CABO DE LA VELA, Colombia — Giant wind turbines tower over a cemetery sacred to Zoyla Velasquez and her Indigenous Wayuu community, native to the La Guajira region in northern Colombia.
This arid, wind-swept region, dotted with cacti and roaming herds of goats, holds immense potential to position Colombia as a wind and solar energy leader. However, resistance from the Wayuu community has stalled many proposed projects by multinational companies and the government. The Wayuu have concerns about the environmental and cultural impacts and the lack of prior consultation in what’s one of the nation’s poorest regions. Now, these companies are also eyeing the region’s offshore wind farm prospects.
“This cemetery is sacred to us, the Wayuu,” 64-year-old Velasquez said in Spanish, though she is more comfortable speaking in her native Wayuunaiki. Wayuu leaders say what is threatened isn’t the cemetery itself but the spirituality of the territory. “It is here that the bones of our ancestors rest. That’s what matters most to us.”
The region could generate approximately 15 gigawatts of wind energy, according to Colombia’s Mining and Energy Planning Unit, which could power up to an estimated 37.5 million homes annually. It’s part of Colombia’s just energy transition, aiming to replace fossil fuels with renewables while supporting vulnerable groups like Indigenous peoples. The Wayuu say this isn’t happening.
Construction started on the La Guajira 1 wind farm — which looms over the cemetery near Cabo de la Vela — in 2020 after a mix of legal processes, government backing, and controversial negotiations and unsatisfactory prior consultation. It faced significant opposition from the Wayuu and has been producing electricity since 2022, but is not yet hooked up to the interconnected system.
“Wayuu spirituality is the fundamental base of our life and existence,” said Aníbal Mercado, a “Palabrero,” head of the regional Wayuu council. He wasn’t part of the consultations due to his staunch opposition. “If something disturbs the peacefulness of our dead, they’re affecting spiritual peace and tranquility. And as long as (the turbines) are there, there is going to be direct violation, anxiety and impact.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series of on how tribes and Indigenous communities are coping with and combating climate change.
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A lot of the population also preserve traditional, semi nomadic ways of living on “rancherias,” which are thatched-like roofed huts, made from dried cacti and mud, herd cattle and goats, and many are armed. They also have a traditional governance system and laws based on their cultural and spiritual practices.
Critics warn that the government’s push to expedite approvals for other developments could escalate tensions.
“La Guajira has been very sought after by these companies,” Samuel Lanao, head of Corpoguajira, La Guajira’s environment authority told The Associated Press in Riohacha, t