The Wayúu tragedy: death, water and the imperatives of global capitalism

Abstract

Between 20007 and 2017 approximately 5000 children of the Wayúu tribe in the Guajira state in Colombia died, largely from an inability to gain access to clean water. A severe drought is a proximate factor to this massive loss of life, but the drought concealed a larger historical, political and economic context that was fundamental to this humanitarian crisis. A context dominated by the needs of our present epoch of global capitalism and not simply the consequences of regional corruption or the weakness of the Colombian state. In the case of Guajira, transnational coal mining interests have for decades worked to dispossess indigenous communities from their lands while capturing more of their water resources to facilitate the operation of the largest open-pit mine in the world. This demand for coal, land and water was facilitated by factions of Colombia’s political establishment on a national and regional level that viewed such investments as necessary for development and/or as a source of funding for corruption and political violence.

Keywords:

• Wayuu
• Colombia
• global capitalism
• La Guajira
• coal
• drought

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Snell, “The Art of Place.”

2 Pappier, “OECD.”

3 Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Resolución, “Resolucion 60/2015,” 1; McKenzie and Cohen, “Death and Displacement,” 128.

4 Antonio Gutierrez, “Violencia structural e infanticidio.”

5 CELEAM, “Pueblo Wayúu,” 4.

6 Antonio Gutierrez, “Violencia structural e infanticidio.”

7 McKenzie and Cohen, “Death and Displacement,” 129.

8 Sultana and Loftus, “The Right to Water,” 1; Berman, “WHO.”

9 Barlow and Clark, “Who Owns Water?” 11.

10 Ochoa Sierra, Horror Sin Nombre.

11 Guaqueta, “Transparency at the Local Level,” 72.

12 Saénz-Castro and García-González, “The Relationship Between Corruption and Inequality in Colombia,” 2.

13 Harvey, The New Imperialism, 139 (emphasis mine).

14 Ibid., 145–6.

15 Gordon and Webber, Blood of Extraction, 9.

16 Parenti, Tropic of Chaos.

17 Bryant and Bailey, Third World Political Ecology, 3.

18 Veltmeyer and Petras, “A New Model or Extractive Imperialism?” 2.

19 Ibid., 4–5.

20 Lopez and Vertiz, “Extractivism, Transnational Capital,” 157.

21 Ibid., 157.

22 Gordon and Webber, Blood of Extraction, 9.

23 PBI Colombia, Mining in Colombia, 5.

24 Ibid., 154.

25 Radonic, “Environmental Violence, Water Rights,” 28.

26 Robinson, Latin America and Global Capitalism, 303–4.

27 Ochoa Sierra, Horror Sin Nombre, 11.

28 CINEP, “Informe Especial,” 13; Archila, “Introducción,” 26.

29 Ochoa Sierra, Horror Sin Nombre, 12.

30 Ibid., 37.

31 Las Huellas del Guajira.

32 Fajardo Gomez, “The Systematic Violation,” 18.

33 Brogeland Laache, “Life by Latin America’s Largest”; CINEP, “Informe Especial,” 11.

34 Chomsky et al., “Cronologia,” 12.

35 Celis, “Economic Extractivism and Agrarian Social Movements,” 150.

36 Brogeland Laache, “Life by Latin America’s Largest”; Cabrera Leal and Fierro Morales, “Implicaciones Ambientales y Sociales,” 96.

37 Arboleda and Cuenca, “Transformaciones Territoriales y Conflictos,” 364 (emphasis mine).

38 McKenzie and Cohen, “Death and Displacement,” 130.

39 Sankey, “Colombia,” 115, 130.

40 Celis, “Economic Extractivism and Agrarian Social Movements.”

41 The Santos administration was not only ideologically committed to continuing the extractivist project, but also enjoyed familial connections to the mining sector including President Santos’ cousin who represented the Canadian mining company Medoro Resources in Colombia; Sankey, “Colombia,” 119.

