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On March 23, 2018 I had the opportunity to view the effects of an oil spill in the department of Santander, Colombia. These images were taken while on accompaniment with my employer at that time, Christian Peacemaker Teams Colombia; we were joined by a team from PeaceWatch Switzerland, as well as our canoe captain, and a local dentist/environmentalist. This environmental disaster happened days earlier when an oil well had ruptured; initially, the company ECOPETROL claimed no responsibility. Their attempt to flush the oil out of the Sogamoso River by opening a dam upstream didn’t quite work - as we see in these photos, oil was left on banks and built up on the side of boats. The people we talked to in the communities on this river were deeply concerned for their livelihood as they pulled fish out of the river that were covered in oil; they couldn’t sell or consume these fish. Our job was to document and witness this case of environmental injustice; in the Magdalena Medio region, the people make their living off the land - whether by fishing, logging, raising livestock and other agricultural crops, or working in the oil fields and refinery.
El 23 de marzo, 2018, tenía la oportunidad para ver los efectos de un derrame de crudo en el departamento de Santander, Colombia. Esas fotos tomé mientras unas/os miembras/os del equipo ECAP y yo fuimos unidos con un equipo de PeaceWatch Switzerland, nuestro capitán de la canoa, y un dentista/ambientalista de Barrancabermeja. Este desastre ambiental ocurrió unos días anteriormente, cuando rompió un pozo petrolero - inicialmente, la empresa ECOPETROL no admitió su responsabilidad. Su intento para hacer salir el petróleo del Río Sogamoso tras abrir una puerta de la Represa Hidrosogamoso no funcionó - como podemos ver en las fotos, el petróleo quedó en las barcas y orillas del río. Las personas con quien hablamos se preocuparon su sustento, los peces estaban contaminados con petróleo. Nuestro trabajo, como siempre, fue documentar y conectar las injusticias ambientales en la región del Magdalena Medio.