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Isabel Zuleta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Zuleta and the second or maternal family name is López.
Isabel Zuleta
Zuleta speaking before the IACHR in 2013
Member of the Senate of Colombia
Incumbent
Assumed office
20 July 2022
Personal details
Born
Isabel Cristina Zuleta López

(1982-04-12) 12 April 1982 (age 43)
Ituango, Colombia
EducationUniversity of Antioquia
OccupationPolitician, environmentalist, community feminist, activist, and defender of human and environmental rights

Isabel Cristina Zuleta López (b. April 12, 1982, Ituango, Colombia) is a Colombian activist, environmental advocate, and politician. An outspoken defender of environmental, women's, and human rights, she is recognized for her leadership in grassroots movements resisting extractivist megaprojects and defending the rights of marginalized communities.

Zuleta served as director and legal representative of the Movimiento Ríos Vivos (Living Rivers Movement) in Colombia, and is also a member of the Movimiento por el Agua y la Vida (Movement for Water and Life), both of which have played a crucial role in opposing the social and ecological impacts of large-scale development projects. As a social leader, she has peacefully denounced and demanded the restitution of "rights that have been stripped away" by development projects such as Hidroituango, advocating for justice through nonviolent resistance and community empowerment.

In 2022, she was elected to the Colombian Senate as part of the Pacto Histórico (Historic Pact) coalition, representing the Colombia Humana party. In Congress, she has continued to champion legislative initiatives focused on environmental protection, gender equity, and the defense of collective rights.

Early life and activism

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Zuleta visiting activists participating in the 2021 protests

Zuleta was born in Ituango, Antioquia, where she lived until the age of 14, when she was forcibly displaced after receiving threats from paramilitary groups. She studied sociology at the University of Antioquia and history at the National University of Colombia, Medellín campus. During her time at the University of Antioquia, she became involved in grassroots women's organizations composed of victims of the armed conflict.[1]

She served as spokesperson, president, and legal representative of the Ríos Vivos Colombia Movement, a coalition of communities affected by extractive industries and large infrastructure projects.[2] In 2008, several individuals and organizations in Antioquia organized in response to plans by Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) to build what would become the largest hydroelectric dam in Colombia. These groups opposed the project due to concerns over environmental and social impacts and mobilized to stop its construction. Zuleta became involved in this process while studying at university and has since worked with communities in the regions of La Mojana region [es], El Cauca, and the Bajo Cauca Canyon.[3]

Zuleta has spoken publicly about the connection between armed conflict and large-scale infrastructure projects, particularly the Hidroituango dam. She has highlighted patterns of massacres, forced disappearances, and systematic violence against social leaders in areas targeted for development, arguing that victims of the armed conflict are often the same communities affected by such projects.[4]

In 2020, Zuleta was selected as a fellow in the Resilience Fellowship of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, a program aimed at building interdisciplinary and international collaboration to address the impacts of organized crime.[5] That same year, she joined the Departmental Council for Citizen Participation and Social Oversight in Antioquia for the 2020–2023 period, representing the environmental sector. She also represented the Ríos Vivos movement in the Latin American Network of Communities Affected by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

In 2021, Zuleta received the endorsement of Colombia Humana to run on the closed list of the Pacto Histórico coalition for the Senate. She was elected in the 2022 legislative elections.

As a senator, she has led the government’s Urban Peace initiative and was appointed to head the dialogue process with High-Impact Criminal Structures as part of President Gustavo Petro’s Total Peace policy, which seeks to reduce urban violence through negotiated agreements and institutional reform. [6]

Death threats

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Zuleta's opposition to the Ituango Dam has led to her being the subject of surveillance, eavesdropping on her communications, and threats against her life. Some of the latter came directly from paramilitary groups.[7]

Several members and leaders of the Living Rivers movement have been assassinated since the initiation of the Ituango Dam project.[8]

