In Colombia, wind energy fever shakes up indigenous people

In 2016, the Portuguese EDPR and Italian companies ENEL asked the Jusayu family for permission to build a wind farm and an access road to another park on their small territory in the department of La Guajira.

The Jusayu family, goat herders, refused, sparking in return a campaign of harassment that left one dead, several injured and 34 displaced, she accused.

Two wind farms have so far sprung up on this semi-desert peninsula on the windswept Caribbean coast hot as an oven, where electricity and drinking water are scarce.

Because as part of a vast energy transition plan, where solar and wind energy would represent 8% of the national supply, the government of President Gustavo Petro aims to make La Guajira a "world capital of green energy".

If wind currently accounts for only 0.1% of production, far behind hydroelectric (68.3%) and thermal (30.7%), 57 parks, or about 3,000 wind turbines, are to be built over the next ten years in Colombia. An investment of more than $15 billion.

Jusayu family head Moises (C) poses with other family members from the Wayuu indigenous community in Uribia, La Guajira Department, Colombia, February 22, 2023 © JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP

Pressure and "tragedy"

Bordering Venezuela, La Guajira is the ancestral territory of the Wayuu indigenous people, nearly 600 communities of which will be impacted by future wind turbines, according to Indepaz projections.

For the think tank, there is no doubt that the Wayuu people are giving up their territory against a background of "deception" and "irregular" agreements. In a country fueled mostly by hydroelectric dams, wind energy will be exported and "La Guajira will not see a single kilowatt it produces," said Joanna Barney, a researcher at Indepaz.

Preliminary excavation work before the installation of a wind farm in Uribia, La Guajira department, Colombia, February 22, 2023 © JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP

The patriarch of the Jusayu family, Moisés, recounts in a criminal complaint against ENEL and ERPD how on February 18, 2018 he was the victim of a machete attack in his village, on the construction site of Windpeshi Park.

According to his daughter Elba, corporate pressure for permits is responsible for a telenovela-like family "tragedy".

The two companies allegedly offered "riches" to Moisés' younger brother in an attempt to convince him. The rivalry degenerated into domestic violence: a nephew of the family was killed, Moisés had to flee home with his family.

On his return, his younger brother had supplanted him as an indigenous authority, authorizing construction work.

The family has since returned to Wimpedshi and started a new business. But the threats continued, with one of the sons even claiming to have been shot by assailants "wearing ENEL Green Power uniforms".

Consulted by AFP, ENEL says that "under no circumstances did workers of the company attempt the life of a member of the Wayuu community" and that the Jusayu land "is not part of the zone of direct influence" of the Windpeshi Park. EDPR did not respond to AFP.

"Lack of advice"

In one of the two La Guajira wind farms operated since the beginning of 2022 by ISAGEN, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Brookfield, 14 wind turbines cut off the desert wind. A few meters away, most Wayuu homes have no electricity.

Children from the Wayuu indigenous community play in their house next to a wind farm near Cabo de la Vela, in Uribia, La Guajira department, Colombia, February 22, 2023 © JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP

"We wake up looking at our new neighbors. It's strange because we always grew up surrounded by vegetation," said Luis Iguaran, a teacher in Lanshalia, the only nearby community with electricity.

"The animals can no longer graze," he regrets, with Indepaz recording a 50% decrease in the goat population in the first five months of operation.

Before erecting the turbines, the company conducted "prior consultation" with local communities and agreed to fund "productive projects" in exchange for land use for 30 years, Barney said.

That of Lanshalia has enacted solar panels and 20,000 liters of drinking water per month. A quantity nevertheless "insufficient" for ten families, according to Mr. Iguaran.

The company told AFP it had complied with the terms of the consultation, which was approved by the local environmental authority. But the professor regrets having "lacked advice" that would have made it possible to negotiate "better conditions".

A child from the Wayuu indigenous community plays next to a wind farm near Cabo de la Vela, in Uribia, La Guajira department, Colombia, February 22, 2023 © JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP

"On paper, they seem generous: ENEL offers 1 billion (Colombian pesos) per year," or 220,000 dollars. "But there are 19 communities and each one can have between 40 and 80 people," she said, making at least 55,000 pesos per month ($12) per person.

© 2023 AFP