Michael McCaughan reports on the struggle of the Colombian U'wa people to preserve their ancient way of life from the encroachment of 'civilisation' Oil and guns are the first signs of life in the countryside around Saravena in north-east Colombia, where a small airforce plane dropped a dozen passengers in the middle of a large army base. Just beyond the airport a row of oil drums and sandbags provide cover for dozens of soldiers crouched in combat position, awaiting the guerrilleros who strike from the hills beyond.
Reserves are low, however, and pressure is on to exploit new deposits.
Roberto Cobaria, president of the U'wa Council of tribal authorities, was waiting inside U'wa reservation land, a further two-hour trek across unpaved roads and rising rivers to the home of Colombia's original inhabitants. The U'wa people have wandered the cloud forests of the Colombian Andes for centuries, shifting home three times a year, rotating subsistence crops between snowcapped peaks, lush jungle forest and scorched, arid lands. Cobaria's people are standing on top of a billion-dollar fortune in oil, but they couldn't care less. The black gold could bring health clinics, VCRs and washing machines, catapulting the small U'wa tribe into the modern age. Until recent times U'wa children were tied up and taken from their families by Catholic nuns based in a nearby mission, where they were beaten if they spoke their native language.