
In March 2018, while working as an intern with Community Peacemaker Teams Colombia, a few of my colleagues and I were invited to bear witness to the effects of a natural disaster where more than 22,000 barrels of oil spilled from a well, then flowed through the Sogamoso River into the Magdalena River. We talked with residents who fish the rivers or raise livestock nearby; these communities were severely impacted by a spill that should have never happened. In the images below, you can see the crude oil coating the riverbanks, rocks, and sides of canoes.