The Canada-Colombia free trade agreement and “aquafosas” (water graves) in the San Antonio estuary of Buenaventura
Photo by PBI-Colombia.
To register for the “Who Bears the Cost?” webinar on Monday February 24, click here.
Speaking notes:
In the ten minutes that we have, we would like to highlight the role that Canada could play in stopping further violations of human rights, and upholding the right to search the “aquafosas” or “acuafosas” (water graves), by speaking against the dredging of the San Antonio estuary where the port of Buenaventura is situated.
Milbia Andrea Díaz of the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace recently told the German newspaper Deutsche Welle (DW): “In Colombia, many of the disappeared people rest in the sea. …There must be about a thousand people in the acuafosas [of the San Antonio estuary of Buenaventura].”
That article highlights: “The dredging of that estuary for the expansion of the port of Buenaventura would end any possibility of finding them.”
Precautionary measures for the estuary of the “disappeared”
In April 2021, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) granted protection status that paused the dredging of the estuary.
It was most recently reported by the Colombian publication Cambio on February 18, 2025, that the JEP had decided “to maintain the protection of areas of forensic interest in the mangrove” for another 10 months, essentially until the end of this year.
As such, there is time for the Government of Canada to, as Vicente Vallies (the author of a new PBI report on the port of Buenaventura) has asked of European delegations in Colombia, “to believe the local population [and support] them in their desire not to dredge that estuary, which is a large cemetery.”
Photo: Kerstin Reemtsma (PBI-Guatemala), Vicente Vallies (report author) and Milbia Andrea Díaz (Justice and Peace Commission) at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on February 19, 2025.
The Canada-Colombia free trade agreement
A key connecting point for us is the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement.
In 2010, the year before this Agreement came into force, two-way trade between Canada and Colombia totaled $1.4 billion. By 2023, with twelve years of the Agreement, two-way merchandise trade dramatically increased to $2.6 billion.
We believe that a significant portion of that two-way trade would be between the Port of Vancouver on the Pacific coast of Canada and Buenaventura, approximately 5,000 nautical miles apart and about 20-25 days by ship.
The Canada-Colombia free trade agreement came into force on August 15, 2011, just a few months prior to the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) going into effect on May 15, 2012.
Paramilitaries and private companies
Independent researchers have highlighted that Colombian human rights defender Enrique Chimonja “sees the continuing paramilitary group activity [in Buenaventura] as a strategy by private companies to evict people living on their collective lands to accommodate port expansion required not only by the free-trade agreement with the United States but also by the 16 other FTAs Colombia has signed.”
In November 2022, Julian Streit of the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project further cautioned: “Enforced disappearances in Buenaventura mainly benefit the port companies that want to dredge the San Antonio Estuary without hindrance and ensure the navigation of ocean-going ships in the sector, regardless of the tide.”
Researchers have also noted: “As a result of the FTAs, Buenaventura has seen a 42-percent growth in international trade during the decade of 2010 to 2020. It has also undergone a number of port expansions including a $200 million mega-project, the Buenaventura Containers Terminal (TC Buen), which has also displaced people from surrounding neighbourhoods to make way for construction.”
Dredging the harbour
In June 2020, Mongabay reported: “Today, Buenaventura is Colombia’s only Pacific coast port that serves North America and Southeast Asia. But it’s not a deepwater port. This means large ships with heavy cargo have to wait for high tide to be able to enter the harbor, and only have a four–hour window to unload and load their cargo before the tide goes out again.”
In February 2021, Valentina Carvajal of the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project wrote: “One of the projects that began in 2019 is the dredging of the San Antonio estuary. This work – financed with public and private money – aims to achieve a greater depth of the waters of the Bay of Buenaventura to enable the entry of larger ships. The problem is that the San Antonio estuary is one of the largest mass graves in Colombia and relatives of victims of the armed conflict are still searching for the disappeared.”
As noted above, just a few months later in April 2021, the JEP granted protection status that temporarily paused the dredging of the estuary.
Our submission to Global Affairs Canada
In 2021, PBI-Canada wrote to Global Affairs Canada (the Canadian ministry of foreign affairs) about the situation in Buenaventura.
In the words of Global Affairs Canada: “This submission highlighted the increased violence and forced displacements in the city of Buenaventura, as well as the negative impact of the city’s port activities and infrastructure development on human rights and the living conditions of the local community.”
Global Affairs Canada then noted: “The information shared has been taken into consideration in the elaboration of the relevant section of this report.” It is not clear to us what they meant by this, but significantly they ultimately found “no human rights impacts which could be directly associated with Canada’s 2020 tariff reductions.”
Most recently Global Affairs Canada once again concluded that in 2023 that they were “unable to demonstrate that any actions taken by the Government of Canada … through the implementation of the [free trade agreement] … have had a direct impact on human rights in Canada or Colombia.”
Their call for submissions for 2024 is now open with a deadline of March 16, 2025 for comments.
Port blocked during Civic Strike of 2017
We also want to mention that the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) has noted: “In May 2017, Buenaventura residents held a 22-day civic strike to protest ongoing investment in its port instead of investing in local residents.”
NACLA highlighted: “In an impressive show of organizational capacity, Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities and organizations united to shut down the city, blocking the port and flooding the streets. Residents demanded resources to invest in building a local hospital, more economic opportunities, and potable water.”
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) has highlighted that concessions were won including “a new framework agreement to protect the rights of port workers.”
In November 2018, the PSAC cautioned: “Since May 2017, threats against strike leaders have continued as plans go forward to expand and modernize the port, while the government fails to implement its agreement with the strikers.”
Vanessa Renteria Valencia
In closing, we also want to remember Vanessa Renteria Valencia.
Her sister Sandra has noted: “Vanessa worked for 12 years in the port of Buenaventura and was a union activist in SNTT (National Union of Branch Labor, Transport and Logistics Services of Colombia).”
Vanessa arrived in Canada in 2022 as a refugee fleeing violence and death threats.
She settled in the city of Surrey, a municipality within the Metro Vancouver regional district (where the Port of Vancouver that ships to and receives good from the port in Buenaventura is situated).
On September 19, 2024, Vanessa was killed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who had received a call about a “disturbance” in her home. Five months later, there are still questions about what happened.
Conclusion
We thank you for the opportunity to participate in this forum.
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NOTE: These are speaking notes for a webinar taking place on Monday February 24. To register for this webinar, click here. The webinar will have simultaneous Spanish-English interpretation. (Photo left to right): Webinar speakers Milbia Andrea Díaz, Vicente Vallies, Ixmukane Quib, Laia Otero, Brent Patterson.
Photo: PBI-Canada visits Buenaventura, July 4, 2022.
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