According to official figures ten protesters have been killed and over 200 civilians injured, allegedly, due to an excessive use of force by the Colombian Police, as well as, 194 police injured. Widespread social protests took place 9, 10 and 11 September 2020 following the murder of Javier Ordoñez in police custody. The massive protests over his murder should be understood as expression of social outrage accumulated by the repeated police abuse of Colombian citizens.
On Tuesday 8 September 2020 in Bogota Javier Ordóñez, a lawyer and father of two was pinned down, as he left his home, by the police and repeatedly shocked for over two minutes with a Taser. Both he, and others close watching the scene unfold, begged the police to stop. Javier Ordóñez was taken to a police station where it is alleged that he sustained further injuries and died later in hospital from a head wound.
The Police said that Javier Ordonez had violated of coronavirus distancing rules. People took to the streets to protest having seen the video of the incident that was circulating in social media.
People took to the streets in Bogota, Medellin and Cali to protest about the excessive use of violence against Javier Ordóñez by the police. Ten protesters have been killed, over 200 civilians and 194 police injured. There were 70 arrests, mostly in Bogota.
The massive protest and outrage over the murder of Javier Ordoñez should not be understood as an isolated case, but rather as the expression of social fatigue accumulated by the repeated police abuse of Colombian citizens, not only during social protests, but also throughout the pandemic.
The excessive use of force against citizens by a service that is there to protect citizens rights is a threat to democracy. Structural and doctrinal reform of the Colombia’s Police is necessary if it is to truly to adapted to the transition towards peace. This transition towards peace also implies a separation of the Police from the Ministry of Defense. This would allow it to become a civilian police service as recommended by the Office in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rightsin their report to the UN Human Rights Council in February 2020.
TheEU in a statement issued on 11 September 2020stated: “The right to peaceful protest is essential to any democracy and begins with an unambiguous rejection of any act of vandalism and violence intended to generate fear and disorder.”
In an unprecedented move both the Minister of Defence Holmes Trujillo and the Director of the Police, Gustavo Moreno, publicly apologised and asked for forgiveness of the family and from all Colombian citizens for the death of Javier Ordóñez. The two Police officers involved have been charged with the crime of abuse of authority and homicide and five others have been suspended and are under investigation. An autopsy is pending.
Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez urged protesters to refrain from violence and stated on Twitter we now need to “concentrate on achieving justice and structural reform [of the Police].”
ABColombia joins with theEU in recommending that “[a]ll excessive use of violence, by those that are responsible for protecting citizens, must be thoroughly and promptly investigated, the perpetrators brought to justice and institutional measures taken to avoid any repetition in line with the Colombian constitution and international standards.”
It is also essential to ensure that this case is heard in the Ordinary Justice System and not the Military Justice System.
Indigenous Peoples in Colombia struggle to protect their human, cultural and environmental rights. They frequently take these rights abuses to the Colombian Courts. Despite winning the cases companies manage to circumvent the implementation of the Court Orders
Community leaders take immense risks in pursuing legal cases in an effort to ensure that the rule of law functions in Colombia. Between 1 January to 23 August 2020 , the UN stated 97 human rights defenders were reportedly killed in Colombia
You will hear from Indigenous leader whose community is close to the Carbones del Cerrejón Limited Mine in La Guajira Colombia; a lawyer who is supporting these communities from one of the most important human rights law firms in Colombia; a civil society activist from a well-respected Civil Society Organisation and former UN Special Rapporteur about these issues.
Panel
Misael Socarras IpuanaWayuu Indigenous peoples
Michel ForstFormer UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders.
Jenny Ortiz CINEP/Peace Programme
Rosa Maria MateusJose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers and Plataforma Colombiana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo
ABColombia and the Colombian Caravana UK Lawyers Group in August 2020 filed an Amicus Brief before the Court of Execution of Penalties and Security Measures number 20 of Bogotá in charge of following up on the orders of the Constitutional Court ruling SU 698 of 2017, which we hope will provide important elements on standards of international law in environmental matters for the Colombian Court to make use of in its future rulings.
