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The Nonam community and its resistance

Published: September 2012
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The Nonam indigenous community lives in the Santa Rosa de Guayacan Reserve, located on the shores of the San Juan River in the Lower Calima Region of Valle de Cauca. Their subsistence is based on tradition and culture, especially fishing, agriculture and artisanal crafts.
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The Nonam indigenous community lives in the Santa Rosa de Guayacan Reserve, located on the shores of the San Juan River in the Lower Calima Region of Valle de Cauca. Their subsistence is based on tradition and culture, especially fishing, agriculture and artisanal crafts.

  • The Nonam indigenous community lives in the Santa Rosa de Guayacan Reserve, located on the shores of the San Juan River in the Lower Calima Region of Valle de Cauca. Their subsistence is based on tradition and culture, especially fishing, agriculture and artisanal crafts.
  • On 4 August 2010, a paramilitary incursion displaced 21 families from the Nonam territory to the urban area of Buenaventura. Though they were sheltered in Buenaventura, the families continued to suffer threats and harassment by paramilitaries.
  • During their displacement, the community denounced a lack of consistent and adequate humanitarian attention. The displaced Nonam families’ lives and culture remained at serious risk: conditions were overcrowded and lackedthe basic elements of humanitarian attention, including potable drinking water, adequate nutrition, basic health care and protection.
  • After a year of displacement, the Nonam community decided to return to their land. “There were still births due poor medical attention; other children died because of inadequate attention. There was no water and our hunger tormented us. We saw that they were going to kill us here, just as they had wanted to do in our territory. So going back was a question of our dignity. Our history with ourMother Earth was calling us to return. We said no more deaths here—we will live and die on our Reserve.”
  • In June of 2011, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued Precautionary Measures in favour of the 21 families of the Nonam community and asked the Colombian State to adopt “necessary measures, agreed upon with the beneficiaries, to guarantee their life and physical integrity ….provide humanitarian assistance and medical care to the beneficiaries in a situation of displacement; and guarantee their return to the Guayacan Santa Rosa Indigenous Reserve in conditions of dignity and security.”
  • On 30 August 2011, the Nonam community returned through their own efforts and with the solidarity of national and international organisations and individuals. The District Government of Buenaventura failed to meet its responsibilities.
  • The Nonam community arrived at the Reserve filled with enthusiasm and joy. Community members unloaded their belongings, cleared and ploughed plots of land, looked for seeds to plant their staple crops, and readied the Reservation to be their home again.
  • In order to resist in their territory, the Nonam people declared their collective lands a Humanitarian and Biodiversity Reserve. Community members installed a fence which makes the boundaries of their territory visible and delineates the area in which the entry of all armed actors is prohibited.
  • On 29 and 30 August 2012, the Nonam people celebrated the first anniversary of the return to their territory. The anniversary coincided with the celebrations of Santa Rosa, the patron saint of the Americas and represented in the name of their community. Days before decorating the Reserve with bamboo palm, community members painted their bodies and prepared traditional drinks called viche and guarapo.
  • With natural paint derived from local plants, the children paint each other. The women also paint one another, and the men do this amongst themselves as well.
  • After a community breakfast, the celebration begins with prayers for Santa Rosa and stories and jokes told in the native language. Later, they also provide a space for stories that help construct historical memory in the community. They speak not only of the displacement and their return, but also of the current situation, a year after they began this attempt to rebuild their lives. They have faced very difficult times with a limited harvest which has left the community without its basic food staples.
  • The sound of the drums and the traditional dances were also an integral part of the festivities. The sugar mill had broken, which is also an important economic resource for them. However, despite the shortage in traditional drink, customarily provided to the neighbouring communities that attend, there were still smiles on everyone´s face.
  • The children in the community will remember this celebration of the first anniversary of the return for years to come. They plan to continue to celebrate the anniversary as an act of remembrance and preservation of their culture and identity.
  • PBI has accompanied the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, an NGO that works in the defence of human rights, since 1994. The Commission’s Valle de Cauca team has advised and accompanied the Nonam indigenous community since 2010. Through its holistic accompaniment—legal, educational and physical presence in the field—they have provided critical support to the Nonam community in their resistance and struggle for the recognition of their rights. PBI has accompanied the Commission´s process with the Nonam people since it began, providing protection and raising awareness nationally and internationally.
  • Through its own efforts, the Nonam community has rebuilt a life with dignity in the collective territory of Santa Rosa de Guayacan, a Humanitarian and Biodiversity Reserve. It remains to be seen whether the community will be able to maintain its strength through resistance, and also whether the Colombian State will fulfil its obligations.
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