In Colombia, Amazon River's extreme drought falls hard on Indigenous communities

LETICIA, Colombia (AP) — Marciano Flores stood knee-deep in the Amazon River with the rest of his crew, ready to haul in a giant net as a man in a canoe circled in an attempt to drive fish their way. At 69, after a life of working the river, Flores can tell at a glance just the right spots to seek a catch he can sell at the market.

But standing here a year ago would have been impossible, with the river far above his head. Flores has never seen the Amazon so low, and the men’s net came up empty before they relocated downriver and caught a few small fish. A declining catch is forcing him and his fellow fishermen to search farther and farther down the river each day, and costing him more in fuel too.

“The drought has hit me hard,” said Flores, of the Cocama Indigenous community. “When the water's low, the fish die, so there's nothing to get."

The Amazon River naturally fluctuates during the dry and rainy seasons. But since last year a dramatic drop has been evident, most critical in Brazil. Now the phenomenon is spreading into other Amazon nations, wreaking havoc on local economies and food supplies.

In Colombia, the river's fall has isolated some rural Indigenous communities, prompting nonprofits and the government to deliver water and food to places that depend on rain and river water to survive. In some communities, it's an arduous hourlong walk along the dried-up areas to get basic supplies. In other areas, schoolchildren have to walk two hours to get to their classes as boats are unable to drop them close by.

Water levels decreased between 80% and 90% in the past few months, Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management said last month.

“I've been very concerned, particularly for the Indigenous communities that are affected the most because all the food has already run out," said Álvaro Sarmiento, head of operations for the Colombian Civil Defense in the Amazonas province at Leticia's port. "For Indigenous people, fishing is their main source of food."

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series on how tribes and Indigenous communities are coping with and combating climate change.

Large patches of sandy areas can be seen where the river has receded. Evidence of how dramatically the water has fallen can be seen along banks where the earth has cracked under the heat, with large parts collapsing into what's left of the river. In some areas, white marks high on tree trunks show where the water used to be.

“In the 35 years I’ve been in the Amazon, it's the first time I’ve seen it this low,” said Jugalvis Valencia, 61, a boat tour guide. He worries that a repeat drought next year will dry up some parts of the river completely.

"If we have a similar summer next year, it’s possible that (the river) will get cut off and we’ll be stuck in Leticia,” he said.

In a community called La Playa on the outskirts of Leticia, Ermencida Miranda runs a small store out of her wooden home propped on stilts, selling things like cleaning supplies and Peruvian, Colombian and Brazilian foods in this area where the three countries come together. And Miranda worries about access to water.

“In all the communities ... we are suffering because of the water, because it's not raining, the drought is really severe,” said Miranda, 48, who came from Putumayo eight years ago in search of better economic opportunities.

“We bathe in the river water, but for cooking and drinking we have to wait for rainwater and when there's none, we have to buy water from Leticia. Imagine that!” said Miranda, of the Tikuna people.

Some 32 kilometers (about 20 miles) down the river is the Indigenous reserve of Santa Sofia, a community of about 2,400 made up of five different Indigenous groups, where locals waited in the shade of mango trees for the arrival of supplies from a nonprofit organization. Last year, the river came right up to the mango trees, but now the water is so low it takes a five-minute walk down a dry, cracked mud path.

The nonprofit delivered food supplies like lentils, rice and cooking oil, as well as three large cisterns that can be used to catch and store rainwater. Locals shouldered the heavy white bags of supplies to carry them back to their homes, and men teamed up to move the bulky cisterns.

“It's been hard for us to get food, and to take our crops for sale to Leticia because of the drought,” said Santa Sofia resident Elder Kawache, 47.

Access to drinking water has been the most difficult part of the drought for the community since the local well also dried up, Kawache, from the Cocama community, said.

Colombia's environment ministry didn't respond to a request for comment on the drought. The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management said this month it will deliver motorized pumps and hoses for water supply to isolated territories and that a contract for the exploration of underground water sources will be initiated. It has said it is sending humanitarian assistance kits with drinking water and nonperishable food for the communities.

Peru announced a state of emergency and said it would deliver medicines and chlorinated water to communities near the river. Brazilian authorities have been distributing potable water and water purification systems and the government says it will make advance payments to those eligible for monthly welfare payments for poor families in affected areas.

The river has risen slightly in some places in recent days, but after back-to-back and increasingly severe droughts, locals worry about next year.

At her homemade store, Miranda has seen no evidence of help from the government. She'd love to see an elevated tank filled with water so people don't have to “suffer so much in carrying water” during the summer.

“If someone could help us to get water, it would be a happiness and a change to life, wouldn’t it? Because water is very important for us.”