The Amicus Curiae covers the enforcement of the second, fourth, fifth and eighth orders of the ruling SU-698 of 2017 by the Constitutional Court.
This is a case whereby members of the Wayúu indigenous communities of Paradero and La Gran Parada have promoted a process for the protection of their constitutional rights (Acción de Tutela) against Carbones del Cerrejón Limited, the National Environmental Licensing Authority, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and others.
Carbones del Cerrejón Mine
ABC Colombia and the Colombian Caravana instructed Sue Willman, senior partner at Deighton Pierce Glynn and Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society of England & Wales and three barristers who are members of the Bar of England & Wales: Jelia Sane, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers (London) specialising in international human rights law. Dr Keina Yoshida, barrister at Doughty Street Chambers and a research officer at London School of Economics, Camila Zapata Besso, barrister at Garden Court Chambers (London) specialising in international human rights law.
The Supreme Court of Colombia has placed former President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) under House Arrest.. Uribe Vélez is currently a Senator in the Colombian Congress who is waiting to be tried for procedural fraud and witness tampering.
In 2012, Senator Uribe Vélez filed a complaint against Senator Iván Cepeda for falsely linking him to right wing paramilitary death squads. The court closed the inquiry against Cepeda in 2018 finding that he had nothing to answer. The Special Investigation Chamber of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice then opened formal proceedings against Senator Uribe Vélez for procedural fraud and witness tampering.
The current Colombian President Duque, from the same party as Senator Uribe Velez, the Centro Democratico, stated “I am and will always be a defender of the honesty and the honorability of Álvaro Uribe Vélez… an exemplary public servant … [the Court} have not permitted him to remain free to defend himself with the presumption of innocence …” (unofficial translation)
Senator Iván Cepedaheld an online press conference after the court’s ruling stating:
…no one is above justice. Today something has changed in Colombia.
Unfortunately, the reaction of members of the Centro Democrático Party has been to defend Senator Uribe and attack the Justice System, rather than supporting due process and calling for a full investigation of the facts. The focus of members of the Centro Democrático on justice reform is not a new one, there have been three attempts to change the law in relation to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). Threatening legal security for the FARC and therefore the peace process in Colombia.
We have accepted that the transitional justice measures that Colombia decided to adopt could, if properly implemented and applied, meet the objectives of accountability, availability of resources for victims, and the contribution to the deterrence of future crimes, as provided for in the Rome Statute. We have therefore supported the JEP as the key transitional justice mechanism adopted under the peace agreement.”
James Stewart, International Criminal Court deputy prosecutor
On Tuesday 4 August 2020 the Supreme Court Issued a Statement in which it announced that it had taken a unanimous decision on 3 August 2020 to adopt an order to place Senator Uribe Vélez under House Arrest:
“[t]he order was adopted based on a rigorous legal study on the procedural reality, which indicates possible risks of obstruction of justice, regarding the future collection of evidence of allegedly criminal acts involving both Senator Álvaro Uribe and representative Álvaro Hernán Prada.” Supreme Court Statement.
The Supreme Court is carrying on its investigations for witness tampering and procedural fraud and if convicted Uribe could spend seven to eight years in jail.
Senator Uribe Vélez will carry out the deprivation of liberty at his residence and from there he will be able to continue exercising his defense with all the guarantees of the right to due process.
After listening to his explanations and the practice of multiple tests, many of them requested by the defence, the measure restricting the freedom of Senator Uribe Vélez is based on a large amount of evidentiary material collected and analysed by the Special Chamber of Investigation. Said material is part of the summary reserve and includes testimonial evidence, judicial inspections, film records, recordings and telephone interceptions, which apparently indicate its alleged participation as a determiner of the crimes of bribery of witnesses in criminal proceedings and procedural fraud.
The behaviors imputed to Senator Uribe Vélez, for which the Court resolves his legal situation, were allegedly committed while he was serving as a congressman.
