Fearful of various hydroelectric development projects, the Naso Teribe tribe is putting up a fight to hold on to its ancestral lands and culture.

Ruled by a king without a kingdom, from a neglected palace, this is a Panamanian tribe which has learned to live with nature’s marvels and to care for the water sources that originate in its forests and constitute the region’s most important watershed. The more than 3,000 members of the tribe share knowledge about organic agriculture, medicinal plants and the species and secrets of the forest, demonstrating an enormous love for Mother Nature. This is how I describe the Naso Tjer Di, or Naso Teribe, having lived among them for some time, learning about their customs, their fears and their dreams, in the mountains of the Parque Internacional La Amistad (International Friendship Park).

Leaving behind Wekso, the old military base known as Panajungla – which today is an ecotourism hostel managed by the Naso – I am on my way to meet Latin America’s only king: Valentin Santana, the monarch, a member of a royal family whose ancestral line goes back further than the Spanish conquest.

My cayuco bravely negotiates the freshwater rapids of the Teribe, under the watchful gaze of the giant tropical trees, which stand as a solid green wall along the river’s banks. My guide, Adolfo Villagra – an educated Naso leader – captains the hollowed out tree trunk with its outboard motor, reading the river’s moods. Avoiding tree trunks and dangerous eddies, he tells me: “Back in 1973 we began to call on the Panamanian Government to recognize our territory and to create our own comarca, which up to now they still have not done: today we are the only indigenous people who have not been recognized. And this is partly because of the schemes to build hydroelectric dams that need to use our land.”

I visited a number of different villages in the Teribe watershed, to learn the views of their leaders. In the village of Bonji, I met Virginia Nicolás, who represents the women of 11 communities. While she was carving a statuette in her modest home she shared her feelings with me: “Not having our own comarca is like a mother having a number of children and preferring one more than the others – we see it as discrimination. And we think that the hydroelectric projects will bring problems; I would think that building a dam across the river will mean excavation, which will mean that all the fish in the river will die, because two years ago there was a landslip at the head of one of the tributaries of the River Teribe, and many animals died, the river was dirty for a time and the beaches were full of dead fish; so with the hydroelectric project that they want to put here, what little we have to sustain us will disappear; they are going to invade us, they are going to take over unregistered land, land which no one owns and I believe that this will be a very big problem for us.”

As I travelled through turbulent stretches of the river, against the current and ever upwards, I could make out a green hill in the distance, where we would find Sieyjic, the location of the king’s palace and our final destination. Surrounded by his subjects, crowned with a feather head dress and holding a ceremonial spear, Valentín Santana addressed me in his mother tongue. He avoided eye contact, and his words were full of pride. I listened to the official voice of the Naso people through his interpreter, who spoke to me in Spanish: “Speaking as King about our civilization and its environment, I agree that the influence of education and having our own comarca are the most important issues for our people; but I believe that the big hydroelectric projects that are coming, instead of helping us, will take our lands away, they will want to send us away to the higher ground where our ancestors once lived, and the Nasos are saying no to this, that we do not agree, because this will not be to our benefit without taking away more and more of our land. Take this message with you and make sure that the Panamanians hear it” - was the king’s request to me - “because this is how we feel and this is what we are fighting for.”

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Key Facts
When Admiral Christopher Columbus arrived on the coast of Bocas del Toro on October 6th 1502, the first people to know about it were the Naso Teribe, a Panamanian people ruled by a hereditary monarchy.

Indigenous lands make up almost 47% of the Panamanian Atlantic Coast section of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, covering approximately 13,000 kms2, including land occupied by the Naso Teribe and the Ngobe Bugle people.

Naso territory lies within two protected areas: 207,000 hectares in the Parque Internacional La Amistad” and 244,000 hectares of the Bosque Protector Palo Seco.