Juan Guillermo Sánchez Martínez was born in Muyquytá/Bogotá, in the Colombian Andes. He coordinates the online multilingual anthology and exhibition Siwar Mayu, A River of Hummingbirds. He has published several books of poetry, including Uranium (Japan 2023). He works at the crossroads between Indigenous art, literature, and science. He recently co-edited the open-access volume Abiayalan Pluriverses. Bridging Indigenous Studies and Hispanic Studies with Gloria E. Chacón and Lauren Beck (Amherst College, 2024.) He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Indigenous Learning at Lakehead University (Thunder Bay, Canada).  

I was born and raised in Muyquytá / Bogotá, the Colombian Andes. I identify as a mixed-race Andean person, and as a father, a husband, and a grandfather. Growing up in the city, I was disconnected from the rich history of the land and her First Peoples. It was not until the early 2000s —when I was already in my twenties— that I started to reflect deeply on who I am and where I am from, first through Indigenous literatures, then through the master plants of the Taitas from Putumayo and, more recently, nurturing relations with Ikʉ elders from Niwi ʉmuke, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Beyond the Andes, I have learned with Maya Tatas and Nanas in Guatemala, as well as with Anishinaabe elders in Canada. As of 2024, I live and work in Thunder Bay, a northwestern Ontario city overseen by Animikii Waajiw, the place where Thunderbirds land / Mount McKay, the original territory of the Fort William First Nation, signatory to the 1850 Robinson-Superior Treaty.

The following verses are a homage to the elders, activists and writers who have protected the fresh water of their territories with their own lives. The paraphrase of letters, speeches, poems, conversations explores a collective voice. These are excerpts of the poem “Voices of the water springs”, published in Altamar (Universidad de Antioquia, 2017.)