San Andres, Colombia – On July 4, the most remote of Colombia’s 32 states – San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina – elected new governors in by-elections.
the outgoing acting governor said. Latin America Report She hopes more attention will be focused on the needs of island communities and that relations between the archipelago and the Colombian government will improve.
Located in the Caribbean, closer to Managua than Bogota, this archipelago leaves many of the island’s more than 70,000 residents feeling geographically and culturally disconnected from mainland Colombia.
The indigenous population, called Raizals, speak an English-based Creole language and, unlike the majority Catholic mainland Colombia, are primarily Protestant. This is because the original inhabitants were English settlers and slaves brought to the Caribbean from Africa.
“For years, San Andrés has failed to address the needs of the Raizal community and provide solutions and effective proposals for their demands,” said outgoing San Andrés Governor Vilma Jay. Latin America Report During an interview at Coral Palace, the island’s government headquarters, last June.
“…we have overpopulation and under-provision of public services that do not meet overall demand.”
She added, “San Andrés, as I said before, is a multicultural island that breathes with the Caribbean.”
The governor explained that their unique Creole language comes from an English background and “the African idiom that gave birth to this unique language.”
The archipelago, which is closer to the coast of Nicaragua than mainland Colombia, officially became part of Colombia after a 1928 treaty with its Central American neighbor.
This followed what locals call a process of ‘Colombianization’ after San Andres was declared a free port in 1953. Increased tourism, immigration from the mainland, and the imposition of Spanish and Catholicism among the Raizal population.
“Rizals have learned that to live or survive, you have to exist within the system,” explains Cleotilde Henry Valvuena, an octogenarian leader of the Raisal community. He recalls the need for Catholic baptism in his youth to obtain higher education.
Valvuena runs: Native Inn Her home was a homestay of sorts that could only be managed by members of the Raizal community in an effort to keep the profits of the tourist mecca in the pockets of local residents.
“We are no longer the owners of the economy, we are no longer the owners of the land, and this is because of the policies of a state that has designed us to lose everything,” she said. Latin America Report Inside her home in June.
Governor Jay explained that the Colombian government has long been disconnected from the island territory, which has “definitely taken its toll on the sense of distance that is not only physical but also patriotic. It is a betrayal of the state against us that has become deeply ingrained in the community.”
This sense of neglect was on full display in the aftermath of Hurricane Iota, which struck the island of Providencia and Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras in 2020.
On the island, community initiatives to coordinate emergency accommodation and supplies led to the creation of One Raizal Corporation, an organization to preserve and celebrate Raizal culture among the island’s young population.
Group chairman Keaniu Newball McGovern said he hoped the group could create a space for young Raizals to discuss politics and the island’s future, stressing the need for “new ways of doing politics and creating spaces.”
“San Andrés has always been overlooked,” McGovern said. Latin America Report“Politicians (from the mainland) will come here and spend the weekend (…) but they have no real commitment.”
I visited the island between the first and second rounds of the Colombian presidential election, and the posters of the candidates for the July 4 special gubernatorial election stood out as much as the presidential candidates.
“The elections that generate the most passion and garner the most public support are departmental gubernatorial races,” Jay said. “
Jay was appointed governor by President Gustavo Petro after former governor Nicolás Gallardo Vásquez was removed for election fraud.
She said voting habits “reveal how this disconnect really existed between the islanders and the rest of the country, and between Bogotá and the national authorities.”
But the governor sees an opportunity to improve the relationship.
“I hope that these relationships can be rebuilt through political will, effective management (and) dialogue that prioritizes the special characteristics of communities and territories,” she said.
She said she was “absolutely confident” that if there was political will on both sides, “much could be done to promote the development of the archipelago.”
Incoming governor Girley Natacha Ordóñez Bowie, 35, is scheduled to take office this month after winning 64% of the vote in an election in which only 31% of voters participated.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons. License details.
