INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN SOUTH AMERICA: A COMPARISON OF LEGAL REGIMES--COLOMBIA

• Jurisdiction: United States

International Mining and Oil & Gas Law, Development, and Investment (April 2017)
CHAPTER 18G
INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN SOUTH AMERICA: A COMPARISON OF LEGAL REGIMES--COLOMBIA
Carlos Umaña Trujillo
Partner Gutiérrez
Brigard & Urrutia Abogados S.A.S.
Bogotá
Guillermo Tejeiro
Associate
Brigard & Urrutia Abogados S.A.S.
Bogotá

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GUILLERMO TEJEIRO GUTIÉRREZ is an Associate with Brigard & Urrutia Abogados S.A.S., in Bogotá. His practice focuses on advising clients on such issues as administrative environmental authorizations, environmental sanctions proceedings, analysis of environmental and energy regulations, and the planning and structuring of the environmental components of projects. He has professional experience at various law firms, principally in Latin America and Europe, where he has served in different capacities as a legal advisor responsible for matters related to environmental and energy law, property, and the mining and energy sector. In addition, he is a professor and researcher; he has taught courses related to his field of expertise at different universities, and has authored various publications on topics in administrative and environmental law, renewable energy, and the green economy. Guillermo holds a law degree and an LLM from the University of the Andes, a Master's in Environmental and Energy Law from the Catholic University of Leuven, and a diploma in National and International Environmental Law from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. In addition to his native language of Spanish, Guillermo is proficient in English and Portuguese, and speaks intermediate German.

BIO: Mr. Umaña has been managing partner of Brigard & Urrutia since 2012 and partner since 1990, with more than 25 years of experience. He splits his time between several practice areas and is particularly commended for his knowledge in infrastructure, public procurement and competition work. Moreover, he had advised national and international clients in connection with public services law, administrative law, energy projects, commercial law and insurance such as Siemens, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, Iberia, Votorantim, LAN Chile, Monsanto, among others.

According to Chambers and Partners, Mr. Umaña is highly renowned for his expertise as a "skilled negotiator" and "praised for his experience and sharp technical knowledge".

Mr. Umaña graduated from the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Se?ora Del Rosario and holds a Master's degree in Comparative Jurisprudence from New York University School of Law, which he obtained in 1985.

Guillermo Tejeiro: Guillermo has gained a solid experience as a senior legal counsel, researcher and lecturer in environmental law and renewable energies in Colombia and abroad. He has been involved in several projects and transactions in Colombia and Brazil as a legal counselor aiming at achieving a sustainable operation/environmental compliance of various kinds of economic activities. Guillermo has also gained a solid expertise in administrative proceedings aiming at obtaining environmental allowances (permits, authorizations and licenses), environmental sanction proceedings, legal analysis of environmental policies and environmental education projects.

Guillermo was Legal Director at a boutique of environmental legal services in Bogotá; Environmental Legal Director in secondment of a multinational company with transnational operations in Colombia, the United States and several countries in Central America and the Caribbean; International Legal Advisor on International Environmental Law and Climate Change Law at a boutique of environmental legal services in Brazil; researcher and Project Coordinator on environmental law and economic law in Switzerland and Brazil.

PAPER: This is a summary of Chapter Six corresponding to Colombia of the Book Indigenous

Rights in South America - FPIC and Other Key Issues for Natural Resource Developments, Ed. Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, U.S. A. Colorado, 2016.

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I. Preliminary remarks on regulatory issues referring to Colombian ethnicities.

The Colombian Constitution defines Colombia as a multicultural and multiethnic state in which several ethnicities coexist and recognizes the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Colombian nation as a national heritage to be protected.¹ Regulation separates and defines Colombian cultural minorities into two groups, namely:

• Indigenous communities: "national minorities that have traditionally inhabited Colombian territory, characterized by an ancestral political, social, cultural and economic organization which is different from the organization that characterizes the majoritarian or hegemonic Colombian society"; ² and

• Non-indigenous ethnic groups:"national minorities that do not necessarily wish to have an autonomous political and social organization ... but wish to integrate into the national community, provided that their cultural traditions are fully recognized, and in some cases, that they are granted special rights related to

...