The indigenous tribe Wayuu have been blocking the Troncal del Caribe
highway in the north of Colombia to protest against the alleged
abandonment of their community by the authorities.
Around thousand Wayuu are blocking three different points (Mayapo, Gloria and Aremashain) of the highway between Colombia and Venezuela. The blockade significantly hinders the passage of passenger and goods between Riohacha and Maicao and causes incalculable delays.
The Indigenous are protesting because authorities take away their autonomy and fail to provide health care and education to the Wayuu, local media reported.
The children of the community do not have access to the subsidized health care because the Civil Registry does not allow them to register. Furthermore, education is missing because the government did not hire teachers.
We think we have exhausted the dialogue with the administration. Our problems have not been heard, Luis Socarras, leader of the protest, said.
Local politicians visited the protesting Wayuu on Tuesday who reported the situation to Governor Jorge Eduardo Perez Bernier. “We are prepared to talk to find a solution to the strik,” the Governor said after hearing the reasons for the blockade.
The Wayuu are willing to hold up the protest as long as necessary. “We
brought hammocks, clothes and goats, we are ready to stay, because we know that it
requires an effort to achieve our own welfare as an indigenous tribe,”
Socarras concluded.