Swept to the edge of extinction by warring outsiders
The Nukak’s remote rainforest has been overrun by colonists growing coca for the lucrative cocaine trade. Now many Nukak have fled their land after becoming caught up in the violence of Colombia’s civil war.
Since first regular contact in 1988, more than 50% of the entire tribe have died. The Nukak are one of at least 32 Colombian tribes ‘at imminent risk of extinction’.
The Nukak avoided almost all regular contact with outsiders until 1988 when a group of about forty of them turned up unexpectedly at a recently-founded colonists’ town called Calamar.
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| Nukak men, Colombia
© Gustavo Pollitis/Survival |
Although they were on what they considered to be their ancestral territory, their sudden arrival at Calamar created a sensation in the Colombian and international press.
But the consequences of regular contact were appalling. In the following years, partly as a result of loggers and coca growers encroaching on their land, more and more Nukak came into contact with outsiders and many were devastated by diseases such as malaria and flu.
In total, more than 50% of the entire tribe died.
It was only around this time that it was revealed that Christian missionaries from the controversial ‘New Tribes Mission’ had made contact with the Nukak in the 1970s.
The Nukak are one of at least 32 tribes in Colombia believed to be at ‘imminent risk of extinction’, according to the country’s national indigenous peoples’ organisation, ONIC.
These tribes, including the Wipiwi, Amorúa, and Wachina, suffer from Colombia’s internal armed conflict, neglect from the government, and the invasion of their land for natural resources.
ONIC has launched an international campaign, supported by Survival and others, to raise awareness of the tribes’ plight.
Campaigning for the Nukak’s rights has already made a huge difference. After campaigns led by Survival and local indigenous organisations, the Colombian government created a Nukak reserve in 1993 and enlarged it in 1997.
What the Nukak want now is for the boundaries of their reserve to be respected and for them to be able to live there in peace.
Please write to the Colombian government to urge them to ensure the Nukak can return to their land.
