{"id":138,"date":"2017-04-26T16:06:06","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T16:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.modeteab.org\/?p=138"},"modified":"2025-04-01T12:24:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T12:24:31","slug":"kiad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.modeteab.org\/es\/kiad\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Defending the Tabasar\u00e1 River<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Ng\u00e4be communities have been resisting government proposals to build dams on the Tabasar\u00e1 River since the 1970s. On April 10, 1999, several Ng\u00e4be were arrested following protests against a proposed 48-megawatt dam, and it was on this day that the affected communities formed the resistance movement Moviemiento 10 de Abril (M10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007, the Panamanian government granted a concession to Generadora del Istmo (GENISA), a company owned by the prominent Honduran Kafie family, to build the 28.84-megawatt Barro Blanco dam on the Tabasar\u00e1 River in Chiriqu\u00ed, western Panama. The project was financed through loans from three development banks, including the Dutch FMO and the German DEG, and was approved under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scheme\u2014a UN carbon offset program that allows developed countries to invest in projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions in developing nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Google satellite image to show extent of Barro Blanco Reservoir<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Tabasar\u00e1 River after the Barro Blanco dam was completed. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Construction of the Barro Blanco dam began in February 2011 and was completed in 2016, significantly impacting four Ng\u00e4be communities living along the Tabasar\u00e1 River. The reservoir has submerged homes, farmland, and sacred sites\u2014lands that hold cultural, economic, historical, and spiritual significance for these communities. The dam has altered the natural flow of the Tabasar\u00e1 River, negatively affecting local ecosystems and biodiversity. Fish populations, which are a vital food source for the Ng\u00e4be, have declined, leading to reduced availability of protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ng\u00e4be communities contend that their rights to free, prior, and informed consent were not respected during the planning and construction of the dam. Numerous protests and conflicts have arisen between the Ng\u00e4be communities, the Panamanian government, and the companies involved in the dam\u2019s construction, sometimes resulting in violent clashes and repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to human rights concerns, the government has withdrawn Barro Blanco from the Clean Development Mechanism scheme. Investigation panels have advised the development banks that funded the dam to publicly apologize for its impacts and ensure that affected communities receive compensation. To date, the Tabasar\u00e1 communities continue to fight for reparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today, neither grandchildren nor granddaughters can [bathe] because if they go now, they get into the water and tomorrow they will have an itchy body because that water produces itching and allergies, and so for that not to happen we have to tell the children, no, don’t go into that water. Even so, they go and get in, but they suffer with their skin, with illnesses, and that is exhausting, it has been an exhausting struggle, and with the hydroelectric dam, everything is worse. We have nowhere to go, and we knew it was going to be like that, and that is why we did not want the hydroelectric dam to be built there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Weni<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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 Weni Bagama, a Ng\u00e4be leader from Kiad and member of M10, speaking to journalists in 2013.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It can be an earthquake, it can be anything, a tsunami, but it happens, and it goes away. Unlike the Barro Blanco project, for us, it is a very terrible experience, because it is a project that is here to stay for 100 years. And it has changed our lives in the worst way. We are not free to move where we want. If there is no transportation, we can’t cross, and the reservoir is full of sediment. In other words, it’s a terrible thing for us to live this life since the floodgate was closed.  So, we consider that our life has changed a lot because of the project, which was built for foreign interests and not for the communities as they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Goejet<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Goejet Miranda, a resident of Kiad and the president of M10, teaching a class. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Tabasar\u00e1 River before the Barro Blanco dam was completed. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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An elder teaching Ng\u00e4bere, the Ng\u00e4be language, to children in Kiad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The Ng\u00e4bere script in a children’s textbook. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ng\u00e4be women in Kiad wearing brightly colored naguas, traditional Ng\u00e4be dress.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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