Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Señor
Alvaro Uribe Vélez
Presidente de la República de Colombia
Casa de Nariño
Carrera 8 # 7-96
Bogotá D.C.
Colombia
Dear Sir;
Sustained poisonous fumigations in the area around Guapi, Costa Caucana – a crime
against humanity and biodiversity
We, the undersigned academics, lawyers and economists, have confirmed knowledge that
since the month of January Colombia’s anti-narcotics police have established a base in the
small town of Guapi on the Cauca coast, from where they have led operations to fumigate
large parts of the rainforest, pretending to eradicate illegal coca cultivation. While aware of
the purpose of these fumigations, we are highly concerned about their detrimental effect on
everyday life in the communities affected who live along the river banks in this part of the
country.
As you know, rural black and indigenous communities who live along the river banks in the
Pacific coast region, have established for hundreds of years a peaceful form of living together
in harmony with their surrounding environment – una convivencia pacífica. These
communities have been responsible and successful in the preservation of this unique
ecosystem that has a world-renowned reputation for being one of the hotspots of biological
diversity in the world. This was recognised by the World Bank-supported research project
Proyecto Biopacífico that ran from 1992 to 1998. It is in utter disregard of the
recommendations drawn up by this acclaimed study that you have decided to start a massive,
indiscriminate fumigation campaign in the region, hoping to eradicate illegal coca
cultivation.
It is an act of utterly unacceptable cynicism that you should even consider spraying
poisonous liquids – glifosato – onto this biodiverse region, thereby killing off the very
vegetation, for which the region has become so importantly recognised. The United Nations
have declared 2010 as the Year of Biodiversity. And the Colombian government is
destroying this biodiversity in front of our eyes. This is a scandal of most utter cynicism.
History will not absolve you!
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Moreover, the implications of the widespread fumigation campaign for the local communities
are devastating. Not only do you target the illegal coca plants, but all vegetation, including
cultivations of important everyday crops – the pan coger – that local populations depend
upon. Rivers are contaminated, elderly and children are particularly affected by skin rashes
and asthmatic attacks. The true and long-lasting effects of this poisonous contamination that
you have begun will become obvious in the weeks and months ahead.
We cannot sit idly by while these crimes against humanity and the environment are
committed. We most strongly condemn your practice of fumigation.
An added irony is the fact that the anti-narcotics police have taken over the Hotel Río Guapi
(a hotel in which some of the undersigned have stayed themselves in the past). This hotel is
run by a Spanish NGO – Levante en Marxa (http://www.llevantenmarxa.com) – that aims at
providing support for the poorest of children and young people in the municipality of Guapi.
It is one of the Macondian ironies that your anti-narcotics police, which destroy the life base
of these children by fumigation, should operate from the hotel run by this NGO.
Many of us have a long-standing commitment to the communities in and around the region of
Guapi. We have been to the area many a times and know what we are talking about. Based on
this first-hand experience we repeat our demand for an IMMEDIATE HALT TO
FUMIGATION in this area and the whole region of the Pacific coast.
Yours sincerely,
x Professor John Agnew, Distinguished Professor, UCLA, Los Angeles, Past President
(2009-2010) Association of American Geographers, USA.
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x Professor David Slater, Department of Geography, Loughborough University, UK.
x Dr. Jean Rahier, Director of African and African Diaspora Studies, Florida International
University, Miami, USA.
x Dr. Ana Maria Bidegain, Director Colombia Studies Institute, Florida International
University, Miami, USA.
x Dr. Luis Castro Nogueira, Profesor Titular de Sociología, UNED, Madrid, España.
x Dr. Wolfgang Buermann, Institute of the Environment, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.
x Profesor Mario Diego Romero, Departamento de Historia, Universidad del Valle, Cali.
x Natasha Rivers, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Geography, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.
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For correspondence please write to the following address:
email: Ulrich.Oslender@ges.gla.ac.uk
Please note that a copies of this letter have been sent to:
x Oficina de Relaciones Exteriores del Reino Unido (UK Foreign Office, Londres) (en
inglés)