Embera Katio leaders were killed by paramilitary forces because of the community's opposition to construction of a dam on the Sinu river. Here is an update, showing again how urgently the Embera Katio People need international support. Please respond to the call for faxes and emails if you can. Several dozen indigenous Colombians from the Embera Katio tribe have begun a 700-kilometer march on foot to Bogota from their Alto Sinu reservation in Tierralta municipality, Cordoba department, to demand the suspension of a hydroelectric project that will flood their lands, and to protest the threats made against them by armed groups.
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The Amazon Alliance has not verified the accuracy of the forwarded message. Forwarding this message does not necessarily connote agreement with the positions stated there-in. On Nov. 18, the Urra S.A. company began filling its dam on the Sinu river in Colombian department of Cordoba, with authorization from the Environment Ministry. Indigenous leaders of the Embera Katio community of the Alto Sinu region charge that this action has been taken without consulting with the communities, without relocating local residents who will be flooded out of their homes, and without indigenous authorization for use of the territory. The filling of the dam will directly affect indigenous homes and crops and will flood various sacred sites, causing destruction of the social, economic and cultural life of the Doza, Beguido and Amborromia communities, home to 24 families.