They survived conquistadors and settlers. Now the Arhuaco are facing an even greater threat

"Around a fire in a ceremonial hut in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Arhuaco people make a pledge. Tying traditional cotton threads around their wrists, they promise to guard the land beneath them and then they ask for protection. Our culture has been preserved for thousands of years, says Ati Quigua, an Indigenous leader. We are a peaceful community, but now violence is coming to our land."

"The Arhuaco are profoundly spiritual, with a belief system centred on worshipping and defending the Earth. They descend from the Tayrona, an ancient civilisation brutally subjugated by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. The survivors retreated to the upper valleys of Colombia's Sierra Nevada, the world's highest coastal mountain range, but in the centuries since they have endured waves of intrusion from settlers carving up their lands to Catholic missionaries who tried to quash their traditions."

"All of the actors have arrived: the paramilitaries, the guerrillas, the drug traffickers, says Quigua. They are taking control of our areas and interfering in our local assemblies. They set curfews, telling us when we can and cannot walk in the territory. They want to use it as drug-trafficking corridors. Across Colombia, violence is surging. Illegal groups are battling for control of the country's illicit economies, including key drug-trafficking routes and coca-growing regions."

Arhuaco tie traditional cotton threads in ceremonial huts and pledge to guard the land while asking for protection. The community has preserved its culture for thousands of years but now faces encroaching violence. Multiple armed actors—including paramilitaries, guerrillas, and drug traffickers—are seizing territory, imposing curfews, and interfering with local assemblies. The groups seek to use Sierra Nevada land as drug-trafficking corridors and to control illicit economies such as coca cultivation and mineral extraction. The 2016 peace deal's weakening has enabled splinter factions to expand, and a scramble for gold and other illicit minerals has intensified violence across Colombia.

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