In December they had been threatened with eviction, which in addition to driving them away from their ancestral houses and ways of living, it puts their livelihoods at risk: extraction and separation of gold from the sand using traditional methods, fisheries and traditional farming.

Forces of the Anti-Riot National Police (ESMAD) were present at the eviction mandated by authorities at the request of EPM, the company that owns Hidroituango. There were several inconveniences. The community members did not accept an individual displacement and requested to be transferred collectively. However, this measure angered the authorities, who let the people displaced stranded in the middle of the road and threatened leader Isabel Zuleta, of the Rios Vivos Movement, with filing a criminal lawsuit, accusing her of instigating the people affected to not accept individual transfers.

There were also conflicts with the outlet Teleantioquia, because according to community members, journalist Wilson Cartagena insisted on filming the faces of the people affected.