Feature: Indigenous communities in Colombia’s Amazon basin suffer from rare drought

by Zhou Shengping
LETICIA, Colombia, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) — “It is extremely severe. I have never seen such a drought before,” said Mono Ramirez, a taxi driver from Leticia, a gateway city to the Colombian Amazon Forest.
The Colombian Amazon usually experiences short dry seasons from December to March and July to August. But this year, an unprecedented, ongoing drought has dried up the Amazon River and its tributaries, which run through a large swathe of the basin and nurture the livelihood of many indigenous communities in Colombia and other countries along the riverbanks.
“I am praying for the rain to come so that I can resume my business,” said Ruperto Ahuanari Leon, 75, a craftsman from the Ticoya community of the port town Puerto Narino who makes a living from wood carvings.
Since this July, freight along many tributaries has come to a halt as water has dried up. Without the indispensable shipment of wood, his business has been left stranded.
“Many tributaries to the Amazon are dry nowadays. Nothing can get through,” the carver lamented.
What is worse for the region is that local ethnic groups have resorted to unclean water to quench their thirst as long days of scorching sun and the lack of precipitation have dried up their rainwater collection tanks.
In the first few days of October, about 200 cases of vomiting or diarrhea caused by drinking polluted water were reported in Puerto Narino Local Hospital, the only hospital in the town, home to around 6,000 residents, said Alvaro Sanchez, a hospital official.
Most patients are indigenous people living along the banks of the Loretoyacu River, an Amazon tributary near the Peruvian-Colombian border.
“Drought has made our communities suffer immensely,” said Gabriel Cabrera Arevalo, president and legal representative of the Aticoya Association, a local autonomous organization representing 22 communities of mainly Ticuna, Cocama, and Yagua ethnic groups, equivalent to some 1,800 families.
“The first need for our communities is potable water,” said Cabrera Arevalo.
Due to stalled water transportation, villagers are going through unspeakable agony, he added.
Luis Hernando Henao, a biologist with 20 years of experience in Amazon-related issues, said the current drought is an unprecedented geological event.
As an advisor to the Amazonas departmental government, he said relief facilities and supplies from local and central governments fall short of what those impacted may need.
Without enough aid, Henao said, they will have to depend on themselves. ■