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Follow Steven Grattan on X: @sjgrattan

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People maneuver by boat through the low level of a tributary that connects with the Amazon River, in Isla de la Fantasia, on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A houseboat floats on low levels of the Amazon River amid a drought in Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Signs of drought are visible on the Amazon River, in Santa Sofia, near Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A girl carries a chicken on her head while going down a hill that shows the low level of the Amazon River, in Leticia, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A group of men and a woman carry bananas and fish from the port, in Leticia, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A macaw accompanies people from the Tikuna Indigenous community who carry aid from a nonprofit amid a drought on Amazon River in Santa Sofia, on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

An Indigenous man from the Tikuna community bathes in the Amazon River, in Loma Linda, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Boats maneuver low water levels amid a drought on the Amazon River, at a port that connects Colombia with Peru, in Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A boy climbs a hill near a low Amazon River due to the drought, in Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia

People from the Tikuna Indigenous community wait to receive aid from a nonprofit amid a drought on Amazon River in Loma Linda, near Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

People from the Tikuna Indigenous community carry aid from a nonprofit amid a drought on Amazon River in Loma Linda, near Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A man from the Tikuna Indigenous community carries a cistern from a nonprofit that can be used to catch and store rainwater for the community amid a drought in Loma Linda, near Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

People from the Tikuna Indigenous community wait to receive aid from a nonprofit amid a drought on Amazon River in Loma Linda, near Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Men look for fish in the Amazon River amid a drought on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A person buys fish in the market square, in Leticia, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Marciano Flores, from the Cocama Indigenous community, fishes in the low levels of the Amazon River, on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Signs of drought are visible on the Amazon River, near Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Fishermen hold an aphanotorulus unicolor, a species of catfish, they caught in the Amazon River amid a drought on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Men from the Cocama Indigenous community fish in the Amazon River amid a drought on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Men fish in the low levels of the Amazon River, on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

People walk through a part of the Amazon River that shows signs of drought in Santa Sofia, on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is holding steadier on Thursday, thanks in part to a surge for Tesla’s stock.

The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in early trading and on track to break its first three-day losing streak since early September. The Nasdaq composite was up 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lagging the rest of the market with a drop of 110 points, or 0.3%.

Tesla led the way with a gain of 16.1% after the electric-vehicle maker reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. An optimistic CEO Elon Musk also predicted 20% to 30% sales growth next year, though its revenue for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ forecasts.

UPS jumped 9.7% after likewise topping analysts’ forecasts for profit. The package-delivery company’s finances can offer a window into the strength of the economy because of how many different types of customers it serves, and its revenue edged past expectations.

Lam Research, a supplier to the semiconductor industry, was another winner and rose 5.8% after delivering stronger profit than expected.

Helping to keep indexes in check was IBM fell 6.2% after reporting revenue for the latest quarter that fell just short of analysts’ expectations. It was the single biggest reason the Dow was lagging behind other indexes.

Boeing sank 2.4% after its machinists voted to continue their strike, which has crippled aircraft production. More than 60% of union members who voted on the proposed contract rejected it, keeping them on the picket lines six weeks into their strike.

Stocks have broadly regressed this week after the S&P 500 and Dow both set records at the end of last week. They’ve been hit by rising Treasury yields in the bond market, which can make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks. Critics say stocks already look too expensive given how much faster their prices have risen than corporate profits.

Yields have climbed as report after report has shown the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected. That’s good news for Wall Street, because it bolsters hopes that the economy can escape from the worst inflation in generations without the painful recession that many had worried was inevitable.

But it’s also forcing traders to ratchet back their forecasts for how deeply the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates, now that it’s just as focused on keeping the economy humming as getting inflation lower. With bets diminishing on how deeply the Fed will ultimately cut its overnight interest rate, Treasury yields have also been giving up some of their earlier declines.

A report on unemployment claims Thursday offered a mixed picture on the job market. It said fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which can be a signal of relatively low layoffs. But it also said the total number of those collecting benefits rose to its highest level in almost three years.

Altogether, the numbers show a slowing economy, “but there is no sign of a crash in employment or a surge of layoffs in these data,” according to Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi at High Frequency Economics.

Treasury yields, which had eased overnight, pared their losses after the release of the unemployment claims report. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.22%, down from 4.25% late Wednesday. It’s still well above its 4.08% level from late last week.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were modestly higher in Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

FILE - The Fearless Girl statue, with a flower draped on the shoulder, stands outside the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

A train arrives at the Wall Street subway station in New York's Financial District on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

An electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm is seen near a pedestrian crossing Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person stands near an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)