Posted: Dec 3, 2021 17:59 GMT
The gigantic conglomerate presented a “claim for infringement” to those responsible for the undertaking, which has among its products a beer called Coca Pola.
Indigenous leader Fabiola Piñacué, one of those responsible for the Coca Nasa venture in Colombia, denounced this Friday that she had received a claim from the Coca-Cola company demanding that it remove the name of coca from its products based on that leaf.
“I publicly denounce that Coca-Cola sends its lawyers to forbid us to use the name of coca on our coca products, they threaten legal action in the coming days. After thieves, buffoons. Respect the indigenous peoples! “, Piñacué published on his social networks.
I publicly denounce that @CocaCola sends their lawyers TO FORBID US to use the COCA name on our COCA products, they threaten legal lawsuits in the coming days. After thieves, buffoons. Respect the indigenous peoples! # CocaColaLadronapic.twitter. com / F7sTKF5inm
– Fabiola Piñacué (@FabiolaPinacue) December 3, 2021
According to the fragment of the communication attached on social networks, the representatives of The Coca-Cola Company presented a “claim for infringement“to those responsible for the undertaking in Colombia. The multinational company argues that it is the” worldwide owner “of the trademark registered in Colombia,” to distinguish multiple products and services, in particular non-alcoholic soft drinks. ”
The Piñacué brand sells infusions, energy drinks, food, medicinal coca and even beer based on the leaf, which they baptized as Coca Pola. “If a doctor recommends a beer, do not hesitate, Coca Pola is the healthy alternative,” they wrote on Twitter with a photo of Senator Roy Barreras testing the product.
It is not the first time that Piñacué’s company has been attacked by the multinational. In fact, Coca-Cola has already filed a lawsuit against Coca Nasa for one of their energy drinks, called cocasek, but they lost it.
“Many of us fell to claim the name. Coca-Cola sued us but they won nothing because we have supported ourselves in the cultural issue “, Piñacué said in an interview with the newspaper El Tiempo, at the end of last year.
“A drink of death”
This Friday, Piñacué attacked Coca-Cola as a “drink of death” and affirmed that the company that manufactures it is responsible for discrediting the coca leaf, “with its drink with excess sugar and caffeine, which cause serious illnesses to people”.
“I appreciate your help to denounce that company, that threatens to take us off the market“added one of the founders of Coca Nasa, after calling to promote the hashtag #CocaColaLadrona on Twitter.
According to its website, Coca Nasa is a productive project that arose from the Nasa territory, which aims to “vindicate the traditional use of the plant, and curb the negative impacts that illegal groups and drug traffickers have generated” around the plant, which forms part of that indigenous culture, for medicinal and ritual purposes.
“From our Indigenous Reservation of Calderas, Fabiola Piñacué, a woman and Nasa leader, undertook at the beginning of the 90s the long way to vindicate Coca as a sacred plant, with the proposal to create a company of products derived from the leaf of coca, stop contribute to the strengthening of their own, self-managed and sustainable economies“They detail from Coca Nasa.
Reactions
After Piñacué’s call, several Internet users supported the hashtag #CocaColaLadrona on social networks and showed their outrage at the multinational’s attempt to ban the use of the name of a plant that is associated with the original peoples of Colombia.
“Nobody can appropriate something that nature gives and less register their name as if they had invented it. The coca leaf is ancestral and has existed since the beginning of time, before a human invented Coca-Cola,” wrote a user from Twitter.
WTF? That the indigenous communities that have sown and used the coca leaf ancestrally to harmonize, heal, clean and offer in their rituals, cannot even use their name because @CocaCola starts a campaign of intimidation is inadmissible. #CocaColaLadronahttps: //t.co/3zonop5cPC
– Melissa (@Melissalopezc) December 3, 2021
#CocaColaLadrona Coca is a plant that belongs to nature Not to the multinational, our indigenous peoples have cared for it and used it for centuries before the soda appeared
– Gustavo ROJAS (@ rojas_gustavo69) December 3, 2021
Among the messages were not lacking those who considered that there are historical roots behind the actions of Coca-Cola against the small Colombian company: “The mere colonialism of the 21st century, with coca being a plant of ancestral use for native peoples “.
Although the soft drink giant has not yet spoken, the truth is that Piñacué – a politician and magister in geography – is confident that justice will allow him to continue with his products, due to the precedents. In one of the tweets that the founder of Coca Nasa replied, she said: “Our humble legal team has already won a legal dispute against this company for the same reasons, For us, the indigenous Nasa, fighting is living, says the history of resistance “.
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