The U'wa People of Colombia's Cloud Forests
"Mother Earth, despite being violated, silently continues to feed and sustain us. She doesn't feel envy. She talks but very few listen to her voice. She insists through cries but everything continues the same. This worries us, but we, the U'wa of Colombia and the friends of the U'wa will continue to defend her with our voice, our sacred ceremonies, our songs and our faith." U'wa spiritual leader
The U'wa are a peaceful culture of more than 6,200 people who live in the remote Andes of northeastern Colombia, along the border with Venezuela. Both the U'wa and the cloud forest they inhabit are among the last of their kind in the world. However, the U'wa way of life is now jeopardized by oil, gas, and mining concessions condemned by environmental and human rights organizations around the world. Natural resource extraction and the construction of mega-projects in the U'wa territory has already contributed to a climate of violence which is likely to lead to a human rights and environmental disaster.
The U'wa, known as the "people who know how to think and speak," consider themselves guardians of the forest and the species therein. For centuries, they have protected large tracts of forest by prohibiting all human access - including their own. These tracts now function as de facto biological reserves for such species as jaguars, spectacled bears, and toucans. Outsiders marvel at the U'wa ability to sustain themselves without scarring the land. The U'wa are so careful that photos from the air cannot detect where they have planted crops.
The U'wa have no written language; their culture is preserved through song. Their religion dictates that they maintain harmony among the layers of creation: earth, water, oil, mountains, and sky. The U'wa hold that "Oil is the blood of Mother Earth ... to take the oil is, for us, worse than killing your own mother. If you kill the earth, then no one will live."
The U'wa Unified Reserve, located between the departments of Norte de Santander, Santander, and Boyacá, encompasses 17 U'wa communities. The U'wa are led by traditional authorities, known as the Werjayá (males) and Baucariná (females). These spiritual leaders are in charge of communicating with the superior powers found throughout nature, such as the plants, animals, rivers, sun, and stars. There is a parallel authority structure, as mandated by Colombian law, called the Cabildo Mayor, or High Council. In the U'wa case, this is called the Association of U'wa Councils and Authorities – ASOU'WA, which represents the U'wa toward the outside world in all aspects.
The current leadership of ASOU'WA was elected during an U'wa congress in December of 2009. The President is Gilberto Cobaría Bócota, a teacher who has lead efforts to revive ethno-education within the U'wa for the last 15 years. He is joined by Berito Cobaría Afanador, who now serves as the International Coordinator and has received various awards for his advocacy efforts.
The U'wa see their defense of nature as not only on their own benefit, but also for all life and biodiversity in their territory, in the service of all humanity and the planet itself. In addition to being vociferous environmental guardians, they are inherent pacifists by culture: the Uwa, for example, consider the mere presence of weapons in their territory to be violent.
Related Work:
Defend U’wa Life and Territory
Since 1997, Amazon Watch has campaigned alongside the U'wa people as they have struggled to protect their sacred lands, traditional way of life, and safety of their communities. A peaceful indigenous community of some 5,000 people, the U'wa live in the remote Andean cloud forests of northeastern Colombia, along the border with Venezuela.
