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"The spiritual leaders of the Curripacos and Puinaves in the Colombian Amazon, or of the Sions and Kofanes of the Orinoco, carry out rituals of protection when their people are about to quietly leave their riverside or jungle homes. They invoke magic to render bullets harmless against their people and have paths close behind them, keeping them out of reach of their enemies. With sacred plants, they induce visions or dreams that reveal new threats to them. These protections and spells have worked for centuries. They formed part of the culture of resistance to colonisation, plunder, submission to conquistadors, missionaries, plantation-owners, loggers, emerald-collectors, the hunters for hides, miners, oil companies, multinationals and diverse looters. But the magnitude and intensity of the violence in Colombia in the last two decades seems to have demolished thesevenerable methods of defence." - Blanche Petrich (Ojarasaca 45, January 2001)
