The Colombian government authorized EMGESA, subsidiary of Spanish multinational company ENDESA, to build El Quimbo dam with its own resources and for its only benefit.

El Quimbo project is designed to generate hydroelectric power to benefit EMGESA economically. In addition to the concentration of economic benefits for the transnational forces who operate indiscriminately in Colombia, the building of this megaproject will have deep environmental, social, political and cultural consequences, such as the flooding of two thousand hectares of crops, flooding of paths to municipalities, displacement of 427 families who live permanently in the area, displacement of 1466 people who will also lose their jobs, and the suspension of nine irrigation systems, among other consequences.

As it is widely known, in Colombia there are a wide range of megaproject plans which share these features of benefits for transnational corporations, at the expense of rights and benefits for the population. In this context, and as a way to articulate and discuss alternatives, different social organizations and platforms carried out the National Meeting on Sustainable Energy and Food Sovereignty, which also welcomed the decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to follow the situation of dams in Latin America and the impacts of these on the human rights of the peoples.

Photo: http://www.rel-uita.org