Indigenous Colombians in standoff over wind farms

Goat farmer Moises Jusayu (centre) and his family at the Uribia Cultural centre where they are taking shelter after being displaced from their land in Uribia, department of La Guajira, Colombia, on Feb 22, 2023. — Photos: AFP

In Colombia’s far north, wind farm expansion is unsettling the Indigenous Wayuu inhabitants of a semi-desert region earmarked as an El Dorado of renewable energy.

The government of leftist new President Gustavo Petro aims to make La Guajira a “green energy capital of the world,” but some locals claim they are being exploited and left behind.