The Court issued this order based on Article 309 of the Colombian Code of Criminal Procedure: “it shall be understood that the imposition of the security measure is essential to avoid obstruction of justice, when there are serious and well-founded reasons that allow inferring that the accused may destroy, modify, direct, impede, conceal or falsify evidence; or it is considered that it will induce co-defendants, witnesses, experts or third parties to report falsely or behave in an unfair or reluctant manner; or when it prevents or hinders the performance of the proceedings or the work of the officials and other participants in the action “
Senator Uribe continues to declare his innocence of the allegations that he together with his brother Santiago Uribe created the extremely violent paramilitary group Bloque Metro.
The house arrest of Senator Alvaro Uribe in a witness tampering case has intensified the polarisation with protests on the streets in defence of Uribe on the one hand, and celebrations that the Court is progressing this alleged crime on the other, seeing it as proof of the independence of the judiciary. Unfortunately the attacks against the justice system by members of the Centro Democratico have intensified, with calls for justice reform. Proposals that could impact negatively on democracy in Colombia.
Colombian Interior Minister Alicia Arango Olmos failed to attend the CSIVI meeting called to address the deteriorating security situation for former combatants.
On 28 July 2020, called a meeting of the Commission for the Follow-up, Promotion and Verification of the Implementation of the Final Agreement (CSIVI) to address the lack of implementation of adequate security guarantees, as agreed in the Peace Accord. The former combatants of the FARC have seen an increase in killings during the COVID 19 pandemic currently over 200 former combatants have been killed, 48 attempted killings and 15 disappearances, in addition to attacks and killings of their family members.
Since the signing of the Peace Accord, 44 relatives of former FARC-EP members have been killed. On 6 June, two relatives of former combatants were killed, one only 15 years old, along with a bus driver.
The UNSC Mission of Verification also reported that former combatants have had to abandoned some of the former territorial areas for training and reintegration as a result of deteriorating security conditions and threats from illegal armed groups, including against local communities.
However, the Colombian Interior Minister, Alicia Arango Olmos, failed to attend the CSIVI meeting called to address the deteriorating security situation for former combatants. The FARC therefore suspended the meeting, seeking a future date to reconvene.
According to a Public Statement issued by the former FARC representatives on the CSIVI Minister Arango Olmos has missed seven of the eight meetings the CSIVI has held.
ABColombia joined with the Colombian Caravana of UK Lawyers and other concerned International organisations and lawyers to write to the Colombian Government about our deep concerned about the recent allegations of the Colombian National Army’s unlawful surveillance activities of 130 individuals, including lawyers of the José Alvear Restrepo Collective(Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo – CCAJAR), lawyers of the Inter-church Commission of Justice and Peace (Comisión Intereclesial Justicia y Paz – CIJP); and other human rights defenders such as Luz Marina Cuchumbé and Jani Silva.
According to reports published in the Semana magazine, this was part of a mass surveillance scheme carried out between February and December 2019, during which time General Nicacio de Jesús Martínez de Espinel was Commander-in-Chief. Following Semana’s reporting of illegal surveillance, the Foundation for Press Freedom (Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa – FLIP) has alleged 14 journalists have been also subject to illegal surveillance, adding 14 new names to the 130 already reported.
Read the rest of the letter by clicking on the green buttons above to read the letter in English or Spanish.
Civil Society Organisations reject the repeated attacks and accusations against the Commission for the Clarification of Truth (Truth Commission-CEV) and invite you to surround and protect its work.
15 July 2020
For the international civil society organisations signatories to this Public Statement, the Comisión para el esclarecimiento de la Verdad(Truth Commission) Commissioners are being subjected to stigmatization, and particularly its president, Father Francisco de Roux SJ. By members of the government party and a former Defence Minister who from their position of opposition to the Peace Agreement, are insisting on disqualifying the careful and responsible work that the Truth Commission, a temporary and extrajudicial mechanism, a component of the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-repetition (Transitional Justice), has been doing.
Since its establishment in 2017, the Truth Commission has carried out independent and rigorous work to reveal the deep and painful truth resulting from the lengthy armed conflict suffered by Colombia.
