Flooding Life

Flooding Life
Betania and Quimbo:
Hydroelectric energy at
the expense of agricultural
development
Betania: dam with 28 years of
problems
Betania dam in Huila, Colombia
At the age of
sixty, Rafael*1* is a man
hardened by work and
the powerful rays of
the sun that are cast
down on the banks of
the Magdalena River in
the Huila Department.
A resident in the town
of
Yaguará,
Rafael
lives in a town that has
been radically affected
by the Betania dam, a
hydroelectric
project
that reorients the Magdalena
and Yaguará rivers together in
order to flood an area of 7,400
hectares2.
and crops such as rice, corn,
beans and bananas. The project
flooded his entire property,
forcing him and many others to
search for new means to support
Since the dam’s construction, themselves.
“We
became
Rafael says that his future is fisherman without knowing how
filled with uncertainty. Prior to to throw a net.” he says about
the Betania project he tended to the change. Moreover, Rafael
fifteen acres of land, raising cattle says: “I was not compensated or
given anything for the animals,
1
Name changed
crops, or housing I once had.”
by petition of the author
2
Rodado, C
(1987). “Betania: peldaño de progreso en
el río Magdalena”. Bogotá: El Espectador
(Volumen 101)
Similar testimonies regarding
a lack of reparations for the
destruction of territories and
livelihoods are shared by many
residents of the Yaguará, Hobo
and
Gigante
municipalities.
Father Rufino Bermeo Triana,
a priest in La Jagua, lamented
a lack of compensation for the
town’s residents saying that “as
a result of Betania, there are
people at this moment who are
attempting to reclaim their 10 15 hectare properties that have
been robbed by the State.”
The road to reparations for
claimants is complicated by
the 28 years that have passed
since the dam was developed
and further obscured by a
change of ownership in which
the Colombian state sold off
this public resource to a private
company, Emgesa. The company
is formed by the energy group
Endesa, the Colombian energy
group Empresa de Energia
de Bogotá (EEB) and minor
shareholders.
The
Endesa
group is controlled by Enel, a
multinational Italian company
that has 92.1% of the shares
The challenges locals face with
fishing are more extensive than
one’s angling abilities and go
beyond the areas geographically
transformed by the dam.
Alexander Naranjo was in
secondary school in La Jagua
when the dam was constructed.
Recalling a time when fishing
was profitable, he said that,
“before Betania we lived on
fish like Pataló, Bocachico,
Rafael has cast a line into the
Dorada, Carpa, Jetón, Capaz,
flooded waters of his former
Cucha, Peje, Capitan and more.
community in order to address
After Betania our productivity
his economic challenges, but he
decreased by 60% and we have
says that “fishing is much less
never returned to the levels of
profitable than agriculture.”
fish that used to be
available to us in
these waters,” he
says.
of Spain’s Endesa, a company
that owns 60% of the shares of
Endesa Chile, and 60.6% shares
of Enersis Chile. The latter two
Chilean companies make up the
Endesa group, which participates
in the shareholding society of
Emgesa3. Companies, together
with the EEB, feign ignorance
of the difficult situation faced by
thousands of people.
Magdalena River in La Jagua, Huila
3
“Memoria anual y estados financieros Emgesa” (2013).
Bogotá, Emgesa: (Accessed June 2015)
http://www.emgesa.com.co/ES/PRENSA/
CENTRODOCUMENTAL/Informes%20Anuales/memoria_emgesa_web.pdf
Alexander, who also
works as laborer,
sees no benefits to
the
hydroelectric
project.
He says
that the challenges
go
beyond
the
economic hardships
presented by a
reduction in the
population
of
fish, noting the
loss of property,
and livelihood in
addition to manmade environmental changes
such as the growing sand isles in
the Magdalena River.
* thousand tons of fish died as a result
The day before joining a
demonstration4 of local fishermen
opposing the construction of a
second dam set to be called El
Quimbo, Alexander told Forum
Syd that sedimentation in the
Magdalena River posed significant
challenges to fishing
and boat navigation.
of the low water levels in Betania
Sedimentation on the Magdalena River
On March 15th, 45
boats floated down
a hazy section of
the Magdalena River
from
Puerto
Seco
to Hobo, navigating
around sandbars that
had been produced
by diminished water
levels.
Occasionally,
an oar was required to
free the vessels from
hidden or unavoidable
sand formations that
had risen above the
water’s surface.
Fishermen say that the sandbars
began with the installation of the
Betania dam and have created
serious sedimentation problems.
“Open the doors and what comes
out is sand,” says Rafael. Apparently,
the turbulent river Paez leaves a
large amount of sedimentation at
the gates of the dam.
The Betania dam is a multipurpose hydroelectric in which fishing
is allowed. However, the sedimentation has hurt the fishing
industry, including a group of wealthy businessmen who raise
Tilapia in giant cages for export to the United States. The massive
loss of fish worries the fishing industry and artisanal fishermen
alike. In 2007 one thousand tons of fish died as a result of the
low water levels, compounded by the decision of the Emgesa
Company to continue producing the same amount of energy in
spite of the critically shallow waters at the base of the dam5.
