Disputes over gold mining and dispossession of local afrodescendant communities from the Alto Cauca, Colombia

Abstract

In 2001, the local afrodescendant community from La Toma faced a double threat. First, new mining legislation was introduced and their ancestral mining activities were declared illegal. Second, paramilitary groups entered the territory and initiated a regime of terror that continues to date. Mining titles were conceded to multinationals and private parties, while the communities were restricted in their access to land-based resources. This paper deals with different dimensions of local dispossession resulting from violent mechanisms as well as from the neoliberal adjustment of the mining regulatory system in Colombia.

Keywords:

• Mining
• extractivism
• development
• afrodescendants
• dispossession

Notes

1. Afrodescendants, Afro-Colombian or black communities are considered in Colombia ethnic groups that, next to indigenous and Rom communities, have been granted differentiated ethnic rights. According to the Political Constitution of 1991, the nation was recognised as culturally diverse and the State was given the legal responsibility to protect ethnic communities and their territories. As declared in Law 70/1993, among other ethnic rights granted to afrodescendants, the right to collective territory is prominent as territory is considered a necessary space for the cultural reproduction and the well-being of these groups. To read about the ways afrodescendants have self-identify and socially organise since 1970 to claim rights such as territory, culture and autonomy, see Restrepo, Etnización de la negridad.

2. Ethnographic research on the paramilitary massacre and displacement in this region is presented in Jimeno et al., “Experiencias de violencia”.

3. This concept implies that the mining entitlement is not legitimate in the eyes of the local community.

4. A historical analysis of dependency in the Latin American can be found in Mignolo, “Philosophy and the Colonial”; and Acosta, “Extractivism and Neoextractivism”.

5. To examine dependency from the perspective of citizenship, see Nem Singh, “Reconstituting the Neostructuralist State”.

6. More on the behaviour of mining in the neoliberal context: Gordon and Webber, “Imperialism and Resistance,” 63–87; and Bridge, “Mapping the bonanza,” 406–21.

7. To approach the debate on extractivism, see Gudynas, “Transitions to Post-extractivism”; and Martinez Alier, “Los conflictos ecológico-distributivos”.

8. Gudynas, “La ecología política del progresismo,” 147–67.

9. An interesting analysis of the limits encountered by leftist governments to divert from neoliberalism can be accessed in Andreucci and Radhuber, “Limits to ‘counter-neoliberal’ Reform”. Also, on the governmental challenges to deal with extractive industries in Latin America, see Gudynas, “Transitions to Post-extractivism”.

10. A comparative analysis of extractivism in Colombia and Peru has been presented by Velez-Torres and Ruiz, “Extractivismo neoliberal minero”.

11. Ministerio de Minas y Energía, “Censo minero departamental.”

12. The following video presents one of the dialogue scenarios created between stakeholders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlwm8nLQNmc&feature=youtu.be.

13. El nuevo siglo, “Crece aporte de minería al PIB.”

14. For the numbers of titles and hectares allocated to private and multinational mining in Colombia, see Duarte, Situación minera en los territorios campesinos.

15. CINEP & PPP, Minería, conflictos sociales.

16. Perez, “Conflictos ambientales en Colombia.”

17. While Chapter 27 of Capital by Marx provides a sharp explanation on accumulation by dispossession in the context of Primitive Accumulation, I would like to focus on the interpretation made by David Harvey in The New Imperialism.

18. The project, financed by NWO–CoCooN, took place between 2010 and 2015. See: http://www.landsandrights.blog.com/.

19. On different relationships with social movements in the context of research, see Ballard et al., “Globalization, Marginalization and Contemporary Movements”, 615–34.

20. Some of the researchers who have discussed an activist, organic, participative and collaborative research are Fals, “Investigating Reality in Order to Transform it”, 33–55; Hale, “Activist Research”, 96–120; Katz, “Vagabond Capitalism”, 709–28; and Harding, “Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology”, 218–29.

21. The Community Council (Consejo Comunitario in Spanish) is the figure created in 1993 by the Law 70 to formalise the traditional, social and political organisation of Afro-Colombian communities. Councils gather yearly in assemblies to take major decisions for the community and the territory, and are administrated through a board of directors elected every year.

22. Velez-Torres, “Reflections on a Participatory Documentary Process”, 299–306; and Velez-Torres et al., “Cartografía social”, 59–73.

23. ABC Colombia, CINEP, and Tierra Digna, Alimentando el conflicto en Colombia.

24. INCODER is the public institution responsible for formalising land ownership.

25. On the land titling process in the Pacific region, see Offen, “The Territorial Turn”; and Restrepo, Etnización de la negridad.

26. An example of alternative mining projects that are meant to be more sustainable and socially equitable is Oro Verde in the Chocó region. For more information, go to the GOMIAM project in: http://www.gomiam.org.

27. Several media have reported drawing from critical research on the environmental impact of illegal mining. See: El espectador, “Ejército destruye seis retroexcavadoras”; Proclama del cauca, “Incautadas máquinas retroexcavadoras”; and Tenthoff, “Siguiendo la ruta de la minería”; Semana, La guerra contra la nueva coca.

28. Vanguardia.com, “Defensoría llamó la atención.”

29. On local mining entitlement: Observatorio de discrimacion racial, La disputa por los recursos.

30. Campbell, “Distancing from an Investment-led Perspective”.

31. To address the discussion on dispossession of land-based resources in terms of quantity and quality, see Bebbington et al., “Mining and Social Movements”, 2888–905; and Bebbington, “Underground Political Ecologies”.

32. As an illustration of the connection between peace and land-based conflicts, afrodescendant communities agreed on not going to La Habana, where the talks with the FARC are talking place, arguing not only that the dialogue has gone too far without their participation, but that the government has failed in accomplishing old and recent agreements to grant the rights of ethnic communities. See Elmundo.com, “Afrodescendientes no acompañarán la mesa.”