Massacre and identity renewal

"..people in front of the houses through which we were walking would not give us a sole glass of water fearing the consequences. After walking for 3 days we arrived in Cojoro, from there we reached Maracaibo." With these words, Josefa, recalls the forced displacement of the Wayúu community of Bahia Portete, from La Guajira peninsula (Colombia) towards Venezuela.

In 2004, 50 paramilitariies arrived at their village and killed 5 of her family members. In this matriarchal community, women had a leading role in fighting against paramilitaries presence in the area. The massacre targeted those who had the most important role in the resistence. As a consequence over 300 families fled the area.

Since 2015, families are going back to their original territory. These pictures are part of a broader work trying to portray the difficulties about returning to a desirtic area after a decade living a city. Particularly, many children born or lived most of their life in Venezuala are now confronted with a completly different environment, recovering their origin as indigenous people is a great challange...