4
5
The demonstration
was organized by environmentalist organizations like Ríos Vivos, Asoquimbo, Censat Agua
Viva, International Rivers y Planeta Paz. See
more at: http://www.quimbo.com.co
Diario del Huila “Tragedia ecológica en el embalse de
Betania por la inesperada muerte de 1.000 toneladas de peces” (2007). Bogotá, Semana: (Accessed June 2015). http://www.semana.com/on-line/articulo/tragedia-ecologica-embalse-betania-inesperada-muerte-1000-toneladas-peces/83709-3
Ironically, Endesa in the 2006
report6 to the Securities and
Exchange
Commission
of
the United States affirms the
company have conducted the
implementation of the UN Global
Compact’s ten principles in the
areas of human rights, labor, the
environment and anti-corruption7
in their projects, including
Betania. Despite the fact that
the UN Global Compact´s
initiative is judicially biding, the
continuous loss of fish remained
6
“Endesa Chile
anuncia sus resultados consolidados para
el periodo que finaliza el 30 de septiembre de 2006” (2006). Chile, Endesa:
(Accessed June 2015). http://library.
corporate-ir.net/library/10/106/106239/
items/222384/6K102606.pdf
7
United Nations
Global Compact. https://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/index.html
unmentioned in those reports
and the problematic is not yet
solved.
high rains the dam filled to a
depth of 71 meters per second,
whereas in the initial years
after Betania was constructed it
In March 2015, at least eighty
flooded 250 to 300 m/s second10.
tons of Tilapia and Sábalo fish
floated lifelessly to the surface The levels of sedimentation
of the water at the dam’s gate8. and reduced water levels
Despite a drought that was much from the dam have created an
less significant than in 20079, the environment in which boats
oxygen levels in the low waters can no longer dock in the port
were insufficient for the fish to of Yaguará, ironically a place
live. In March of this year, during created specifically for fishermen
when Betania was flooded. The
8
Pérez, Carol
“Cerca de 80 toneladas de peces muertos
farmers who were forced to
en Betania” (2015). Neiva, La Nación:
(Accessed june 2015). http://lanacion.
become fishermen as a result
com.co/index.php/actualidad-lanacion/
of the hydroelectric project are
item/249631-cerca-de-80-toneladas-depeces-muertos-en-betania
now witnessing the waters dry
up and transform into pastures
9
“Cerca de 80
toneladas de peces muertos en Betania”
in the same locations that they
(2015). Neiva, La Nación: (Accessed June
2015) http://www.lanacion.com.co/index.
once farmed rice.
php/actualidad-lanacion/item/249631-cerca-de-80-toneladas-de-peces-muertos-enbetania
Fishing demonstrations againts Quimbo took place in March 2015
“The hydroelectric plant has
created inhospitable
conditions for the
fishing industry. In
addition, the dam,
originally
designed
as a multipurpose
project, did not fulfill
its objective of creating
irrigation
districts.
More
than
four
thousand hectares of
productive land have
been lost, where large
tracts of rice, sorghum,
maize and cotton were
cultivated.
10
Ibid.
The proposed irrigation districts
that were supposed to create
8,000 hectares of productive
land never materialized,” said
Eduardo
Gutiérrez,
Huila’s
former Secretary of Agriculture.
Eduardo is in favor of dams if
they are planned properly and
if they are controlled by the
state, but stated flatly “a private
company is interested in doing
business and maximizing profits,
not in the people.”
Officially, Emgesa says that
Betania has a potency of 540
MW and has an average annual
generation of 1,832 GWh and
does not provide information
about any generation loss. The
company declared that in 2013
Betania generates 15.2% of the
total production of energy that the
company produces in Colombia,
placing the hydroelectric plant in
third place12 among the thirteen
plants Emgesa has in the country.
maintenance of the dam and
does not mention the problems
caused
by
sedimentations,
although, Emgesa mentions
there is a report about it.
The Betania project, which
affects the municipalities of
Yaguará, Hobo, Campoalegre
and Gigante, has caused trauma
for thousands of people. This
is especially true for residents
whose food sovereignty and
feelings of wellbeing have
The hydroelectric plant certainly However, in Emgesa’s 2013 intrinsically been linked with
has deteriorated both the annual report the company the river and its surrounding
conditions for the fishing industry makes
reference
to
the environment.
and the artisanal fishing, and Bogotá, El Espectador: (Accessed June
The plight of communities
2015) http://www.elespectador.com/imreduced small-scale agriculture preso/nacional/articuloimpreso127337-maimpacted by Betania have
and large-scale agribusiness. In la-energia-del-quimbo-i
worsened over time and been
addition, it has also been argued 12
“Memoria anual
accelerated by the newer
estados financieros” (2013). Bogotá,
that the production of energy has yEmgesa:
(Accessed June 2015) http://
Quimbo dam project, currently
11
www.emgesa.com.co/ES/PRENSA/CENdecreased by sedimentation .
in construction, which is about
TRODOCUMENTAL/Informes%20Anuales/
memoria_emgesa_web.pdf
11
El Espectador
the same size as Betania. The
“La mala energía del Quimbo (I)” (2009).
projected repercussions of
the Quimbo dam include
the flooding of more than
eight thousand hectares of
land, which would displace
thousands of residents and
have a major impact on
their lifestyles. “Somehow I
survived by fishing, but now
with El Quimbo I do not know
what to do. The government
is displacing us again,” Rafael
indicates.
