PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS and FEDEPESAN as they denounce an unknown oily liquid spill in Caño Rosario

On August 29, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “PBI accompanied the documentation of the spill of unknown chemicals that cause fish mortality and serious damage to pipes and swamps. Without #WATER there is no life.”

This follows the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) tweet that noted: “Today, August 26, 2022, Credhos and Fedepesan [the Federation of Artisanal Fishermen of Santander] denounce an unknown oily liquid spill in Caño Rosario, which flows into Ciénaga San Silvestre, where there is death of fish and contamination of the babillas, we make a call to the competent entities, be present.”

This CREDHOS video documents the spill.

Lise Josefsen Hermann has also written in EL PAÍS:

“A canoe glides slowly through the waters of the Ciénaga de San Silvestre, just outside Barrancabermeja in northern Colombia. On board are five fishermen who defy the dangers of a hot zone in every way: to the usual more than 30 degrees of temperature are added the challenges of an area with the presence of paramilitaries, the Clan del Golfo and the ELN guerrilla group. But these women, grouped in the Federation of Artisanal Fishermen of Santander (Fedepesan), have organized to defend the water from pollution in an area affected by two landfills and several industries, including a refinery of the oil company Ecopetrol, the largest company in Colombia.”

Her article can be read at: Amenazas y destierro: el precio a pagar por defender el agua en Colombia.