Isabel Zuleta
Zuleta speaking before the IACHR in 2013
Member of the Senate of Colombia
Assumed office
20 July 2022
Personal details
Born
Isabel Cristina Zuleta López

(1982-04-12) 12 April 1982
Ituango, Colombia
EducationUniversity of Antioquia
OccupationActivist, politician

Isabel Cristina Zuleta López (born 12 April 1982) is a Colombian activist and politician. An outspoken advocate for environmental causes, women's rights, and human rights, she was director of the Living Rivers movement in Antioquia, and belongs to the Movement for Water and Life. She is best known for her work as a social leader in communities opposed to the Ituango Dam project.

She was elected to the Colombian Senate as part of the Historic Pact coalition in the 2022 parliamentary election.

Early life and activism

Zuleta visiting vandals participating in the 2021 protests

Zuleta was born on 12 April 1982, in Ituango, Antioquia, where she lived until she was 14. She had to leave the municipality after receiving threats from paramilitary groups.[1] She studied sociology and history at the University of Antioquia, and it was there that she began to take part in community groups of women victims of the armed conflict.[2]

Zuleta was director of the Living Rivers (Spanish: Ríos Vivos) movement in Antioquia. In 2008, various people and organizations learned of the intention of Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) to build the country's largest hydroelectric plant in their municipality. These people opposed the Ituango Dam megaproject since they perceived that it would have negative environmental and social consequences, and they organized to prevent its construction. Zuleta was linked to this process when she was studying at the University of Antioquia. Since then she has worked with communities of the Mojana region, Cauca, and the Bajo Cauca Canyon.[3]

Death threats

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.[4]

Several members and leaders of the Living Rivers movement have been assassinated since the initiation of the Ituango Dam project.[5]

Political career

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.[6] She was selected vice president of the Senate's Fifth Commission.[7]

Awards and recognition

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.[8][9][10]

In 2018, Zuleta, on behalf of the Living Rivers Movement, received the National Award for the Defense of Human Rights in Colombia, in the category "Collective Experience or Process of the Year", for organizations dedicated to the defense of indigenous communities' rights.[4][11]

Amnesty International has recognized her as an important defender of human rights and the Cauca River.[12]

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.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Isabel Zuleta, la piedra en el zapato de Sergio Fajardo" [Isabel Zuleta, the Stone in the Shoe of Sergio Fajardo]. Cambio (in Spanish). 9 May 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ "Hidroituango, una bomba de tiempo" [Ituango Dam, a Time Bomb] (in Spanish). Contagio Radio. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  4. 1 2 "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.
  5. ↑ "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.
  6. ↑ "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.
  7. ↑ "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.
  8. ↑ "'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.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ "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.
  11. ↑ "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.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. ↑ "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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