Magdalena River fisherman
The uncertainty is shared by
many of the fishermen of the
Magdalena and communities
based along the river. People
who have grown
bananas,
citrus
fruits,
manioc,
watermelons and
medicinal plants
around the fertile
borders of the
river now face
food
insecurity
and
significant
e c o n o m i c
losses due to El
Quimbo. People
who
worked
as laborers for
landowners
are
now jobless, after
their employers
sold off their land
for the creation of Quimbo.
Others who sought gold in the
river’s sand, removing it by
hand, and “drainers,” people
who extract trucks loaded with
rocks and sand for construction,
they have to leave too.
El Quimbo
Inhabitant of the Magdalena River in the fertile banks of the river
The Quimbo is also being constructed by Emgesa, for that
reason Endesa-Enel and the EEB are responsible for the social
and environmental impacts of the dam. Although, per the 2013
annual report, it can be argued that the Endesa-Enel group may
have a larger chance to have greater voting power. According
to a 2013 report, the EEB has 51.5% economic power, and has
a voting power of 43.6%, while the Endesa group has a 48.5%
economic power and 56.4% vote13.
The Quimbo projects is in the final phases of its construction, the
dam will count with 420 MW of power and it is expected it would
generate 2.216 GWh per year. The dam once concluded would
flood 55 kilometers and 8,250 hectares.
13
Ibid.
Flooding and entry into the
operation was projected for
December 1, 2014, an
objective that has not been
met.
Emgesa started work in
2009 with an environmental
license that did not contain
an environmental study14,
as was stated by the
delegated controller for
the Environment in 201415,
and would consist of an
illegal action by Emgesa
and the National Agency
of Environmental Licenses
(ANLA), since the passivity
of the ANLA allowed Emgesa
to begin work that ignored the
flaws stated in technical studies
and compensation requirements.
Map of El Quimbo, link taken from www.Internationalrivers.org
90% complete and that they will
soon flood land 12 km south of
the Betania dam, affecting the
municipalities of Altamira, El
Agrado, Garzón, Gigante, Paicol
and Tesalia17.
Despite the irregularities, recently
the company announced16 that
the construction of Quimbo is In reality, the Quimbo project
began before Emgesa started
14
Valbuena,
Carlos “En El Quimbo, primero la obra y
construction. In 2007 the
después la licencia” (2012). Bogotá: El TurPower Mining Battalion XII was
bión (Accessed June 2015) http://elturbion.com/?p=3269
constituted in the “José Maria
Tello” military complex, located
15
“‘Aprobación
de la licencia ambiental de El Quimbo fue
two kilometers from Jagua in El
ilegal’” (2014). Neiva, Diario del Huila:
(Accessed June 2015) http://diariodelhuila. Llano de la Virgen. The creation
com/economia/%E2%80%9Caprobaof the battalion is understood
cion-de-la-licencia-ambiental-de-el-quimbo-fue-ilegal%E2%80%9D-cdgi
by the community as a way to
nt20141008204013199
protect the hydroelectric project
16
“Obras del El
from popular protests as opposed
Quimbo van en el 90%” (2015). Neiva, Diario del Huila: (Accessed June
17
“Avances con2015) http://www.diariodelhuila.com/
economia/obras-del-el-quimbo-van-enel-90-cdgint20150417085603174?fb_
ac%ADtion_ids=10205972941818911&fb_
action_types=og.comments
strucción de obras: enero 2015” (2015).
Bogotá, Emgesa: (Accessed June 2015)
http://www.proyectoelquimboemgesa.com.
co/site/Prensa/Noticias/AvancedeobraEnero2015.aspx
to the guerrillas of the FARC-EP,
as Alexander explains:
“This town (La Jagua) was a
passageway for the FARC, nine
or ten years ago. If you follow
the Suaza River through the
canyons of the Central Mountain
Range of the Andes you come
to the Caquetá department.
The other way leads to Cauca
[…] The FARC never caused any
problems here because there are
no rich people in town. There was
not a problem until El Quimbo
arrived. The government put
the battalion here to protect the
multinational and now they call
us terrorists and guerrillas, but
only because they do not want
us to interfere in the project.”
Father Rufino has a similar
analysis, pointing out that “the
state installed the battalion in
2007, but it was not to protect
the population as there was
already substantial military
presence with the battalions
in Pitalito and Garzón.”
The militarization of the area
has contributed to rising
costs in the small town.
“One could rent a house for
twenty dollars, but now it
costs 125. Food prices have
also been inflated,” says Zoila,
an artisanal fisherwoman
and activists who organized
protests against El Quimbo
dam. Another externality of El
Quimbo is a feeling of insecurity
as a result of the permanent
presence of armed
soldiers. “We are
not accustomed to
people guarding
us,” says Rufino.
A military complex
was not needed
to ensure the
unmolested
construction
of
Quimbo.
