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Indians Negotiate Reparations for Damages Caused by Dam |
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By Yadira Ferrer*
Embera-Katío
Indians have been in Bogotá since December protesting the impacts
of the Urrá dam. Colombian officials hope to resolve the tensions
this week.
BOGOTA - Marta Domicó, a 20-year-old Embera-Katío,
weaves beaded necklaces to sell near the gate of an old brick mansion
in the Bogotá city centre that is the headquarters of the Colombian
National Indigenous Organization (ONIC, in Spanish), and where she
has been living, crammed in with some 450 members of her indigenous
community, since Dec. 22.
Domicó and her partner Francisco Rubiano came to the capital with
their two sons -- one is three years old, the other seven months
-- to demand that the government comply with the agreements signed
in 2000 to mitigate the environmental and social impacts of the
Urrá dam, built in the northern department of Córdoba that is the
ancestral home of the Embera-Katío.
''I have many necklaces, bracelets and earrings, but the people
aren't buying much,'' Domicó told Tierramérica as she set aside
a basket holding 'chaquiras' (clay beads), thread and needles, in
order to put warmer clothes on her younger son. The two children
have suffered bouts of flu, fever and diarrhea since they arrived
in Bogotá.
''The cold here really affects us because we are accustomed to temperatures
of 30 degrees (Celsius) that we normally have in Córdoba,'' she
said.
Marta misses her kitchen back home, with its mud walls and palm
roof, and her plots of plantain, corn and rice -- but she says she
will remain in the capital until the government responds to the
Embera-Katío demands.
Indigenous community leader Belisario Domicó said in a conversation
with Tierramérica that the group, which includes 184 children under
age 16, has been living at the ONIC headquarters since being kicked
out of the Environment Ministry, the building they first occupied
when they arrived in Bogotá more than three months ago.
The national government promised in 2000 to take actions to alleviate
the impacts caused by the Urrá dam, built in the 1990s by the government-run
company of the same name. But the government has not honored that
promise, said Domicó.
Another indigenous leader, who requested anonymity, told Tierramérica
that the steps taken by the government ''are a long way from contributing
to prevention, mitigation, compensation or reparations for the harm
caused to our people.''
On Mar. 14, 72 days after the government suspended dialogue with
the Embera-Katío in reaction to the takeover of the Environment
Ministry, representatives from the Interior Ministry and from the
Ombudsman and Attorney General's offices renewed contact with the
Indians to seek a solution.
The parties agreed to negotiate behind closed doors, but Tierramérica
learned that progress has been made towards a new agreement, which
could include modifying the environmental permit that was granted
to Urrá for operations, and conducting a new study of the dam's
environmental impacts.
According to the sources, it was agreed that a consultation would
be conducted with the local communities to facilitate a transition
phase, and that the government would finance the development of
a plan to improve the indigenous community's quality of life.
''We are going to hold a consultation to determine how the community
wants us to use the resources that may be given as compensation
for the damages incurred,'' said Belisario Domicó.
The Indians say that with the filling of the reservoir and the rerouting
of the river they lost the fishing resources that were a staple
of their diet, and they also lost a large portion of their cropland.
The Embera-Katío also demand greater protection from the irregular
armed groups that are fighting in their territory, and from harassment
by powerful big landowners who want the Indians to abandon the fertile
lands they live on.
The International Court of Human Rights asked the Colombian government
in April 2000 to hammer out an agreement with the Embera-Katío on
measures to protect their land, after finding that at least 300
Indians from that community had been assassinated by illegal armed
groups since 1995.
Humanitarian missions from the United Nations in Colombia reported
that right-wing paramilitaries and left-wing guerrillas alike have
tortured and murdered indigenous leaders, accusing them of collaborating
with the other side. The armed groups have demolished houses and
destroyed fishing boats, forcibly displacing some 800 Indians.
The Colombian Interior Ministry said that possibly by Apr. 5 negotiations
would be finalized and the protesting Embera-Katío in Bogotá might
begin returning to their territory.
* Yadira Ferrer is a Tierramérica contributor.
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