The corridor Puerto Vega – Teteyé in Putumayo has been declared free of suspicion of contamination by Explosive Devices

Thanks to an alliance led by Gran Tierra Energy and implemented by the Colombian Campaign Against Mines, today Putumayo has 30,675 hectares of land investigated and declared free of contamination in the Puerto Vega Teteyé area.

•  This important Humanitarian Demining project has been implemented with the support of the High Commissioner for Peace and sponsored by Ecopetrol, the U.S. Department of State, and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
•  Over the past three years, 285 anti-personnel mines, improvised explosive devices, and unexploded ordnance have been found and destroyed, and around 3,000 residents from nearby communities have attended Mine Risk Education workshops.

Today, Gran Tierra Energy, along with its partners the Colombian Campaign Against Mines, the High Commissioner for Peace, Ecopetrol, and the support of the U.S. Department of State and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that 36 sectors of the Puerto Vega-Teteyé corridor and its surroundings have been declared free of suspected contamination by Explosive Artifacts. 30,675 hectares in partnership with local communities have had Humanitarian Demining activities.

The prevalence of Anti-Personnel Mines and other explosive devices, which are a regrettable remnant of decades of armed conflict in the country and a constant threat to communities, has restricted and impacted the right to life, mobility, education, and food security of local communities. This has made this project a priority for Gran Tierra Energy as it addresses one of the most latent threats to the effective enjoyment of human rights in the communities near its operations.

Over the past three years, and within the framework of Gran Tierra Energy's Humanitarian Demining project, hundreds of men and women from the Puerto Vega-Teteyé corridor were hired to support this immense effort, which also includes the remediation of oil spills, also resulting from the armed conflict. To date, 285 anti-personnel mines, improvised explosive devices, and unexploded ordnance have been found and destroyed, and nearly 3,000 residents from nearby towns have attended Mine Risk Education workshops provided through this project.

During the event, Manuel Buitrago, President and Country Manager of Gran Tierra Energy stated that “Today is a historic day. We are proud that thanks to this alliance we can announce that the Puerto Vega – Teteyé corridor has been cleared of all anti-personnel mines and declared free of suspected contamination. Gran Tierra is also proud that we will continue to advance this project beyond what we originally committed to, as we want to see all of Puerto Asís and the surrounding areas free of mines, eliminating a significant inherited threat to public safety in the area.».

The Director of the Colombian Campaign Against Mines, Álvaro Jimenez Millán, noted that “In Putumayo there is a community effort, private companies, NGOs, local, departmental, and national government to improve the lives of all for everyone. This is how we build community and move towards inclusion and peace.”.

Gran Tierra Energy will continue to support initiatives that help promote and protect human rights in Colombia and those who have suffered the most from the consequences of the armed conflict. Today's event in Puerto Asís also included the participation of representatives from beneficiary communities, survivors of Anti-Personnel Mines, and community members who, after their respective training, worked as part of the Humanitarian Demining teams and were an important part of the declaration of their territories as free of suspected contamination. For more information: Nicolás Barrios Rubio Cel: 3107977268