Upload
hockpin
View
217
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
1/14
dwardFischer
Refere
nce
s
Bro wn, R .
McKe
n
na
et a l 199 8: Ma
ya
n visions for a multil in gua l
so
ciety: The
Guatemalan Peace A
ccord
s on Indigenous Identi ty and Lang uages. Fourth
World Bulletin on Indigeno us L
aw
and Politics
6:
28 -
33 .
Browning, John 1996: Un obstaculo imprescind
ib
le: el indfgena
en
los siglos XVIII
y XIX. Memoria del Segundo Encuentro Nacional de Historiadores
Guatema la : Universidad del Valle.
Cojtf
Cuxil, Demet rio 1997: Ri Maya Moloj a lximulew; ELMovimiento Maya.
Gua
temala: Edi
to
ri
al Chol s
am
aj .
Fi
scher, Edwa rd F.
200 1:
Cultural Logics and Global Economies: Maya Identity
in Thought and Practice. Aust in: University
of
T
exas
Press.
Fischer, Edwa rd F. and R. McKenna Brown (eds.) 1996: Maya Cultural Activism
in Guatema la. Aus tin: Univers ity o f Texas Press.
Galvez, V
Ic
tor a nd Esq uit , Alber to 1997 : The Mayan M ovement Today: Issues of
Indigenous Culture and Development in Guatemala. Guatemala City:
FL
ACSO-Guatema
la.
Lustig, Nora and Deutsc h, Ruthanne 1998: T he Inter-American D
ev
elopme
nt
B
ank
and Poverty R
ed
uct ion: An Ove rview (IADB wo rk
in
g
pape
r).
Was
hington: IADB.
Morales, Mario Rob erto 2000: Su je ros intercult ura les. Siglo X X I, Jun e l 0.
Plant,
Ro ger 1998: Ind igenou s Peo
pl
es and Poverty
Redu
ct ion: A Case Stu dy of
Gua temala (IA
DB
wo rking p
ape
r). W ashin
gto n:
IADB.
Richards,
Mi
chae l 1985 : Cos mo po
li
tan wo rl d-view a nd
co
un ter insu rgency in
Gu
ate
ma la .
Anthropological Quarterly 58
(3),
90 -
107.
Sto ll, Davis 1993: Between
Two
Armies in the Txil Towns of Guatemala. New
Yo
rk: Col
umb
ia Univers ity Press.
Wa rren, K
ay 13.
1998: Indigenous Movements and their Critics: Pan-Maya
Activism in Guatemala. Princeton : Princeton University Press.
2000:
Lessons from the
'fa
ilure' of the 1999 referendum o n indigeno us
ri
ghts
in G uate ma la . Pa per presented at the Advanced Sem
in
ar , School of American
Research,
Sant
a Fe,
Ne
w M
ex
ico, October 22- 26.
Indigenous Struggles
olombia
•
tn
i
storical hanges and Perspectives
Theodor Ra
thg
eber
The ind ige nous
moveme
nt in Co lombia pio neered the cont inent-wide
trend
of
ind igeno us organization . Since colonial ti mes, Co lombian indige
nous peop les have res isted dom i
na t
io n and economic
ex p
lo
it
ation. The
< urrent wave of ind igeno us
act
ivism began in th e 1970s, foc using on the
recovery of ancestral lands.
Over
t ime these s
tr
uggles
ex
pan
ded
to include
issues of control and pro tect ion of the environme nt , the desire to reduce
dep
end ency on the
cap
ita
list eco
n
omy,
the p
ro
tection
of
c
ul
t
ur
e
and
i
de
n
t ity,
and st
ru ggles for hum
an
righ ts a nd a
trul
y pl
ur
ie
th n
ic
co
nstitution.
In the process, indigenous g roups and organizations arose at comm uni ty,
regi
onal, natio
nal
and
in te rnat iona l levels.
As in other
co
un tr ies in La tin America , these issues were intensified by
1
11d
igenous par ticipat
ion
in the inte rnation al conferences su
rrou
nding
the
1
992 Colo
m bus Quincentennial. Indigenous orga ni
zations
used
the
se
meetings to push debates about
so
cial emancipa tion a
nd
plu riethnic
r l : ~ of the ir nat ions on to the nationa l agen das . Indigeno us groups
have
p.1 rt icipated in other
int
ernatio na l meetings since th
n
fro m the United
N.Hions
Working
Group on Indigenous Peoples a
nd
th e Vienna
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
2/14
Theodor Rathgeber
Overview: Colombia s Indigenous Peoples
It is
es t
im
ated
that the tota l nu m
ber of indi
ge
nou
s
pe ople in Colo
mb ia
fluctuates bet
ween
700 ,000 and 800,000, or 2-3 pe r
ce
nt
of the country s
popul
at ion.
