| Colombia is planning to open wind energy fields in La Guajira. Wind energy is renewable and a cheap source of electricity. Although it is also considered a clean and non-polluting energy source, wind farms cause flora and fauna to change. In the case of La Guajira, migratory birds, for example, will have to alter their routes. Bats, which play a central role in the local ecosystem as pollinators of the cardón cactus species on which the indigenous Wayúus depend, will be badly affected. Their wave navigation system gets thrown off by wind turbines. Mortality rates of these flying mammals soar around wind farms. |
Winds of change blow through indigenous lands in La Guajira
The Caribbean coastal desert is ground zero for Colombia’s plan to lead the region’s shift to renewable energy, but at huge cost to the Wayúu people.
La Guajira, Dec. 22.– Looking like huge, beached white whales in an arid landscape, the
wind turbine’s blades lie on the ground. This is Cabo de la Vela, a remote area on the northern tip of the Colombian Guajira, a huge desert region on the Caribbean coast. The turbine is one of ten on the first wind farm to be built in Colombia in 17 years. It will stand 78 meters tall, each blade 49 meters long. The turbines are the new improved variety – bigger, more powerful and more cost-efficient because they can tap higher wind speeds.
The wind farm, called Guajira I, is owned by the Colombian hydroelectric company Isagene. Next door is Jepírachi, a wind farm owned by Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM).
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3 mil migrantes, partió una caravana integrada por centroamericanos, haitianos y cubanos. La mayoría son adultos jóvenes varones.