From a victim’s perspective the Truth Commission is opening avenues, constructing methodologies, creating enabling spaces, generating dialogues, receiving reports and testimonies from across the country, to clarify the truth; and thereby contributing to the end of the armed conflict in Colombia.
We are convinced that only Truth can “guarantee non-continuity and non-repetition of the armed conflict in Colombia.” The Peace Commissioners have demonstrated their commitment to this purpose, and from diversity and difference have taken on their work honorably and with dedication. Their integrity is, and will continue to be, the guarantee that will preserve truth, and support peace in Colombia
We encourage the Commission to continue to carry on with its work and look forward, with hope, to its results. We encourage all Colombian citizens, regardless of their ideological position, to join in the efforts to prevent this process being mistreated, ideologised or politicised as a result of the interests of a few who reject the transforming power of truth.
After years of consultation by the four Indigenous Peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta: Kogui, Arhuaco, Kankuamo and Wiwa with the Colombian State, in 2018 a Presidential Decree 1500 was issued recognising the Linea Negra. Decree 1500 redefines the ancestral territory of these four Indigenous Peoples, recognising the interconnected sacred spaces along the Linea Negra, as ancestral territory that has to be protected due to its spiritual, cultural and environmental importance as presented in the Law of Origin (Ley de Origin), its foundations and principles. As well as the additional features dictated in Lay 21 of 1991 and other relevant legislation.
Nevertheless just a few days after the passing of this Decree someone lodged a law suit before the Superior Administrative Court of Colombia (Consejo de Estado) requesting that Decree 1500 be nullified, this contained a cautionary measure (medida cautelar) that suspended the judicial effects of Decree 1500. July 2020, ABColombia submitted an Amicus Brief outlining how International law and norms supports Decree 1500.
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an area rich in endemic species with over 700 bird species and 3,000 plant species and one of the highest concentrations of mamals.
It is rich in biodiversity and water sources and also holds a wealth of mineral resources. ‘The sacred land, the heart of the earth’ is threatened by at least 132 mining concessions and 263 in the application in process according to the Amicus Curiae presented by El Centro de Estudios para la Justicia Social ‘Tierra Digna, in May 2009 to the Constitutional Court.
Tierra Digna said in this Amicus Curiae that the mining applications and concessions inside the Linea Negra constituted a violation of the fundamental rights of the four Indigenous Peoples of the Sierra Nevada. That they gravely threatened their cultural survival, because the sacred spirituality of the four Peoples is the backbone of their identity and self-determination.
Credit: Wiwa Indigenous Peoples
It is essential to protect the biodiversity, the water sources and the sacredness of the Heart of the Earth,Sierra Nevada, the Linea Negra as elaborated in Decree 1500.
Write to your MP asking what the UK is doing to ensure that the UNESCO Biosphere Sierra Nevada (recognised as such in 1979) and the Four Indigenous Tribes receive political support and funding from the UK Climate Change Fund to protect this important territory for the Indigenous tribes and humanity. See our “get involved” campaigns page for suggested text.
ABColombia and UK lawyers support the Kankuamo, Koguí, Wiwa and Arhuaco Indigenous tribes to defend their territory – Sierra Nevada – for future generations by submitting Amicus Briefs to the Colombian Supreme Administrative Court (Consejo de Estado) on 15 July 2020.
According to the Indigenous worldview (“cosmovision”) the location of the Sierra Nevada as one of the world’s highest coastal ranges and with its 348 sacred sites, surrounded by what the indigenous communities call La Linea Negra (the Black Line), make it the “Heart of the Earth”. The traditional ceremonial activities that the four tribes conduct in this area are essential to preserve their spiritual and cultural identity and their management and preservation of natural resources in the area are vital for the ecological balance of the world.
This was recognised by the Colombian government in 2016, when the then president Santos, signed Decree 1500: the Linea Negra (Black Line). Decree 1500 recognised that everything within the area of Linea Negra, in the Indigenous ancestral territory, was of special spiritual and environmental significance, as an ‘interconnected and living being whose various natural elements (water, forest, animals) have rights protected under law’. It is of cultural and ecological importance for the life of the planet.
