Socio-political effects of the Urra I hydroelectric construction in the Embera Catio Indigenous community (Colombia)

Abstract

The Embera Catio people live in the Nudo de Paramillo (High Sinu River, Western Mountain Chain at Colombian Andes) since ancient times. Despite the circumstances that have surrounded them, they retain part of their culture and have sought to keep their forms of government and social relationships that govern life in community. However, the construction of the Urra I hydroelectric encountered the Embera Catio with the deterioration of a significant part of their territory, losing sacred sites and lands for cultivation, as well as the emergence of social conflicts they were previously unaware of. This situation forced the Indigenous group to change its social and organizational behavior, and to adapt to new environmental conditions. This work shows a parallel between before and after the construction of the Urra I hydroelectric and subsequent effects on social and political organization brought by the river damming

Keywords

• pueblos indígenas
• generación energía eléctrica
• características sociales y políticas