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By Stefano Pozzebon, CNN
Updated 1046 GMT (1846 HKT) November 23, 2021
(CNN)Fighting against climate change is often a substance of who controls the territory.
In the indigenous preservation of Tacueyó successful Colombia's southwestern section of Cauca, that is the relation of the indigenous guards, a voluntary, unarmed enactment that controls entree to the assemblage and administers section justness successful spot of the regular police.
Armed lone with sticks and machetes, these guards -- called kiwe thegnas in the section Nasa Yuwe connection -- face guerrillas and paramilitary groups who effort to penetrate the assemblage of Nasa indigenous people, who person been surviving crossed those mountains since earlier the Spanish colony.
The guerrillas are present mostly progressive successful the cause commercialized and successful Tacueyó they power the cultivation of amerciable crops specified arsenic marijuana and coca, the earthy worldly down cocaine. The guerrillas are erstwhile left-wing fighters who rejected the landmark bid statement the authorities and the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed successful 2016.
The clash betwixt the indigenous guards and the guerrillas present concerns pristine h2o sources: a upland scope overseeing Tacueyó rises astatine implicit 10,000 feet supra oversea level and the h2o sources successful the apical of the mountains provender creeks and rivers down the vale and from past connected to the large rivers of Colombia.
In a wood of frailejones, upland sunflowers 6 feet gangly that seizure h2o vapor from clouds and merchandise it to the crushed creating h2o springs, Nora Taquinas, 1 of the leaders of the Nasa community, oversees the kiwe thegnas connected patrol.
"If determination was nary much h2o here, determination would beryllium nary h2o each crossed Colombia, the full state would go a desert," she told CNN pointing astatine the section vegetation and surrounding streams.
They are trying to sphere this abstraction arsenic a earthy sanctuary of much than 350 hectares of chaotic terrain -- but for cause trafficking organizations, the aforesaid upland scope is simply a strategical determination to control, a invaluable outpost to supply structure successful their combat against the state.
And the clash betwixt the 2 is turning deadly.
The menace of death
Protecting the situation is simply a unsafe occupation successful Colombia. According to the planetary NGO Global Witness, Colombia was the world's astir unsafe state for biology activists past year. And of 290 biology murders identified by Global Witness implicit the past decennary successful Colombia, 117 were indigenous.
In Tacueyó, the scars of this conflict are disposable to everyone who's entering town: a ample signboard memorializes an indigenous leader, Cristina Bautista, and 4 kiwes who were murdered successful their car connected October 29, 2019, successful an ambush connected the main road.
Authorities and eyewitnesses who spoke with CNN blamed the onslaught connected the section guerrilla radical Dagoberto Ramos and successful June 2020, Colombian service units claimed to person captured the alleged guerrilla combatant down the assassination.
Taquinas, a azygous parent of 2 successful her aboriginal 30s, survived the 2019 attack. "I was conscionable there, down that crook of the road," she told CNN erstwhile visiting the spot wherever her chap guards were ambushed and changeable at. "I crawled down the car's engine, and that stopped the bullets."
She has since replaced Bautista arsenic 1 of the astir salient leaders of the community. But with large work besides came greater risk: She has received threats from antithetic transgression organizations, and successful 2018 her sanction successful 2018 was added to a database of leaders with a bounty connected her caput by 1 of the largest paramilitary groups successful Colombia.
Criminal organizations often people specified lists arsenic a mode to exert power implicit a territory, and to people the astir vocal opponents to their actions. Bautista, Nora's person who was assassinated successful 2019, was besides threatened.
Taquinas shrugs astatine the threats. "Of course, sometimes fearfulness pushes you distant from the struggle. But erstwhile that happens, you consciousness alone, abandoned, and past you look astatine the combat that different radical person begun, radical that person been murdered, and their execution has go inspiration for younger generations to rise, truthful you articulation and combat up again," she told CNN.
Her biology activism mixes with societal issues successful her community. Taquinas oversees projects of sustainable improvement of h2o sources similar a trout workplace to prolong the section system and make jobs to forestall much radical articulation the guerrilla oregon the coca crops.
Projects to make Tacueyó arsenic a sustainable tourism destination person besides been launched. This puts her adjacent further successful collision with the guerrillas, who don't power Tacueyó but whose beingness is felt each day. Carmenza Cuchillo and Juan Peteche, who administer the trout workplace connected behalf of the community, some told CNN they had been approached by guerrillas respective times to request the outgo of a "protection fee" for the farm.
"The beingness of these groups has been increasing steadily since 2018, present determination are respective of them. They are not ideological, each they attraction is the money; my predecessor near the occupation due to the fact that of the threats, I'm inactive fine, but there's decidedly much fear," Peteche told CNN.
Several of the young guards who enactment with Taquinas told CNN they person besides been approached for recruitment.
What the authorities is doing astir it
In caller months, the Colombian authorities has travel nether occurrence for the rising levels of unit successful the countryside.
More than 88 massacres person been reported by quality rights NGOs successful the twelvemonth truthful far, defined successful Colombia arsenic the decease of 3 oregon much unarmed radical successful an attack. Cauca, the section wherever Taquinas lives, is among the astir affected of each Colombia by specified attacks owed to the beingness of transgression equipped groups and the accumulation of illicit drugs.
President Ivan Duque precocious defended his administration's information record, pointing retired that homicides and kidnappings are astatine the lowest complaint successful the past 50 years crossed the nation. Still, critics and analysts are urging the authorities to bash much to summation information successful agrarian areas specified arsenic Cauca, wherever narcotics accumulation is recovered and massacres are much common.
The United States is starting to wage attraction to the issue: During a caller sojourn to Bogota, US Secretary of State Blinken urged the Duque medication "to summation and fortify the beingness of the authorities successful agrarian areas." In October, Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern visited Cauca specifically to conscionable with societal and biology leaders facing convulsive threats.
And portion Duque's medication is vocal successful its pledges to combat clime change, overmuch much could beryllium done to support the situation by expanding authorities extortion and surveillance successful areas nether menace similar Tacueyó.
"Protecting activists is astir a shortcut to clime action," says Louis Wilson of Global Witness. "If you tin uphold the rights of indigenous activists, if you tin uphold the rights of onshore activists, of accepted communities; past they volition bash the occupation for us."
"These radical are warring the clime situation already due to the fact that it is successful their contiguous interests, often their livelihoods oregon their endurance is connected the line," she adds.
Because of the threats she received, Taquinas is already nether extortion by the Colombian state, who supply her with an armored car and 2 minders erstwhile she leaves home.
But the remainder of her assemblage is near for themselves, either to look criminals with nary protection, oregon to articulation them.
Taquina's latest task is simply a schoolhouse to bid the adjacent procreation of the kiwe thengas, hosted successful a farmhouse connected the roadworthy to the mountains.
There she draws large plans for the preservation connected a achromatic board, urging her squad to proceed the struggle. Twenty hectares person already been rewilded, but 350 much remain. Of 37 h2o sources successful the reservation, conscionable 11 are monitored and protected.
"I'm good if my clip connected this world is chopped short," she told CNN with a smile, "but I privation to beryllium definite there's idiosyncratic to instrumentality up the fight."
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