DESERERE
La memoria de Jepirachi
Clemencia Echeverri
On April 18, 2004, a paramilitary group arrived at Portete Bay, loca-ted in the High Guajira, carrying a list. They tortured and murdered six Wayuu women from four families: Fince Uriana, Fince Epinayu, Cuadrado Fince, and Ballesteros Epinayú. The women were: Margot Fince Epinayú (70 years old), Rosa Fince Uriana (46 years old), Diana (40 years old), and three Reina Fince Pushiana girls (13 years old), two Epinayú family members (7 and 5 years old) —these last two are still missing today. This massacre was coordinated by the paramilitary chief of the AUC’s North Bloc and military commander of the Wayuu Counterinsurgent Front, Rodrigo Tovar-Pupo a.k.a “Jorge 40,” and Arnulfo Sánchez a.k.a “Pablo.” The massacre was carried out in order to take control of the port’s navigation routes. José María Barros Ipuana, known as “Chema Bala” also participa-ted in these executions. He was a Wayuu man and a merchant of the town of Portete Bay. These homicides resulted in the forced displacement of 400 families who have been for the last 18 years returning very slowly to their original territory, which is now completely devastated.