PBI-Colombia accompanies the joint work of CIJP and Adispa at Amazon Pearl Campesina Reserve Zone in Putumayo
PBI-Colombia has posted on Instagram:
“On March 8 and 9, the Women’s Assembly and the Youth Assembly of the Amazon Pearl Campesino Reserve Zone (Putumayo, Bajo Cuembí) met. On this occasion, we accompanied the joint work of CIJP [the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission] and Adispa [the Association for the Integral Sustainable Development of the Amazon Pearl] in the framework of the international women’s day and the environmental, social and territorial planning activities of the community. We also met with representatives of CIJP and Adispa to articulate advocacy and accompaniment strategies for this year.”
Jani Silva is the legal representative of the Association for the Integral Sustainable Development of the Amazon Pearl (ADISPA). She is accompanied by the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP) which is accompanied by PBI-Colombia.
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The Amazon Pearl Campesina Reserve Zone says the zone (ZRC) is located “in the township of La Perla Amazónica, municipality of Puerto Asís”, “has an area of close to 22 thousand hectares”, and is made up of “23 villages: Agualongo, Alea, Angostura, Bajo Cuembí, Bajo Mansoyá, Bajo Lorenzó, Baldío, Belén, Bocana del Cuembí, Buen Samaritano, Camios, Comandante, Chufiyá, Guadalupe, Juvenil, La Española, La Frontera, La Piña, La Rosa, Puerto Playa, San Salvador, Sevilla and Toayá.”
Libero Copper
This past week, Vancouver-based Libero Copper noted: “At the core of Libero Copper’s portfolio is the Mocoa copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit in Putumayo, Colombia—a cornerstone asset where the Company is actively drilling.”
The deposit is situated approximately 10 kilometers north of the town of Mocoa, which is located about 75 kilometres north of Puerto Asis. This also places Puerto Asís, which is located on the Putumayo River, downstream from Mocoa.
Impact on Indigenous peoples
Mongabay has reported the Libero Copper mining project in Putumayo has “been framed by proponents as a green project” but that “for many Indigenous people from the surrounding Inga, Kametsa, and Nasa communities, and for environmental activists, the protection of this region from deforestation should be the priority.”
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Gran Tierra
And in a recent feature piece about Silva, Montreal-based journalist Lital Khaikin writes that the Calgary-based oil company Gran Tierra operates in the Putumayo region of Colombia. She further notes that campesina leader Jani Silva is accompanied by “volunteer, unarmed bodyguards with the Peace Brigades.”
In January 2025, Gran Tierra posted in a media release: “The Company plans to drill 5-7 gross development wells in the Cohembi oil field located in the Southern Putumayo Basin of Colombia. …A rig is currently being mobilized to the Cohembi North pad, with first production expected by the end of the first quarter of 2025.”
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Amazon Watch has documented: “The eastern-most hamlets of the Zone overlap the Platanillo oil concession. Much of the rest of the Zone is also covered by the PUT-8 concession.”
Impact on Indigenous peoples
In April 2022, the CIJP also noted: “The Canadian company Gran Tierra Energy has ignored the territorial autonomy of the Ksxa’w Nasa Cabildo that lives between the municipalities of Puerto Asís and Puerto Caicedo, Putumayo. Operating companies and contractors of Gran Tierra entered the territory of the council without consultation, installing equipment and elements to carry out environmental studies, has carried out tours and examined species of fauna and flora of vital importance for the Nasa people.”
The context of PBI accompaniment
Late last year, Andrew Miller (who is with PBI-USA) noted in this Amazon Watch article: “Jani Silva from Colombia’s Amazon Pearl region denounced the death threats she and others in her organization have received over the years from criminal armed groups that operate in the interests of oil companies in the region.”
In May 2022, Amazon Watch also noted: “’The Border Command has focused on controlling the almost 23 kilometers of the Puerto Vega-Teteyé corridor, a strategic area for the production and trafficking of cocaine to Ecuador. Oil companies also have a presence there, and are forced to pay extortion to the criminal group in order to operate there.’ This would implicate GeoPark in the PUT-8 block and Gran Tierra in the Suroriente bloc.”
Silva says: “The threats we confront as an organization that defends our territory and environmental rights are due to the denunciations we make against pollution and exploitation in our territory. We can’t deny the evident complicity between armed groups and oil companies, through the company’s sub-contractors. The threats continue against peasant, Afro and Indigenous leaders that share the objective of defending their territory.”
We continue to follow this.
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