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Credit: CINEP
“By enacting Decree 1500, the Republic of Colombia reversed an historical injustice affecting the Arhuaco, Wiwa, Koguí and Kankuamo Indigenous Peoples in danger of physical and cultural extinction. Ancestral guardians of pristine mountains, tropical rain forests, cloud forests, grasslands, shrublands, biodiversity, and sacred spaces of the natural world concentrated in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, encircled by La Línea Negra. This natural space they call, The Heart of the World, is one of the last spaces that like the Amazon, preserves wild fauna (including 44 endemic species), flora and DNA of invaluable importance for humanity. In the context of climate change, humanity can simply not afford its destruction.” Says Monica Feria Tinta
The Linea Negra or Black Line encircles a ring of 348 sacred sites in ancestral territory and contains wetlands, mangroves, tropical rainforest, dry forests, high mountain forests, moors and glaciers, 7000 bird species, and 3000 plant species. Key ecosystems have been recognised since 1979 by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve that areessential to preserving the planet’s biodiversity.
Arhuaco Community Amado photo Credit: Arhuaco
The natural mineral resources that are of economic significance in the Sierra Nevada have led to efforts by some to try to get the Decree 1500, La Linea Negra, declared null and void. Therefore, ABColombia and the Colombian Caravana of UK Lawyers instructed Monica Feria Tinta of Twenty Essex, a highly experienced and well-respected Barrister specialising in international law, and requested theLaw Society of England and Wales(assisted by its member firm Leigh Day) to write Amicus Curiae briefs to assist the Colombian court as it considers this important case that will have repercussions beyond Colombia. For more information on this emblematic case: Sierra Nevada https://www.abcolombia.org.uk/sierra-nevada-de-santa-marta/
For press interviews in English and Spanish: Contact: Louise Winstanley ABColombia Programme and Advocacy Manager on mobile number 07920886874
For press interviews in English and Spanish
Monica Feria Tinta Barrister, Twenty Essex
Dr. Marina Brilman, international human rights adviser, Law Society of England and Wales
For press interviews in Spanish (ABColombia can provide interpretation).
Indigenous Leader Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
For press interviews in English:
Louise Winstanley, ABColombia’s Programme and Advocacy Manager
We also have photos of the region and indigenous tribes if you would like them.
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Credit: CINEP
Notes:
Monica Feria Tinta is a barrister at Twenty Essex, specialist in public international law. She is featured in The Lawyer Hot 100 2020 as amongst “the most daring, innovative and creative lawyers” in the United Kingdom. Her practice also covers private international law, international arbitration and public law, with an emphasis on human and environmental rights. More information here: https://twentyessex.com/people/monica-feria-tinta/
Dr. Marina Brilman is the international human rights adviser of the Law Society of England and Wales and leads its Lawyers at Risk programme. The programme focuses on members of the legal profession who are at risk because of the cases they work on or the clients they represent, as well as on human rights defenders. More information on the programme: https://communities.lawsociety.org.uk/international/international-rule-of-law/lawyers-at-risk.
Indigenous Peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta have suffered from recurrent, systematic and massive violations of their fundamental individual and collective rights. In 2009 the Colombian Constitutional Court in Auto 004 de 2009 declared 34 indigenous Peoples at risk of physical and cultural extinction these included the Kogui, Arhuaco, Wiwa and Kankuamo. The Court stated they “are in danger of being exterminated culturally or physically because of the internal armed conflict and have been victims of grave violations of their fundamental individual and collective rights and of violations of International Humanitarian Law, all of which has resulted in individual or group forced displacement…”
Louise Winstanley is ABColombia Programme and Advocacy Manager. She has worked on Colombia for the last 17 years, initially in-country with PBI and latterly for ABColombia. ABColombia is the advocacy project of a group of five leading UK and Irish organisations with programmes in Colombia: CAFOD, Christian Aid UKI, Oxfam GB, SCIAF and Trócaire. Amnesty International and PBI are observers. ABColombia members have over 100 partner organisations in Colombia. Since 1997, ABColombia has been working on promoting the voice of the most marginalised grass-roots groups in Colombia, mainly, Afro-Colombian, Indigenous, Peasant Farmers and women to the attention of the UK and Irish Governments and the European Union. We have accompanied our Colombian partners through some of the most intense moments of the conflict.