The
relationship
b e t w e e n
multinationals
and the Armed
Forces has been
intertwined with
the
creation
of
battalions
dedicated
specifically to energy and
mining projects, a military
doctrine first outlined by the
government of Alvaro Uribe
Velez.
This ideology is exemplified
by Major José Obdulio Espejo
Muñoz, who claims that “the
revival of the productive
sectors of the country is
linked to close correlation
between national security
and economic growth. The
national army understands
that the construction of social
justice in Colombia is achieved
with the help of its soldiers18”.
18
Espejo, J “El
superávit de las operaciones militares”
(2007). Bogotá: Ejército Nacional
de Colombia: (Accessed June 2015)
http://www.ejercito.mil.co/?idcatego-
However, when looking at
the case of the José Maria
Tello Battalion in Jagua and
its surrounding areas, Major
José Obdulio’s analysis that
economic wellbeing walks hand
in hand with soldiers falls flat.
Hundreds of people who do not
work directly for Emgesa earn
less than 8 dollars per day and
their prospect for the future is
painfully uncertain.
On the contrary, clandestine
prostitution in La Jagua began in
the hands of soldiers, a situation
that is accentuated with the
arrival of hundreds of foreign
workers who are contracted to
work on El Quimbo by Emgesa.
ria=80416
River area that would be flooded by the
Quimbo dam
“One began to see that in a
couple of houses men came
and men went, and in houses
that nobody worked on, and
there were only
women,
there
are already girls
from here that
do that” affirms
Carmen
with
regard to La
Jagua; a situation
that is confirmed
by
Rufino
Bermeo and the
inhabitants
of
Hobo.
The people of the Jagua has experienced
great changes since the arrival of the
project
“To compensate appropriately, it is necessary to
census those who have been impacted.”
Arnulfo Parra, a wealthy landlord, arrived in La Jagua 28 years ago immediately after selling
his land to the Betania project. Recently, the rancher sold his land in La Jagua to the developers
of the new hydroelectric project, just as he did almost three decades ago. This land transfer has
impacted the rural and urban residents of the small town. “Arnulfo did not sell land to the people of
the town despite the offers we made. He said that the company offered more […] some people made
it onto the compensation lists, others they did not […] he [Arnulfo] said that the multinational told
him how many people could be compensated, an exact number,” says Zoila.
Arnulfo was not the only landowner who sold its land to the multinational company. In addition, the four
largest ranchers of the area have left the region after selling their land to the multinational company.
Zoila is no longer building stone walls for the ranch owners, nor is she working as day laborer in tobacco
plantations.
“The tobacco industry was
bought, the ovens demolished.
All of the people who worked
there, either picking up the
leaves, fumigating, or tidying the
leaves, much of this work done
by women, have all lost their
jobs [...] Other people cured the
tobacco in their farms and many
people had a daily job related
to tobacco cultivation. The big
owners are not the only ones
affected, it is a chain”, says Zoila.
Due to the economic dependence
of the inhabitants on large
landowners, compensation for a
loss of economic activity by the
multinational is a fundamental
issue for those who worked for
the wealthy ranchers. Reparation
is not being adequately provided
by Emgesa. The company was
recently penalized by Colombia’s
Constitutional Court for not
taking a census of the population
and living conditions19.
Several people have said they
were never visited by those
in charge of conducting the
census that home visits were not
conducted, and that Emgesa’s
personnel visited working places
at times when few were present.
“At the time they came the
only workers left were those
that fumigate,” says Zoila. The
Constitutional Court ordered
Emgesa to repeat the census and
include the people who
were initially left out
in the environmental
license
granted
by the Ministry of
Environment in 2009,
an
administrative
act that recognizes
roughly 1,000 people
when there are over
6,000 claimants20.
However,
the
Constitutional
Court’s order falls
short of providing
compensation
for
impacted community
members a reality.
Fishermen´s houses on the banks of
the Magdalena River.
“They opened a place
for people to come but there is
still no door-to-door census. It
is unfair how they trick people.
19
“Corte ordena
nuevo censo de afectados por el Quimbo en el Huila” (2014). Bogotá, Caracol:
(Accessed June 2015) http://www.caracol.
com.co/noticias/judiciales/corte-ordenanuevo-censo-de-afectados-por-el-quimboen-el-huila/20140219/nota/2088425.aspx
20
“Los afectados de El Quimbo, más de los censados;
somos todos” (2014). Neiva, Asoquimbo:
(Accessed June 2015) http://www.quimbo.
com.co/2013/01/los-afectados-de-el-quimbo-mas-de-los.html
There are lines of people holding
their papers who later on get
rejected”,
says
Alexander.
Several people during the
journey say they have not been
registered, neither compensated
nor rejected.
Some
residents
were
compensated between $9,500
and $18,000, but they feel that
this amount is insufficient for
the loss of cultural and ancestral
economic activity around which
their lives have traditionally been
based. Additionally, many who
were compensated have not
been relocated, despite national
requirements
that
Emgesa
deliver homes to people with five
acres of land or less.
