June 6, 2022

Federations, organizations, unions and Afro, environmental, social, trade union, youth, peasant, fishermen and women’s collectives articulated in the Environmental Roundtable of Puerto Wilches, with the accompaniment of the Colombia Free of Fracking Alliance, today we are again in the streets in different peaceful actions on the land and river access roads to our municipality and operations to those of Ecopetrol (kilometer 3, kilometer 8, La Vaquera, Ecopetrol buoy and commercial buoy), to protest against the intrusion of the government of Ivan Duque and the oil companies, which intend to start the Kalé and Platero fracking pilots.

We raise our voices for our brothers and sisters of Afrowilches who were denied their right to prior consultation, for the women who had to leave this municipality to protect their lives and integrity in the face of the threats they suffered. We raise our voices for the marshes and wetlands, for the Río Grande de La Magdalena, for the manatee and the jaguar, the artenasal fishing, agricultural production, our ancestral customs and traditions. We will not allow the ambition of a few to destroy the future of our children and grandchildren.

We are also in the streets to demand that the presidential candidates, especially Rodolfo Hernández from Santander, make a strong and unambiguous commitment that as of August 7, fracking pilots will be suspended and the first steps will be taken to suspend this practice throughout Colombia, which, if it advances to its commercial phase, intends to exploit up to 19 fracking wells in the Magdalena Medio region.

As in the last few years, when thousands of Santander residents took to the streets to defend the Santurbán páramo and defeat Greystar, EcoOro and Minesa, today we, the people of Wilché, are mobilizing to tell the government, Ecopetrol and the oil companies that we will not grant them the social license and we will not be the laboratory rats to experiment with their fracking pilots.

We invite the entire community, organizations, Community Action Boards, students, housewives, palm growers, fishermen, merchants, public sector workers, businessmen and teachers, to accompany the peaceful protest actions called for today, and those that will take place in the coming weeks to defend our rights and survival in this territory.

ALWAYS FORWARD, NOT A STEP BACK!

PUERTO WILCHES RULES, FRACKING DOES NOT GO!

ENVIRONMENTAL ROUNDTABLE OF PUERTO WILCHES