Oil company withdraws from project in Indigenous Ancestral Territory while the National Authority for Prior Consultation continues to violate the fundamental rights of the Inga People

Carlos López Descanse, president of ACIMVIP, told Caracol Radio that after strategic litigation, Gran Tierra Energy was made to withdraw from the APE-La Cabaña oil project in Ancestral Indigenous territory.

Nevertheless, the Directorate of the National Prior Consultation Authority (DANCP) continues to disregard the direct impacts on the Inga People and the rights to Free and Informed Prior Consultation. The DANCP recently notified the Inga People that consultation does not apply in the affected communities.

The Association of Indigenous Cabildos (Indigenous traditional authority) of Villagarzón in Putumayo called on the National Government led by President Gustavo Petro to guarantee the right to Free and Informed Prior Consultation.

The Inga People of the municipality of Villagarzón, Putumayo, considered a victory the decision of the company Gran Tierra Energy Colombia LLC to withdraw from the APE - La Cabaña oil project, within the framework of the PUT-1 block contract.

They consider that, for the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, progress is being made in the recognition of the rights to life and to prior consultation in contexts of hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation in ancestral territory. However, they draw attention to the fact that, despite judicial decisions, the differential impacts of the armed conflict on Indigenous Peoples and its effect on the factors of displacement or confinement and the abandonment of their ancestral territory are being ignored.

The Ombudsman's Office has accompanied the three verification visits on the presence of and impacts on the Inga People, producing various reports that document the direct impacts on the people in relation to the APE La Cabaña project.

Serious territorial, environmental, cultural, and spiritual impacts had been identified in relation to the activities carried out and those intended to be carried out within the framework of that project.

View Link ↓