Rafael, having experienced the
aftereffects of Betania, argues
that “to make appropriate
restitution, the first step is to
conduct a census that includes
everyone […] without a census
there can be no agricultural
projects
that
are
worth
anything.”. In addition to the
problems caused by poor census
methodology,
nonexistent
reparation payments, failure
to relocate residents and the
disappearance of economically
productive
activity,
the
community of La Jagua has been
divided.
and someone else would shout:
‘you are not fishermen, do not
lie’. Later the person who shouted
would be discreetly rewarded.”
The reparation money did not
last long for many residents. In
El Jagua and Hobo, bars and
brothels appeared overnight.
Marriages
dissolved.
“Cash
arrived and men left their
wives. Now they are there with
no job and no wife,” Alexander
recounted, echoing a sentiment
Many residents interviewed in voiced by the townspeople.
Hobo, Gigante and Garzón claim
The money bought more than
that Emgesa and its contractors
parties, as many business
used members of the community
owners expanded their premises,
to undermine the rights of other
eagerly awaiting the promise of
fishermen and residents in the
tourism and the progress that
villages and towns.
Emgesa would surely bring.
Regarding this, Zoila says that
The people waited and they
“during meetings with Emgesa,
left waiting. People lost their
someone would bring up the lack
ability to work and purchasing
of compensation to the company
power and; the town’s economy
has already fallen into
decline. “Soon we’ll
be stealing from each
other… theft and crime
have already started.
“Tell me what hungry
people with nothing to
do will end up partaking
in,” Alexander quivers.
Fishing boats and examples of sedimentation of
the Magdalena River
A division of the social fabric and
the diminished capacity for selfsustaining economic activities and
food cultivation are compounded
by the inability of the project
to generate new agricultural
projects. The Quimbo project
is
not
multipurpose,
meaning that there will
be no dedicated irrigation
districts, nor an area
to raise fish as there
is in Betania. La Jagua
faces serious problems.
The greatest source of
employment is unskilled
labor that is hired by
Emgesa, a company that
is in the final stages of
a project, and will soon
depart from there.
In other towns and
villages the situation is
similar; There is no more
work for laborers, drainers are
not allowed to work, and the
fishermen and farmers from
the lowlands of the rivers are
bewildered and affected by the
changes in the environment due
to the uncertainty generated
by a precarious economy; An
uncertain future due to the
sadness of seeing the rivers,
its waters, fish and destruction.
“Animals are furious, the birds
are aggressive, trees that provide
nests and food have been cut
down, the herons have gone and
now many snakes are escaping
from the deforestations, now you
see them where they are not”,
says Gloria*, a fisherwoman
thinking of leaving the region, like
many people have already done,
according to the inhabitants of
the three visited municipalities.
Inhabitants of the Magdalena River
“The fish had blood clots inside
and out.”
Part of the frustration felt by the people of La Jagua emanates
from the environment destruction that came with the dam that they
never wanted. Emgesa is destroying the body of water that many
call “Yuma,” an indigenous name used interchangeably by people
living near the Magdalena River.
The dam will flood a large area of ​​land, but before doing so,
builders are obligated to cut and remove all vegetation and wood.
Otherwise, plant matter decays and produces methane gas,
significantly contributing to global warming. The company has clear
cut alongside the rivers and adjacent forests, soon to be under water
but presently leaving a decapitated riverbank. The animals in the
area, herons, frogs, snakes, parrots and dozens more animals are
moving, fleeing chainsaws, with
even less options to relocate
than the humans who will be
displaced.
The deforestation
has been tragic for the riverbank
dwellers and a major safety
concern for coastal fishermen.
“When I go out to fish at
night I found rattlesnakes”
says Zoila, who exclaims
sadly that, “every time that
I come out here I see less
of the animals that I love
because all that Emgesa
leaves behind is stumps.”
The logging is not limited to
the areas to be flooded. In
the Jagua there are areas
not meant to be flooded,
and instead according to
the environmental license
agreement, would be used
as a form of ‘environmental
cushioning’,
a
buffer
zone of trees helping to
diminish the heat that the
water’s reflection sends out and
protection from methane gas
produced from sedimentation
that is delivered from the feeder
rivers into the dam. Thus, it was
surprising that on March 16,
logging crews cut down buffer
forests, sacrificing ancient trees
and affecting the community
while violating the law.
“This town will be gone in ten
years. If it floods, everything
here will end” says Father
Loggings on the banks of the Magdalena River in Huila
Rufino about the historic village
of Jagua. The pastor of the
Jagua is not the only one who
thinks so. “There is little left of
the river” says Zoila, who has
witnessed how the river has run
out of fish after the construction
of Betania. She, like many other
coastal fishermen and locals are
sure that the Quimbo has also
killed thousands of fish. “When
they mixed the accelerator with
the concrete, fish began to
appear dead, especially the Peje,
a tough fish that does not die
easily [...] they had blood clots
inside and out, and we could not
sell them anymore,” says Zoila.
Roberto,* a fisherman who has
cast his net for the past 30 years
in the Magdalena, sells what he
can catch at the port city of Neiva.
He says that the company is
hiding the dead fish, witnessing
occasions in which “the fish died
from the accelerator, which at
first the company claimed not to
be using. When it was confirmed
that this substance was being
used, the fish were thrown into
open graves dug by people
who the company sent.” When
asked if species of fish has been
disappearing, Roberto and others
in the community responded
affirmatively, that “we don’t
see the Captain or Dorada fish
anymore at all, and the Pataló
are seen less and less.”
