“If there is no water, no territory, money won’t be of any use.
We can’t eat money.”
– Aura Tegria, U’wa spokesperson
For over two decades, Colombia’s U’wa people have proven experts at the internationalization of their inspiring struggle to defend the rivers, mountains, and cloud forests of their sacred territory. In recent years, they have added the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, an annual gathering at the UN headquarters in New York City, to their list of strategic international spaces in which to bring their message of dignity and resistance.
Following in the footsteps of Berito Cobaria and other U’wa leaders, Aura Tegria has emerged as a key U’wa emissary and spokesperson to the international community. Over the greater part of this year’s forum, she was able to participate in a whirlwind of meetings with high-level UN and other government officials, public presentations, and informal encounters with indigenous representatives from around the world.
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