They work with basketry and preserve their mother tongue: Awapít. They make a living from fishing and hunting, grow yucca, plantain and corn. The Awá consider themselves 'people of the jungle and the mountains”. Of these, 39,000 are in Nariño and 5,000 in Putumayo. According to the National Department of Statistics, the Awá number 44,516 in Colombia. The Awá currently live in an area of 610,000 hectares in the Andean-Amazonian border area, of which 480,000 hectares are in Colombia and 116,640 hectares in Ecuador. Often, their settlements are temporary and very small. From colonial times through to the Colombian armed conflict, they have had to move over and over again, leaving them without a territory of their own. 'In our territories, the entry of different people and companies that are exploiting resources such as gold, coltan, water, oil and timber is advancing,' they warn.Īccording to Julio, throughout history the Indigenous Awá have been forced to flee from their ancestral lands of the Pacific coast of Ecuador and Colombia.

Today, recording themselves on their cell phones, the Indigenous Awá leaders tell the tale of how the pandemic has blighted the Awá and left them isolated and desperate for their plight to be heard. It was here, in the region of Nariño, on the border with Putumayo, that their grandparents arrived 30 years ago after fleeing violence. Noel Amilcar Chapues Guevara and Julio Ricardo Solarte Ascuntar are speaking from the lands of the Ishu Awá reservation, close to the Colombian Pacific Coast.

Awa people