While the fish are dying
off in alarming numbers,
the residents’ health has
also been impacted by
contamination of ‘Yuma.’
“The accelerator serves
to make the concrete
dry faster underwater,
but when they started
injecting this substance,
we all started to have
outbreaks. People would
have terrible itching that
would only go away when
you applied gasoline. We
can’t really go in the river
anymore,” attests Rafael.
pockmarked by tree stumps.
the river, causing a drop in
populations south of the dam.
According to Asoquimbo21, the
With El Quimbo, fish will be
mortality of fish is recognized by
completely cut off from moving
the federal Comptroller General’s
upstream.
office: “Analyzing the report
of INCODER on productivity
of artisanal fishermen in the
Municipality of Hobo, there
has been a decrease of 7.95
People’s food sovereignty has tons of fish between 2009 and
been substantially affected by El December 2011, caused by
Quimbo dam. “You fished all day, different reasons including the
from 8am to 1am, you got two commissioning of works for El
arrobas of fish … you sold it at Quimbo dam in 2010.”
the market and then you could
This situation will only worsen
buy food, things for the kids. Now
once the dam is filled. Betania
you have to take home the little
is a barrier to fish farther up
fish you once threw back in the
21
“Los afectariver. They are not for business dos de El Quimbo, más de los censados;
somos todos” (2014). Neiva, Asoquimbo:
anymore, it’s our food,” says (Accessed June 2015) http://www.quimbo.
Zoila while gazing out towards com.co/2013/01/los-afectados-de-el-quimbo-mas-de-los.html
the river and its adjacent banks,
Illegal loggings on the protected
riverbanks of the Magdalena river
(16-03-2015)
“We are all the river”
Fishing is scarce in the Suaza River since Emgesa
started the works of El Quimbo.
Since work
began on El Quimbo dam
in 2009, hundreds of
people have come out in
staunch opposition to the
project. The response of
the Colombian State was
to designate the fivekilometer area set to be
flooded as a public utility.
This
measure
is
interpreted by social
organizations
such
as Reiniciar, Censat,
Asoquimbo and Ríos
Vivos, as a mechanism to
override the pressures of civil
society in order to advance this
mega project by force. In spite of
state pressure, the community’s
resistance is growing, as social
organizations, people from Huila,
Colombia and abroad are joining
the fight.
Betania water would have less 7th, announcing23 that the lifting
oxygen22 and the fish farming of the precautionary measure
would go out of business.
or the same mutation is within
the exclusive jurisdiction of
That is why, before the
the Council of the State and
Administrative Tribunal of the
therefore could not answer the
Huila Department, Comepez
demand.
S.A., among others, Emgesa
was sued and presented with The decision of the Administrative
requests to stop using Quimbo Court of Huila joined two
through the filing of an injunction requests that were processed in
The aim of the organizations that would suspend the filing the Constitutional Court and the
that have expressed solidarity of the dam. The request was Council of State. Both requests
with those affected by El answered by the Court last April
23
Dussán Miller,
Quimbo is to halt the filling of
(April 2015). “Futuro del Quimbo en manos
the dam. Another element of the
de la Corte Constitucional y el Concejo
22
Gaitán, C.
de Estado” Neiva, Asoquimbo (Accessed
antagonism towards the dam “Peligra producción nacional de tilapia por June 2015) http://millerdussan.blogia.
de El Quimbo” (2014). Bogotá,
com/2015/040801-futuro-del-quimbo-encomes from rich businessmen llenado
Portafolio: (Accessed June 2015) http://
manos-de-la-corte-constitucional-y-el-conwho have Fishing interests in www.portafolio.co/opinion/blogs/negosejo-de-estado.php
Betania; If El Quimbo is built,
cios-y-movidas/peligra-produccion-nacional-tilapia-llenado-el-quimbo
ordered precautionary measures
that would prevent the filings that
Quimbo sought, and annulling
the environmental license which
Emgesa24 enjoys.
Inhabitants and environmentalists from Rios Vivos and
Asoquimbo intervene the illegal logging in protected
areas in La Jagua
Still, the bulk of
the opposition to
the project comes
from thousands
of
everyday
people
who
belong to social
organizations or
who have become
involved through
forums, popular
education,
demonstrations
and informative
outreach work.
This community response against
the completion of El Quimbo has
become part of larger collective
actions in opposition to building
dams in other parts of the
country, addressing the socio
environmental changes that
come with these mega projects,
bringing to light administrative
corruption by the state, calling for
energy alternatives for Colombia
and
drawing
connections
between energy mining projects
and the armed conflict.
their lands and waters. They
know the intangible value of
life along the river and are
afraid of losing it, just like their
possessions. “Whenever I am
sad I come to La Jagua and I
speak with Yuma, I let them take
my sorrow [...] after the flood,
Yuma does not help take them
away” says Gloria*, a resident of
La Jagua.