Political career

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In 2021, Zuleta received the endorsement of the Humane Colombia party to join the closed list of the Historic Pact coalition, for which she was elected to the Colombian Senate in the 2022 parliamentary election.[9] She was selected vice president of the Senate's Fifth Commission.[10]

Awards and recognition

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Zuleta is well-known for being one of the biggest opponents of the Ituango Dam. She has appeared in various media, arguing against what for her is a project that violates the rights of communities and victims of enforced disappearances buried in the canyon.[11][12][13]

In 2018, Zuleta, on behalf of the Living Rivers Movement, received the National Award for the Defense of Human Rights in Colombia [es], in the category "Collective Experience or Process of the Year", for organizations dedicated to the defense of indigenous communities' rights.[7][14]

Amnesty International has recognized her as an important defender of human rights and the Cauca River.[15]

In 2021, the social psychologist Florence Thomas named Zuleta one of the country's 10 women of the year for her contribution to the lives of Colombian women.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Escobar, Pacho (15 July 2020). "Isabel Zuleta, la mujer que tiene la fuerza del río Cauca" [Isabel Zuleta, the Woman Who Has the Strength of the Cauca River]. Vorágine (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 October 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Entrevista con Isabel Cristina Zuleta. El río Cauca: un nuevo dolor para este país". Baudó AP (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 May 2025.
  3. ^ "Hidroituango, una bomba de tiempo" [Ituango Dam, a Time Bomb] (in Spanish). Contagio Radio. 13 May 2018. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Isabel Zuleta, la mujer que tiene la fuerza del río Cauca". Voragine (in Spanish). 9 April 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2025.
  5. ^ "Resilience Fellowship 2020". Resilience Fund (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 28 May 2025.
  6. ^ "https://www.consejeriacomisionadadepaz.gov.co/PazUrbanaMedellinAburra/". www.consejeriacomisionadadepaz.gov.co. Archived from the original on 5 March 2025. Retrieved 30 May 2025. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  7. ^ a b "Denuncian amenazas a integrantes del Movimiento Ríos Vivos Antioquia" [Threats to Members of the Living Rivers Antioquia Movement Denounced]. El Espectador (in Spanish). 29 October 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Denuncian asesinato de otros dos miembros del Movimiento Ríos Vivos" [Murder of Two More Members of the Living Rivers Movement Denounced] (in Spanish). Caracol Televisión. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Arrecia la polémica en el Pacto Histórico por reunión de Isabel Cristina Zuleta con Luis Pérez: 'No todo vale'" [Controversy Intensifies in the Historic Pact Due to the Meeting of Isabel Cristina Zuleta with Luis Pérez: 'Not Everything Goes']. Infobae (in Spanish). 30 November 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Tres de las siete comisiones del Senado serán lideradas por el Pacto Histórico" [Three of the Seven Senate Commissions Will be Led by the Historic Pact] (in Spanish). Radio Nacional de Colombia. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  11. ^ "'La mayor tragedia humanitaria es que no hay qué comer': Ríos Vivos" ['The Greatest Humanitarian Tragedy is That There is Nothing to Eat': Living Rivers]. El Espectador (in Spanish). 8 March 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  12. ^ Espinosa, Miguel Ángel (15 February 2018). "Familias de desaparecidos en Ituango piden frenar llenado de represa" [Families of the Disappeared in Ituango Ask to Stop Filling the Dam]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Nos mandaron el Esmad y criminalizaron la protesta: Vocera de Ríos Vivos" [They Sent Us the ESMAD and Criminalized the Protest: Spokesperson for Living Rivers] (in Spanish). W Radio. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  14. ^ "Ganadores séptima edición" [Seventh Edition Winners] (in Spanish). National Award for the Defense of Human Rights in Colombia. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  15. ^ Mejía Castaño, Daniela (8 March 2019). "The Woman of the River". Amnesty International. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  16. ^ "Las 10 mujeres del año en Colombia según Florence Thomas" [The 10 Women of the Year in Colombia According to Florence Thomas]. Infobae (in Spanish). 8 December 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
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