Radio Mundo Real

Around 300 people displaced from Cañón del Cauca, Antioquia, Colombia, have been in a precarious situation of humanitarian emergency for three months since the State does not recognize them as displaced people, said Isabel Zuleta, of the Rios Vivos Movement, in an interview with Real World Radio.

She said that the authorities of Medellin municipality have repeatedly refused to recognize the rights of the affected communities, pointing out that they only recognize the displacements caused by the armed conflict, and not megaprojects, such as the case of the building of this dam by the consortium with state capitals Hidroituango.

Since March 17th, the population by the Cauca River is staying in a state of overcrowding at Antioquia University and some of them had to be hospitalized. The Rios Vivos member highlighted the health and food crisis suffered by the over 300 people
displaced.

“In this way we can see how the Colombian state is not only displacing this population, but in addition it is not protecting them, it is criminalizing them, it is displacing them from their territory and it is not ensuring medical attention”, she said.