In conversations with residents
it is common to talk of the river
not only as a source of food,
Dozens of fishermen of the but a place where adults and
municipalities visited confirm young people played games with
that they do not want to leave friends, and young flirtations; all
are already experiencing changes
24
Ibid.
that the dams have brought. “I
used to go fishing at night with
my husband, it was nice to walk
with him but he has not gone out
again since the beginning of the
dam. Now, I sometimes go out
with my friends, even though it
is more walking,” says Zoila.
Although the bulk of the
respondents did not want to be
inundated, the fear of not being
economically repaired for their
economies, belongings, future
prospects and the making of
the dam, such as in the case
of Betania, causes people to
demands for compensation, fair
relocations and for technical
Fish market in Neiva city port
teams to provide fair evidence to
be brought forth to national and
international levels have been
made as well.
“I want to avoid flooding the
dam, but if it is impossible, we
will have everything ready and
require censuses for people to be
compensated as is,” says Yolima,
president of the Community
Action Board of Puerto
Seco. The distressing
feeling of the people that
confront a multinational
company like Emgesa is
palpable, especially with
one that has the support
of legal and judicial
apparatuses as well as
Colombian police.
The
pillaging25
extends beyond
archaeological
artifacts. Rafael
has videos and
other fishermen
were
witnesses
to the fact that
gold extraction on
the beaches were
never
reported.
“There
were
machines where
we once panned
for gold. In places
where they had to
of reparations. Rafael has
do nothing, big
documented indigenous burials
holes appeared. How much gold
sites, which contained pottery
was removed?” asks Rafael.
and utensils by civilizations that
settled in the area before the
Spanish invasion, items that
25
Dussán, Miller
were stolen before the National “Arqueólogos amanuenses del saqueo
University was able to excavate arqueológico en el Quimbo” (2014).
(Accessed June 2015) http://millerdussan.blogia.com/2014/050101-arqueolothe archaeological sites.
gos-amanuenses-del-saqueo-arqueologico-en-el-quimbo.php
The demands are not
confined to the issue
Youth enjoying the Magdalena river
Residents are resisting the
project not only to protect the
land where they were born, but
are also indignantly organizing
in opposition to state corruption
and criminal corporate
practices
that
Emgesa
partakes in with indemnity.
They have put out a call
for solidarity in support of
the territory, its ecosystem
and the land’s relationship
to the regional economy.
“They are flooding the best
land in the department for
a few years of energy. How
is this rational,” asks Gloria.
Zoila, artisanal fisher, laborer and environmental activist
Energetic Mining Vocation VS
Agricultural Vocation
The departments of Huila and Tolima have served as a food pantry for the country. The elimination
of food production to make way for energy projects is likely to sharpen problems such as malnutrition,
hunger and local climate change, both nationally and globally. It is in this sense that organizations such
as Reiniciar, a strategic ally of Forum Syd, and other organizations such as Censat, Asoquimbo and
Living Rivers criticize the energy plan.
The dams cannot be considered clean energy sources when they are developed by destroying
ecosystems, displacing people, releasing methane gasses into the air26 and causing irreparable
environmental damage.Therefore, it is questionable that the country depends on hydropower to meet
domestic demand and produce energy for export. By 2018, according to the “Analysis and review of the
26
Chemistry for Life “Sediment trapped behind dams makes them ‘hot spots’ for greenhouse gas emissions”
(2013). USA, Chemistry for Life: (Accessed June 2015) http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2013/acs-presspac-july-31-2013/sediment-trapped-behind-dams-makes-them-hot-spots-for-greenhouse.html
Inhabitants of Huila and Tolima departments with the writer William Ospina demostrate
againsts El Quimbo dam and the concession of the Magdalena river to Hidrochina in
March
2015
objectives of Colombian
long-term
energy
policy
and updated
development strategies”,
71.43% of Colombia’s
energy will be produced
by hydraulic technology,
28.57%
will
be
generated by thermal
technology and only
0.11% will be produced
by wind farms27.
On one hand, the
energy that is produced
has purposes that are not
related to the development of
a country with a vocation and
such
agricultural
potential,
but with the energetic mining
business. On the other hand,
Colombia participates in the
selling of an important regional
power, “as of December 2103,
Colombia billed Ecuador a total
of USD $78.4 million by way of
International Transactions of
Electricity (TIE’s), while Ecuador
billed Colombia USD $1.7 million
for the same concept28.
27
Unión Temporal
Universidad Nacional y Fundación Bariloche
Política Energética. “Análisis y revisión de
los objetivos de política energética colombiana de largo plazo y actualización de sus
estrategias de desarrollo” (2010). Bogotá,
Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética:
(Accessed June 2015) http://www.upme.
gov.co/Docs/PEN/PEN%202010%20VERSION%20FINAL.pdf
28
Emgesa “Memoria anual
However, former President
Uribe and Santos have
deepened the mining model
and mining companies need
large amounts of energy
to operate, leading to the
creation
of
hydroelectric
plants and the emergence
of a profitable market, as
recognized by Emgesa. “In our
marketing management to end
customers of the unregulated
market, it should be noted that
in 2013 sales of the company
in this segment increased
3.4% compared to 2012; A
significant event in 2013 was
the awarding of a contract for
the supply of electrical energy
y estados financieros Emgesa” (2013).
