The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Colectivo Unidos por Gorgona, and Colombia Acuerdo de Paz NGO would like to share this letter with you, signed by 69 organizations and 566 individuals in our networks. These sign-ons include dozens of Afro-Colombian, community, and environmental organizations on the Colombian Pacific, alongside their allies who respectfully demand the cessation of the construction of military installations on the pristine Isla Gorgona and call for more transparency around this issue.
We, the undersigned organizations, and individuals, urge the governments of Colombia and the United States to stop the construction of the military project on Gorgona Island, located in the south of the Colombian Pacific. We demand that the natural, geological, ancestral, and cultural heritage of Gorgona National Natural Park be defended.
We want to express our deep concern about the current situation on Gorgona Island—a natural and cultural treasure of incalculable value for Colombia and the world—since to proceed with the project, the results of reports that would demonstrate the environmental unfeasibility of the construction of the works are being hidden, given that one of the works that would be built on the site of the highest population density of dolphins and humpback whales, mainly females with calves. There is an urgent need for these reports to be made public:
- The results of the sound propagation model mentioned in file No. 2023620-0940492 dated December 1, 2023.
- That the Ministry of Defense of Colombia’s monitoring report of marine mammals (annex of ICA No. 5) of the file LAV0101-00-2015, since this is part of the environmental monitoring carried out during the period July to December 2022 and constitutes the one with the longest execution time (months of August, September, and October). This was not delivered as an annex to ICA No5, which is irregular and violates Law 1712 of 2014 (Law on Transparency and the Right of Access to National Public Information).
To date, the results of these have not been shared publicly. Transparency is a central axis of trust between citizens and governments. Therefore, we request that citizens have the right to know the status of the imminent risk to the island and its ecosystems since the works will begin during the first week of April even though this information is hidden and without due compliance.
Gorgona is home to a unique biodiversity, having two of the most productive ecosystems in the tropics with endemic and migratory species, many of them in danger of extinction, that depend on this ecosystem for their survival. It is also one of the most important areas for the reproduction and rest of humpback whales and highly migratory species, since Gorgona is part of the complex of islands that make up the Eastern Tropical Pacific. In addition, the island has great cultural and spiritual importance for the local communities, who have been ancestrally linked to the island for generations and depend on it for their food subsistence and biocultural identity, even though historically the state has ignored this link and this project the right to free and informed prior consultation was violated.
We are concerned about the military project that is being imposed in the Gorgona National Natural Park with the construction of a Coast Guard substation financed by the U.S. Embassy through the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Section. It is scientifically demonstrated that this military project would have a significant negative impact on both marine and terrestrial ecosystems of the island as well as local communities in the area of influence, and that it could bring about the destruction of natural habitats, contamination of water sources, and loss of biodiversity, endangering the food subsistence of local communities and the integrity of the ecological balance of the island. We therefore oppose the proposed militarization of protected areas, referring in this specific case to Gorgona and Gorgonilla islands. As defenders of biodiversity, territorial rights, of the sovereignty of the countries of the world, let us unite to ensure that there is a real possibility of Peace with Nature, which cannot continue to be legitimized by the call for national security, from militarization and territorial control that violates the rights of peoples and irreversibly transgresses ecosystems amid a global climate crisis.
We insist that the governments of Colombia and the U.S. defend the life and territorial rights of the local communities ancestrally linked to Gorgona and Gorgonilla islands, halting the militarization of this protected area of the Colombian Pacific.
Sincerely,
