both the Vice Ministers of Environmental and the Interior refused to give any statements to Miller Dussan of Asoquimbo, during the removal while being blocked from entering the site. Meanwhile the Ombudsman from the Paicol Mayor’s Office road in the boats used by Emgesa workers and watched the removal from the construction site across the river.

Currently the affected people of the Quimbo Dam are healing themselves to move forward with the necessary actions to Defend the Yuma-Guacahayo-Magdalena River.

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Honorable,
FRANK PEARL
Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development
Republic of Colombia

Please receive this Cordial Greeting.

After the 15 day strike that was realized by the communities affected by Emgesa-Endesa-Enel´s Quimbo Hydroelectric Project, the oil explorations in the Matambo Bloc of the Emerald Energy and the communities of southwest Huila affected by the damaged Paso del Colegio bridge and its respective alternate routes greet and support the agreement signed between the communities and the departmental and national authorities.

None the less, we feel the need to draw attention to following concerns:

The National Authority of Environmental Licenses – ANLA- by means of Resolution 123/2011 lifted the sanctions placed by Resolution 1096 on Emgesa without verifying with the affected communities. For instance, the factor of the “loan for use agreement” should in reality work to avoid the altering of the socio-economic systems of the local inhabitants, though the evidence shows that hundreds of people in the affected area have not recuperated their employment or subsistence methods.

The highly unstable tectonics evidenced in the area of the Quimbo Dam´s construction puts in risk not only the mobility of the region though also the life ways of the local inhabitants

The alteration of the Act signed in Bogotá last week on January 17th between the communities, national and departmental authorities where the fisher people were excluded and rumors spread causing confusion within the local population.

Recognizing the disposition of the Ministry to guarantee the environmental and social rights of the local population we respectfully request that:

a. Immediately suspend the redirecting of the Magdalena River as the primary appeal until the denouncements against the project are clarified and that the concerns of the communities affected by the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project are addressed.

In Resolution 1096/2011 the Ministry of Environment recognized previously unforeseen impacts that “demonstrate the urgency for a tool to identify and evaluate the vulnerability of different populations to avoid the detriment of the well-being of the displaced peoples by these impacts.” None the less, these people have not been included in the census and their concerns and preoccupations have increased due to the declarations of the general management of Emgesa affirmed to a local newspaper that “new compensations will not result from the roundtable plenaries from January 25th-30th and in fact will only compensate those indicated by the environmental license”. (La Nación, “No habrá compensaciones adicionales”: Emgesa. Enero 19 /2012.)

b. Initiate a discussion about the conceptualization of the “affected”, and that this be the reference point to be strictly adhered to by the corporations that affect peoples and communities.

c. Move forward with the necessary investigations to have an in depth understanding of the geologic and seismic activity in the area of the dam construction. In the world there are more than 100 catastrophic seismic events that have been exacerbated by dams; Colombia should not join this bitter list.

d. Expose the truth publically about the false document that was distributed within the region.

c.c. Contraloría y Procuraduría General de la Nación, Senadores y Diputados, Corporación del Alto Magdalena, Ministerio del Interior y Vicepresidencia de la República.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

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