The Comptroller’s Office points out breaches Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruling SU-698 of 2017, which orders the protection of the right to water, food sovereignty and health, of the Wayúu indigenous communities, rights that have been violated with the diversion of an important water source -the Arroyo Bruno – in the department of La Guajira
Colombia’s Comptroller General insists that the Arroyo Bruno be returned to its natural course in compliance with Constitutional Court ruling SU-698. The Cerrejon coal mining company owned by companies registered on the London Stock Exchange, multinationales: BHP, Anglo American and Glencore. The Bruno Stream is the main tributary of the Rio Rancheria important water sources for the local populations in a semi-arid region of Colombia. Cerrejon is the largest opencast coal mine in Latin America. It has had a profound impact on the local communities, relocating local communities, diverting important rivers like the rancheria and now its proposal for the diversion of the Arroyo Bruno.
The highest fiscal control body of the State (Comptroller) presented to the Monitoring Court an audit report about environmental aspects of the diversion of the Bruno stream by the Cerrejon Coal Mine, one of the largest open pit coal mines in the world, owned by BHP, Anglo American and Glencore. The Comptroller’s Office points out breaches of orders of the SU-698 of 2017 ruling from Colombia’s Constitutional Court, which orders the protection of the rights to water, food sovereignty and health of the Wayúu indigenous communities, rights that have been violated with the diversion of an important water source in the department of La Guajira.
According to audit results, the report obtained a final grade that corresponds to the rank of INEFFICIENT, finding a total of fourteen (14) administrative findings of which seven (7) have a possible disciplinary implication. Also, it was noted that these deficiencies impact on compliance with the sentence handed down by the Constitutional Court.
In fulfillment of its mandate to seek the proper use of public resources and goods, the control body evaluated the management of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, the National Authority for Environmental Licenses -ANLA, Corpoguajira, who among other public institutions form an “inter-institutional” Public Panel of which, absurdly, the the Company Carbones del Cerrejón Limited is part. The Comptroller’s report focuses on the deficient report presented by the entities and Cerrejón to justify keeping the Bruno stream diverted, instead of releasing the water into its natural course.
The Comptroller’s Office states that the report of the inter-institutional Panel deviates from what is ordered by the Constitutional Court, regarding the provisional measure, and there is no “strict compliance with what is required in the Sentence SU 698/17, as required by Order Eight.” In other words, there is no sustained and participatory decision on the part of the Inter-institutional Panel to keep the stream Bruno diverted, and this would mean contempt of what was ordered by the Constitutional Court.
It is important to recall that the Constitutional Court had foreseen that the measure of returning the waters to their natural course could be adopted if it was necessary from the environmental point of view and in application of the precautionary principle to maintain the integrity of the Bruno stream, while carrying out a study ordered in the Sentence intended to address 7 uncertainties that were not taken into account when authorizing the diversion and destruction of the stream.
In particular, the Comptroller’s Office makes a reservation about the lack of respect for the culture and spirituality of the Wayuu people. The report acknowledges that:
“Disregarding the rights of the communities brings with it an effect or impact on their culture and an underestimation of the spiritual relationship that the Wayuu community has, taking into account that their interaction with nature is not only due to being next to the Stream, but that interactions exist far beyond this; as they themselves put it, “the Wayuu people would break their roots and that communication that exists between those from the mountains and those from below”.
It is important to understand the people-ecosystem interaction as a whole, and not limit it to a space in itself, which demonstrates a lack of true knowledge of the natural territory and the ecosystemic benefits it offers. The Wayuu community understands the territory, taking into account cultural and spiritual elements, which implies that the stream is seen as “a living being, important in its entirety and not in fractions or sections.”
