Colombia

“On November third we were threatened by a group called The Black Eagles, and they threatened us to leave the territory to avoid our death or assassination. This perilous situation is being experienced by around 18 leaders who defend the water, the swamps and the air of the middle Magdalena region of Colombia. I’m Oscar Sampayo I live in the middle Magnadena Region of Colombia. I am part of several social organisations. We have received these threats and have decided to continue our accusations. Deepen our investigations, and demonstrate the environmental sacrifice and the extreme degree of contamination that we suffer in Magnadena Medio as a result of hydrocarbon extraction that we believe is going to deepen with the start of the pilot research projects as today published by Ecopretrol. With the start of the pilot fracking projects. We currently have security measures in place by the Colombian government byt bthis is not a guarantee for the protection of the life and the integrity of the voices that question and reject the deepening of the extractive model or of some projects that intervene with nature, againsy ecosystems, against fauna and flora. Thus we call for solidarity. So that the lives of the people, the citizens, the voices, and the leaderships that defend nature are not killed, are not silenced and that the defense for water and nature does not cost us our lives.” – Oscar Sampayo, activist, Colombia