This little boy is from the Humanitarian and Biodiverse Reservation of Santa Rosa de Guayacán, a Nonam Wounaan Indigenous community that is located along the Calima River and is part of the municipality of Buenaventura.  

 

The community is also located close to the port of Buenaventura, an ideal route for drug trafficking. Their land is under constant threat from those who want to expand the port and control the territory for drug trafficking. As a result, communities along the river are continually displaced from their land, fleeing from violent paramilitaries.

 

The community of Santa Rosa de Guayacán has been displaced multiple times in the past several years, and residents flee to the city of Buenaventura for refuge. Those who remain often feel confined to their land, afraid to move so they don’t get caught in the cross hairs of violence. This means that they are unable to transit freely in their territory to cultivate crops, fish, and carry out their daily activities.

 

Moreover, the current Colombian administration, under pressure from the US, is returning to aerial fumigation, a historically unsuccessful tactic used to try and eradicate coca crops. Aerial fumigation causes displacement, pollutes water sources, poisons food crops, and has been linked to cancer. The return to these vintage policies further threaten already marginalized communities. This community and many along the river sit at the intersection of physical violence, economic exploitation, and a marginalized social status that results in and perpetuates ongoing injustices.

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Dispite the presence of U.S.- funded military forces in the area, violence along the river continues. In fact, many communities distrust the military a they have been known to operate in collusion with paramilitaries. U.S.- funded support, train, and arm these troops.