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MALDITA TIERRA

The latest episode of corporate impunity involving a coal mine and a transnational crime perpetuated by the EU against an indigenous population.

When two armed men fired six shots towards the home of indigenous activist Luz Angela Uriana on May 21, 2022, in Hatonuevo, La Guajira, a peninsula located northeast of Colombia, she was inside with her ex-husband and eight children. That evening, after ensuring everyone was safe, Luz called law enforcement, but they never came to her aid. They had just moved due to the severe air contamination in her ancestral reserve of Provinciales, which was making it impossible for her son Moisés to breathe.

Environmental devastation, child malnutrition, impoverishment, forced land expropriation, and water crisis are the outcomes of 'development' brought by the coal extraction at Cerrejon, managed by the Swiss holding Glencore, unfortunately increasing by 3.3%. As a consequence of the embargo against Russia in response to the Ukraine invasion, Europe turned to Colombian coal, with Germany leading by generating over 33% of its electricity from this fossil fuel. In 2023, according to the National Health Institute, turning on the lights in Europe contributed to the deaths of 55 children due to malnutrition and about 2000 cases of acute, moderate, and severe malnutrition, a 47% increase from the previous year.

The activist Luz Angela Uriana has faced a series of threats and murder attempts, often coinciding with moments of significant mobility when judicial decisions in favor of community rights are made public, and during periods of strengthened indigenous unity and resistance.

The two men who intimidated Luz Angela and her family were never found, nor were those responsible for attacks on other indigenous activists protesting against the mine. Meanwhile, the Swiss company denies responsibility for the attacks.

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