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Stopping the deforestation that is advancing over the La Asunción reservation, in the department of Guaviare, Colombia, is becoming increasingly urgent. Nancy del Pilar Padua Palacios, an Indigenous Tucano, has a solution: It is the planting of ají (chilli), a product of our culture, says the 26-year-old leader, while she records yellow, green and red chilli peppers with her phone. These will later be dried to make tucupí, an Amazonian hot sauce that is produced in Guaviare.
The land, where Nancy and 146 other people from the Wanano, Tucano, Desano, Cubeo, Paeces and mestizo families live, has too many ‘open wounds’ from deforestation, which has been increasing for years. According to Nancy, 45% of the territory, a total of 300 hectares of the 702 hectares that make up the La Asunción reservation, have already been converted into pasture for cattle and monoculture plantations.