First there were coalmines, then came the windfarms. Why Colombia’s Wayúu people fear Colombia’s green energy boom

In the country’s north, mining has ravaged Indigenous lands and lives for decades. Is history repeating itself as renewable energy schemes arrive on their doorstep?

In the heart of the dry tropical forest, Maria Elena Aguilar Uriana walks past towering cacti, her ancestors’ graves, and patterned clothes blowing in the wind. Her brow is furrowed, her hands fixed on her hips. She points to a former watering hole, now nothing but dust.

“Our children are malnourished and dying,” she says. “It’s all because of the mining. It has destroyed our landscape, our homes, our lives.”

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