The audit also questions whether the decision to keep the Bruno Stream diverted was influenced to a high degree by a purely economic point of view, and in this way, questioned the rigor of the use of Cost Benefit Analysis as the most appropriate tool, taking into account ecological values that are at stake: “The ecological elements of a highly sensitive, divided and decimated ecosystem such as the Dry Tropical Forest, or in particular as the Arroyo Bruno with its structures and functions, have ecosystem services without substitutes for the communities. Which means that no matter how much you try to calculate its value from the perspective of the Market Economy, it will tend to infinity due to its immeasurable characteristics. These are higher values that could hardly enter into the logic of a Cost Benefit Analysis.”
The administrative findings with possible disciplinary connotation account for the fragile environmental institutions, and prove the communities in their historical denunciation of the government’s business co-optation in public decisions that undermine rights and condemn populations while favouring multinational companies. An example of the above is synthesized by the Comptroller’s report, supporting what was reported on countless occasions by the communities:
It emphasized the seriousness of the fact that the Inter-institutional Panel had concluded not to return the water of the stream to its natural course and to maintain the diversion based on weak, superficial, deficient and partial information, without generating spaces for participation, nor considering the irreversible damage that this can mean the population that interacts with this ecosystem.
It stressed that the report presented to support the diversion of the Bruno Stream lacks information regarding the monitoring of the natural course, groundwater, aquifers, fauna and flora affected in the natural course.
It insisted that there is a risk of power asymmetry and possible moral risks with the information given that the development of the report of the Inter-institutional Panel is based on documents and information predominantly provided by the same Cerrejon Coal Mine.
It confirmed and reiterated that State Institutions and the Company have disregarded what the Constitutional Court ordered in terms of community participation.
It acknowledged that no compensation measures have been established by the company that really correct the impacts of the intervention in areas of great ecological value. This is impossible for the communities given the irreparable damage and the need to protect the stream from being exploited.
It reaffirmed that the report of the Inter-institutional Panel preferentially uses the information about the construction and operation of the artificial canal built for the diversion, leaving aside information on the natural course of the stream that was affected by the diversion.
It highlighted the non-observance on the comparative advantages and disadvantages of returning or not returning the waters temporarily to their natural course.
It questioned the fact that no observations were made to present and evaluate the environmental and social benefits of temporarily returning the flow of water to the natural channel section, such as the restoration of natural conditions and their benefits that have been lost.
It insisted that the needs and requirements of the communities were not taken into account to guarantee their right to water, nor was it related to the risks of possible depletion of local and regional water resources due to the diversion project and progress of the mining pits.
It stressed that nowhere in the report are the data on the water supply flows of the stream throughout the year in its lower basin or the data on the demand flows of each community. It is not clear whether these are supplied with the related sources or not. The ecological flow of the Arroyo Bruno is not defined either and what are the deficiencies or the conditions of water supply required for the communities.
It observed that with the construction of the new channel the modification of the hydrogeological system started and recognized that temporarily returning the waters to the natural channel implies the eventual restoration of natural conditions and the recovery of environmental benefits that were affected or lost with the diversion.
It recalled that Corpoguajira has failed to comply with the review, adjustment and / or modification of compensatory measures established to the Cerrejon Coal Mine, for the works related to the diversion of the Bruno stream, which had been identified by the Comptroller in an audit carried out in 2017.
What has been reported by the Comptroller supports what has been denounced by Wayúu indigenous communities, the Afro-Guajiro people, social organizations, environmentalists, academics and human rights defenders who for years have opposed the diversion of the Bruno stream to increase the exploitation of coal by the Cerrejon Coal Mine with the permission of institutions of the Colombian State.
The Bruno stream cannot be replaced. We will continue to raise our voices so that the disaster they have caused does not continue and that one of the tributaries of the main river in La Guajira, the Ranchería river, is not exploited and destroyed.
Cerrejon Mine that BHP, Anglo American and Glencore wish to divert the Arroyo Bruno Stream.
