Juan Páez

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The hands that cultivate this forbidden plant

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School: VII Academy, Adelante Program IWMF Latin America, Hochschule Hannover - International Class 2018 Zona Cinco - Escuela de Fotografía y Cine -2011

A child walks a cannabis crop in Toribío Cauca

They say it is a sensitive crop that needs a lot of care. For those who have grown up surrounded by mountains and marijuana plants - like the farmers of Cauca, Colombia - it is a habit to watch them grow in disarray, experiment with them, "create" new varieties and quickly identify any insects or fungus, which damage the entire crop. Many learned to grow in the illegal market but today, organized, they fight to formalize their work and demand laws to finally get the plant out of the prohibition hole.

Text by Julia Lledín and Juan Páez

Corinto is divided between the ...in the mentality of the people.

Corinto is divided between the mountainous part and the plain. The geography establishes a natural border between illegality and legality. Above, there have been prohibited marijuana crops, as well as illegal armed groups, for more than four decades; below, legal crops, mainly sugarcane and coffee. The legalization of medical cannabis six years ago brought the expectation of turning the stigma that weighs on the region around and turning it into an opportunity for development and differential positioning in the market, since one of the best marijuana in the world is produced here. However, peace did not take hold. The medical cannabis projects did not bring the first benefits either. Stigmatization continues and the border persists in the geography and in the mentality of the people.

The cannabis flower is the symb...beauty for those who defend it.

The cannabis flower is the symbol of a historical claim to get this plant out of the hole of prohibition. The slow road to legalization started, even so, punishing the flower: since 2016, the law allowed the sale and export of cannabis extractions (such as oils), but not of the flower for use as such. "We went back to being producers of raw materials," says Diana Valenzuela, legal director of Anandamida Gardens, a small company born in Cauca, in southwestern Colombia. She had to move close to Medellín to survive. There they have managed to produce the perfect flower for the market: a flower also loaded with aromas and beauty for those who defend it.

The stigma comes from outside, ...serves the opportunity to live.

The stigma comes from outside, because it doesn't exist here. Cannabis farming in the northern part of the Cauca is just one more, like any other. Its knowledge passes from generation to generation, without differentiating between ideologies or creeds, because it is the economy that sustains hundreds of families in the region. Jefferson Chiquito's family is Christian; they are portrayed in front of their house, in the rural area of Corinto, on the day they go to mass, they in white, he in his elegant shirt, decorated with the marijuana leaf. He dresses this way to vindicate, in front of the camera, that everyone deserves the opportunity to live.

Alexandra Torres is an administ...ial programs for the community.

Alexandra Torres is an administrator and leads the Association of Producers of Corinto, APROCOR, created in 2017. She learned to move like a fish in water between politics and the cannabis business sector, because on both sides you need godparents. He has just achieved a success: signing a contract with a large company, Biominerales Pharma, which will finally give him his first income to the association, made up of 150 families. APROCOR was created with the expectation of becoming an option to improve lives in the municipality of Corinto. Alexandra knows that this income will not only benefit its members: it will also help build public infrastructure and social programs for the community.

Don Ventu's greenhouse ...s in northern Cauca to survive.

Don Ventu's greenhouse is located behind his house, in the mountains of Toribío, in Nasa indigenous territory. On one side he has the seedlings he is preparing to plant when the current harvest is over; on the other side, the flowers are drying so they can be sold. Chickens and ducks pass by, as do his two young grandchildren, who play among the marijuana bushes. "I'm a marijuana grower, that's what they tell me at school," says one of them, barely six years old. They don't know, they don't have to know, that these plants are a reason for stigmatization, violence and persecution. Don Ventu tells us that he did not manage to enter the legal medical cannabis market. He aspires to do so, of course, when cannabis for adult use is legalized in Colombia. In the meantime, he will continue to produce for the illegal market. His reason is simple: it is the crop that allows thousands of families in northern Cauca to survive.

The holes have been open in the...put his project into operation.

The holes have been open in the ground and whitewashed for days. They are waiting for the cannabis cuttings, which are just being prepared in a small greenhouse further up, on a farm with undulating terrain, where three greenhouses have already been built. It is the land found by an association of small and medium-sized medical cannabis producers, based in Cajibío, Cauca, of which don Artemio Salazar, one of the promoters of this legal crop in the region, is a member. Since 2016, when he began to get involved in the sector, until today, he has faced multiple legal and bureaucratic obstacles to put his project into operation.

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Public Project

The hands that cultivate this forbidden plant

Copyright Juan Páez 2024

Date of Work Mar 2022 - Sep 2022

Updated Apr 2023

Location Cauca, Colombia

Topics Spotlight

Summary

For those who have grown up surrounded by mountains and marijuana plants - like the farmers of Cauca, Colombia - it is a habit to watch them grow in disarray, experiment with them, "create" new varieties and quickly identify any insects or fungus, which damage the entire crop. Many learned to grow in the illegal market but today, organized, they fight to formalize their work and demand laws to finally get the plant out of the prohibition hole.

Text by Julia Lledín and Juan Páez.

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