14th February 2017

Following the publication of our article 'Damming Dissent' on the Open Democracy website on 23rd January 2017, representatives of Italian multinational, ENEL and its Colombian subsidiary, EMGESA replied to us via the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre platform…The central issue that we focused on in our article was the role of ENEL-EMGESA in the criminalisation of legitimate peaceful protest in relation to the communities resisting the Quimbo mega-dam project in Huila, Colombia…In its reply, ENEL-EMGESA refers to many other important issues relating to the dam project and its social and environmental impacts. These issues are many and complex.  They include the legitimate concerns of communities for their social and environmental futures.  In the same way as ENEL-EMGESA is the key protagonist in the criminalisation of peaceful protest, the corporation is also the key protagonist in determining how the futures of the people of this region are being shaped…While ENEL-EMGESA, for obvious reasons of public relations, asserts that it has no responsibility for the legal cases against the two activists, the facts of Colombian law are crystal clear: Prosecutors only began legal proceedings in direct response to complaints from the powerful corporation...