Wind Farms in Colombia brings the promise and pain to the indigenous group

When Jose Luis Igwran takes out of his home in La Gogira, northern Colombia, he was met with a line of 10 tall wind turbines extending through the terrain filled with caravans towards the Caribbean Sea.

The original Wayuu collection, to which Mr. Iguarán belongs, lived in the arid peninsula for several centuries, goat grazing, returning to crops, mining salt, and fishing.

With some of the most powerful winds of Colombia, La Guajira is now a center for the transformation of the country from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

But this green ambition faced both resistance and thinking from the locals, whose lands are deeply related to culture, traditions and deep relationship to nature.

“She wakes up and suddenly you no longer see trees. Instead, you see and hear the turbines,” says Mr. Igwran.

His community is now sharing his land with Guajira 1 – one of the operating wind farmers in Colombia. There are 15 other wind farms currently being constructed in La Guajira, and there are plans for dozens of other.

“At night, the noise of the turbines disturbs our dreams. For us, dreams are sacred,” says Mr. Igwan.

Wayuu, with a population of about 380,000 in Colombia and extends to Venezuela, has distinct traditions and beliefs. Dreams are a bridge for the spiritual world, where they receive messages from their ancestors that are interpreted within the family.

Despite the cultural turmoil, Mr. Iguran says his community benefited from Guajira 1. The energy company ISAGEN, the Colombian company, has prompted clean drinking water, the best ways, and strong brick houses, which replaced some clay and parables.

ISAGEN, owned by Canadian Brookfield, also pays three local communities annual fees for the presence of wind farm, a percentage of annual electricity revenue, and 20 % of carbon credit sale. It is purchased by companies that want to compensate for their carbon emissions.

Mr. Iguran believes that these energy projects can help achieve vital development to the second Colombia region. But not everyone shares his enthusiasm.

“Wind farms produce clean energy, but they create a division within Wayuu societies,” explains Aaron Laguna, a Wi -o hunter, who lives in the village of Capo de la Villa.

Its community is currently working in the process of consultations on the wind farm to be built near. He saw others affected by projects complaining about the lack of transparency, bad compensation, and lack of respect for cultural standards, and corruption.

“Bad negotiations are held, and resources are not managed (for us) well by the local population,” he added.

These concerns led to conflicts with energy companies, and even the conflict within Wayuu societies. Some oppose projects, while others feel excluded from negotiations that can bring them benefits.

“There is still an idea that if it is green, it is good automatically,” says Joanna Barney, Environment, Energy and Communities at Colombian Tank Indiz. I have been widely searched for energy transmission and its effects on Wayuu.

“In Colombia … there is no strong legal framework to properly assess environmental effects – and social effects are not properly raised.”

In December 2024, the Spanish company EDP Renováveis ​​planned two wind plans at La Guajira, saying that the projects are no longer viable economically.

One of the factors was to double the local indigenous communities who said they would be affected, and thus need compensation, from 56 to 113.

Follow the EDP decision of the Italian multinational exit from another striped wind farm in the region. Inel attributed her departure to the “continuous protests” that stopped construction for more than half of the working days between 2021 and 2023.

A young Gujira 1 is also by road barriers, a common way to protest in La Gogira when the locals feel unknown.

Tank Tank Indepaz has recorded cases of attacks against energy companies, including armed robbery and kidnapping. In some areas, there were cases of displacement and violence between local communities that do not agree on neighboring wind farms.

“We call it” wind wars. “

For Wieldler Guerra, there is a clear separation between Wayuu and Wind Farm companies.

“There are two scientists who are talking, and they were unable to understand each other,” he says.

This gap extends to the way they see winds – the main component of these projects.

“For Wayuu, the wind is people. It is not the wind, but the wind. There are eight different winds in the Wiu culture, legendary creatures and grandparents with a distinctive mood that forms the surrounding environment and must be respected.”

In contrast, the Colombian companies and government believe that winds are a resource to harness environmental progress and profit and address the country’s energy needs.

While Colombia has a relatively clean local electrical matrix, where approximately two -thirds of the photovoltaic comes, the country remains vulnerable to low tank levels, creating a risk of energy lack. Wind energy currently contributes only 0.1 % of the power mix.

For energy companies that invest in the region, the risk of conflict with the local population is a worrying possibility.

One of these companies, AES Colombia develops the largest wind power group in La Guajira, with six wind farms.

The company insists that it maintains an open dialogue with societies, provides fair compensation, and ensures benefits such as clean drinking water and stocks in carbon credits.

But she says that good societal relationships are not enough.

“We cannot do these projects alone,” says Federico EchaVARRíA, AES Colombia General Manager. “The government must help resolving conflicts between societies.”

On the hateful beach of the wind in Cabo de la Villa, Mr. Laguna says that La Gogira has been historically neglected by the state.

Health and health care is poor, and most rural societies do not have running water.

Some people still walk every day to collect water from Jagüeys – the tanks filled with rain water.

Its community has a small salt water treatment plant that produces fresh water and wants to plan the company to build a nearby wind farm to expand it, so that more local population benefits.

Despite talking about progress, it indicates a remaining paradox. “The worst thing is that we will not even receive one kilos of electricity produced here,” regrets.

The plan is to send Wind FARM to another place, and that the village continues to rely on generators, at least in the medium term.

Although the future may seem bright for clean energy, many Wayuu are still concerned about leaving it in the dark.