Denial of Rights, Denial of Justice : The Embera Katío

Jairo Alfonso Rebolledo Vargas

Escuela Superior de Guerra

Aim: This article explains the situation of displacement to which the Embera Katío people were forced as a result of the construction of the Urrái hydroelectric power plant (Alto Sinú-Córdoba), depriving this minority group of its territorial and cultural heritage and causing its imminent disappearance as a community.   Methods: The document shows how political and judicial corruption—through its questioned deci- sions—caused the Embera Katío community to be “expelled” from their ancestral territories and relo- cated in the urban area of the municipality, where they could not carry out their agricultural, educatio- nal, religious, fishing and navigation, etc. activities. Therefore, its members were subjected to a process of adaptability to a new life system until “disappearing” as an ethnic group.   Results: Despite the existence of national and international legislation that protects the rights of indi- genous communities and minorities, there was no effective application of the law in this case so that, when the Constitutional Court intervened, it faced accomplished facts.   Conclusion: The judicial authorities’ failure to timely obey the orders of the National Constitution and international treaties led to a situation of eviction, displacement and subsequent disappearance by acculturation of the Embera Katío community from Alto Sinú.
Keywords: fundamental indigenous rights, prior consultation, political corruption, Embera Katío natives, denial of justice, Urrá i dam
Published
2018-08-22

How to Cite

Rebolledo Vargas, J. A. (2018). Denial of Rights, Denial of Justice: The Embera Katío. DIXI, 20(27). https://doi.org/10.16925/di.v20i27.2397
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