Bogotá, Emgesa: (Accessed June 2015)
http://www.emgesa.com.co/ES/PRENSA/CENTRODOCUMENTAL/Informes%20
Anuales/memoria_emgesa_web.pdf
to Ecopetrol S.A. (the largest
company in Colombia due to it
containing the five biggest oil
companies in Latin America) from
April 2013 to November 2018.
This negotiation could represent
a total estimated consumption of
5.613 GWh during the contract
period, which has a projected
average consumption of 360
GWh per year during the first
three years, and 1.511 GWh per
year during the last three years
of the contract period.”29
In addition to resistance based
on preservation of land, fair
compensation and opposition
to an unsustainable energy
model, the communities’ dissent
has only been increased by
29
Ibid
repressive tactics used by state
forces to quell the opposition.
conformity” to hydroelectric
plants as El Quimbo or
Hidroituango, among others, “as
opponents of development, of
belonging to illegal armed groups
or be infiltrated by them”. The
OHCHR defines these actions as
“an excuse to distort the dialog,
expand the processes and not
reach concrete agreements”33.
After the dam construction
stopped in 2012 because of
the
communities’
peaceful
30
demonstrations ,
a
special
division of Colombia’s antiriot police known as ESMAD,
attacked causing severe injuries
within the population31 and
prohibited witness from the The result of distortions does
national and international media not only end up imposing
from entering the area32.
upon the force of the project;
Colombia is the second country
The repression is not only
in Latin America in which
led by the clash of bodies of
environmentalists are murdered,
police. The Office of the High
with 25 victims recognized. Even
Commissioner for Human Rights
so, organizations with the eco
(OHCHR) denounces
that governmental
and private actors
in Colombia point
at “manifestations
of rejection or non-
regional perspective - like that
of Reiniciar, which understands
Colombia from its ecosystems
and from the relationship of
their ecosystems with the
environment, and local and
national economies that seek
to reach out to the community
and the continued strengthening
social organization and their
demands for a sustainable
development. National groups
such as Reiniciar seek to buttress
residents and local social
organizations in their demands
for sustainable development
by bringing them into a larger
national fight, “corresponding
30
“Obras de la hidroeléctrica
El Quimbo llevan un mes
detenidas” (2011). Bogotá,
Portafolio: (Accessed June
2015) http://www.portafolio.co/negocios/obras-la-hidroelectrica-el-quimbo-llevan-un-mes-detenidas
31
Espitia, B. (2011) “El video
que el gobierno colombiano no quiere que veamos”
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BFv4HG8ALeA
32
Luna, J. “La historia del Quimbo: ¿represa o represión?”
(2011). Bogotá, La Silla Vacía: (Accessed
June 2015) http://lasillavacia.com/historia-invitado/24721/jluna/la-historia-del-quimbo-represa-o-represion
33
ONU “Cuestionario : Relatoría de la ONU sobre la
situación de los y las defensoras de derechos humanos” http://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Issues/Defenders/LargeScale/
NGOs/MovimientoRiosVivosColombia.pdf
Fishers and peasants attend meetings
organized by environmental organizations
like Asoquimbo, Rios Vivos and Censat
Inhabitants of Hobo and other
municipalities demostrate
against El Quimbo in March
2015
reject a development
plan and militarization
strategy that goes
against the direction
of peace that the
National government
to a unified environmental Quimbo project is set on the
approach that does not create backdrop of ongoing peace talks claims to support.
divisions between departments between The FARC-ep and the On
the
contrary,
these
that have been provoked government of Juan Manuel communities want to build
since we were colonized,” Santos.
the development up from the
says Carmen Lucia Castro,
“Flooding El Quimbo accelerates knowledge of the state in terms
participant in the Environmental
social problems that have of rights and responsibilities.
Revitalization, Indigenous and
historically thrown gasoline on It proposes to understand the
Peasant Committee of Tolima.
the fire of our civil war. The potential offered by the territory
Although the committee is based
armed conflict is not the only as an Andean ecosystem that
in the neighboring department
problem that we have here and offers alternatives for agricultural
of Tolima, it accompanies social
sustainable
displacement caused by Quimbo development,
and environmental struggles in
fuels
other
manifestations fisheries, economic activities
Huila, understanding that the
of violence in the country,” that have contributed to the local
Magdalena River is not confined
says Juan Manuel Gonzalez, a and national economy, and the
to a single department and it
member of Corporación Casa de food sovereignty of the affected
is national asset. Similar to the
populations and the country as
la Memoria Quipu Huasi.
environmental impacts, the socio
Huila is one of the food pantries
The
fight
to
stop
El
Quimbo
is
not
environmental struggle is not
of Colombia.
confined to the problems faced motivated by groups who have a
by residents in surrounding desire to impede progress, but
municipalities of El Quimbo. rather a peace building process
Civil society challenging the El within communities that seek to
Magdalena river
Report by Andrés Gómez
[email protected]
Supervision of the report, Claudia Arenas, Representative and Coordinator of Forum Syd
office in Colombia
[email protected]
Photos: Andrés Gómez
Translators: Nate Miller and Jennifer García
Bogotá, June 2015