The Arhuaco people in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta have fended off incursions by Capuchin missionaries and by the illegal armed groups of Colombia's long civil conflict. They would prefer to focus on avoiding and repairing damage to Mother Earth.
The ways of the Arhuacos were declared intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO in November, along with those of three other Indigenous communities in northern Colombia's Sierra Nevada — the Kogui, Wiwa and Kankuamo.
