Ever Andrés Mercado Wins World Press Photo Award for Manacillos Festival Coverage
Ever Andrés Mercado, a local photographer, has received a prestigious World Press Photo award for his compelling documentation of the Manacillos festival, an ancestral ritual celebrated by the Afro-descendant community of Yurumanguí in Colombia. Mercado expresses feeling an enormous responsibility in covering this event, stating, "For years, only our problems have been reported. We, as people from the Pacific, as Afro-Colombians, have not been able to tell our own narratives. This story changes that. It is a symbol of resistance."
The Journey to Juntas: A Remote Gathering of Resilience
Each year, hundreds of Afro-Colombians embark on a challenging 12-hour voyage down the Yurumanguí River, navigating dense rainforests and treacherous currents to reach the remote village of Juntas. This arduous journey culminates in the Manacillos festival, a four-day celebration during Holy Week that serves as a powerful act of unity and cultural preservation. Delio Valencia Rentería, a 36-year-old leader of the Yurumanguí River Basin Community Council, emphasizes the community's plight: "We have lived here for more than 350 years, and this has been the most difficult time ever experienced. Multinationals and armed groups come to the territory to plunder, to undo what we have taken care of."
Ancestral Roots and Modern Threats
The Afro-descendant community traces its origins to enslaved Africans brought to mine gold between the 17th and 19th centuries. Today, approximately 4,000 people reside in 13 settlements along the river, but thousands have fled due to economic instability, state neglect, and violence from armed groups. Despite these challenges, families return annually to reaffirm their claim to the land. The festival saw a surge in attendance to an estimated 1,500 people in 2025, the highest in recent years for a village with no more than 800 inhabitants, symbolizing a resurgence of community spirit.
Rituals of Resistance and Cultural Preservation
The Manacillos festival features intricate rituals that blend religious symbolism with historical resistance. A group of 40 men, known as the Manacillos, wear custom-made masks crafted from local wood and carry whips, representing the spirits of those who punished Jesus. They stage a symbolic clash with the community, interpreted as the first act of resistance. This whipping game mockingly recalls the enslavers who whipped their ancestors. Throughout the celebration, participants commit to not working, resting, or sleeping for three nights, with female singers and Manacillos often falling asleep from exhaustion while waiting for daily activities to begin.
Traditional songs, passed down through generations, are sung outside each house, celebrating abundance and denouncing violence. Drums beat rhythmically as women carry leaves along the river to fence off the celebration. The community faces ongoing threats from illegal loggers, goldminers, and narco-traffickers attracted by the river's access to the Pacific Ocean and potential for coca cultivation. In November 2021, two community leaders were kidnapped and disappeared, leading to a two-year pause in the festival before its tentative return in 2024.
A Living Declaration of Presence
Valencia Rentería reflects on the community's historical invisibility, noting, "We weren't even on the map of Buenaventura." Now, he hopes the festival acts as a shield, a living declaration of presence. A painting on the village church honors the disappeared leaders with the words: "We will die on the day we remain silent in the face of injustices." Mercado's photographs play a crucial role in this effort, protecting the community by showcasing their fight for collective wellbeing and traditions to the world, especially the Colombian state. As Mercado concludes, "It's a story that needs to be told. It's a story about peace, about resilience, about resistance."