42 PBI, Mining in Colombia, 4.

43 Las Huellas del Guajira.

44 PBI, Mining in Colombia, 9.

45 Sankey, “Colombia,” 123.

46 PBI Colombia, Mining in Colombia, 10.

47 Ibid., 9.

48 Dover et al., “Impacto de la Explotacion Minera,” 62.

49 CINEP, “Informe Especial,” 15, 18.

50 Dover et al., “Impacto de la Explotacion Minera,” 63.

51 Boersma, “Living in the Shadow.”

52 Ocampo Kohn, “Cerrejón y el Agua.”

53 Reiter, “La Etica de El Cerrejón,” 32.

54 Brogeland Laache, “Life by Latin America’s Largest.”

55 Ibid.

56 Arboleda and Cuenca, “Transformaciones Territoriales y Conflictos,” 365; Pulido, “El Carbon y sus Efectos,” 85.

57 CINEP, “Informe Especial,” 28.

58 According NASA’s Earth Observatory, ‘El Niño and La Niña reflect the two end points of an oscillation in the Pacific Ocean. The cycle is not fully understood, but the times series illustrates that the cycle swings back and forth every 3–7 years’. La Niña’s typically follow El Niño’s and is associated with the atmosphere cooling in response to a colder ocean surface causing less water evaporation contributing to less rain fall.

59 Valencia et al., “Presa El Cercado, Guajira Colombia.”

60 María Cuevas, “El Río.”

61 Organización Wiwa Yucumaiun Bunkuanarua Tairona,“El Cercado que interrumpe.”

62 Ibid.

63 Comision Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, “Resolucion 60/2015, 6; Sáchica Moreno, “El único ‘estado’ que conocen”; Brodzinsky, “Colombia’s Pipes to Nowhere.”

64 Brodzinsky, “Colombia’s Pipes to Nowhere.”

65 Ibid.

66 Environmental Justice Atlas, “Represa El Cercado en el Río Ranchería.”

67 Procuraduría general de la nación, “LA GUAJIRA,” 27.

68 María Cuevas, “El Río.”

69 López Zuleta, “Wayú, una Etnia en vías.”

70 Brodzinsky, “Colombia’s Pipes to Nowhere.”

71 Veltmeyer and Petras, “A New Model,” 44.

72 Gordon and Webber, Blood of Extraction, 153; McKenzie and Cohen, “Death and Displacement,” 131.

73 Gordon and Webber, Blood of Extraction.

74 CINEP, “Informe Especial,” 21.

75 CINEP, “Minería, conflictos sociales”; María Cuevas, “El Río.”

76 Ochoa Sierra, Horror Sin Nombre, 50.

77 In 2013, Gomez was arrested at a Festival of Coal celebration and was charged, not only for his connections to paramilitary networks, but in the murder of at least three individuals; López Zuleta, “Wayú, una etnia en vías”; Redacción Judicial, “El prontuario del gobernadora.”

78 López Zuleta, “Wayú, una Etnia en vías.”

79 McKenzie and Cohen, “Death and Displacement,” 131.

80 Comision Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, “Resolucion 60/2015.”

81 Redacción La Guajira Hoy.com, “Sicarios Acaban con la vida.”

82 Ibid.

83 Ochoa Sierra, Horror Sin Nombre, 54.

84 Telesur, “Asesina a professor y líder.”

85 OAS, “Basic Documents in the Inter-American System.”

86 Sáchica Moreno, “Cómo llegó el caso.”

87 McKenzie and Cohen, “Death and Displacement,” 129.

88 Sáchica Moreno, “Cómo llegó el caso.”

89 Brodzinsky, “Colombia’s Pipes to Nowhere.”

90 Comision Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, “Resolucion 60/2015,” 1.

91 Ibid., 1.

92 Redacción Judicial, “Corte Suprema pide Garantizar.”

93 Archila Neira, “Introducción,” 31.

94 Ramirez Boscan, “La Caravana de las Mujeres Wayúu.”

95 CINEP, “Minería, conflictos sociales.”

96 Salazar, “Colombia’s Presidential Hopeful.”

97 Durango, “El Paro Nacional en Colombia.”

98 Coordinador Nacional Agrario-CAN, “Declaración política de la Asamblea.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William Avilés

William Avilés is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, USA. His research explores the relationship between capitalist globalisation and range of different issues associated with civil–military relations, political violence and water wars. His works also involves attention to US drug war policies in Latin America. His books include Military Power and Globalization in the Andes (2011) and The Drug War in Latin America: Hegemony and Global Capitalism (2017).