T his esti ma te is
based
on officia l census figures that do not
include
the i
nd
ig
enous peop
le livi
ng in the
cities.
Some bildos
(
indi
ge
no us co
unci
ls) are actually func ioning in large c ities,
suc
h as Ca li, where
th
ey
have
th e
ir
governing
offices. A
ll
in
a
ll
, there are 8 1 i
nd
i
genous group
s
w ith
64
la
nguages,
l
ocated
in 27 of
the 32
depa
rtment
s (Co l
ombian equiv
a lent to states or
provinces
).
Fifty-six
groups li
ve in the
Amazo
nian Basin
and
in t
he
Llanos region.
fn
so
me regions,
suc
h
as
the
Ca
uca
Dep
a
rt
m
ent (wh
ich
has 1.2 million
inh a bitants a nd an indigenous po p ul at io n of 150,000 to 200,000), indige
nous popu
l
ation
s constitute a
ma
j
orit
y in
man
y municipa lities. The largest
g
roup
are th e N asa
(forma
lly k
no w
n as Paez) in
so uth
ern Colomb ia; a l
so
n umerous are the Embera
in
the
north
weste
rn part
of the
co
unt ry,
the
Wa
yuu in the G u
ajira
peninsula, and the Ze nu on the Atlantic
Coast
(Pineda Camacho 1995).
Two n
ationa
l an d
36
reg
io
n
al
organizations were fo
rm
ed
as
a
res
u
lt of
the
indigeno
us s truggles
of
th
e l
ast
thi
rty
yea rs. T he reviva l
of
th
e indige
no us movement in Colombia started in 1
97
1 wi th the formation of CRI C,
t he
Re
gional I
ndige
n
ous
Council
of
the
Ca
u
ca
Departmen
t.
ONIC, the
C
ol om
bi
an
N at
iona
l
Ind
igenous Or
ga n
i
za
t i
on,
w
as es
tab lished as an
um
bre lla federation in 1982,
rep
resenti ng the
vast ma
jo rity of the
indi
ge
nous g
roups. OPIAC,
the
Organizat
i
on of
th e Indige
nous
Peoples of the
Colombian Amazon , was formed in 1995.
It
re pr esents the indigenous
peoples of the Amazonian Basin
an
d is pa rt of CO lCA, the Coordination
of Indige
no u
s
Orga
nizations in the Amazonian Basin. T
wo
nation al
po l
it
i
ca
l
parti
es we re also formed in th e l990s: ASI, the Social Indigeno us
Al liance, and
MI C,
the Colombian Indi
geno
us
Moveme
nt.
To
a
grea
t
ex
ten
t,
the
orga
nizatio nal
fragme
nt
at
i
on can
be
at tributed
to the patterns of se ttl ement throughout what is now Co lom bia. The
indig
eno
us peoples
we
re l
arge
ly
orga
nized on the
ba
sis of sm all commu
nit ies a nd
we
re only m
arg
ina
ll
y
aware
o f im pe
ri
a l reg imes such
as th
l'
Inca.
This constellation made it difficu lt fo r the Spanish to impose thc i1
regime evenl y across all the
regio
ns.
Only in
e
mer
g
enc
y si tuations or
in
the
case of wa
r
did peopl
e orga nize
th
emselves
at
th e regional l
ev t l.
Inst
ea
d, the Ind ian groups were organized at the local or community leve l,
often b
ased on
traditional
st
r
uctur
es such
as
the minga
co
llect ive wo rk
p
erfor
med
by
a
ll
the
members of the commun
ity. Th e
minga
co
ntinues to
be rec
ogn
ized as an
institu
ti
on
that helps to mnintn in the
collect
ive ide
nti
ty . Eve n
today
, te rrito
ri
.d di pt' ' ' o
is
n fnct
or
tlt.tt
com
p
li
c
at
es the
pro cec;s
es of
so
c
in
l .1nd pol1111 .d ' ' ' l l · ' i lw yo
11d
com munit y lr vcl-. {I11Hiig .
111
d 1\ 11111/t ' l I
II
H\ )
Ub
Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
Historical, Social and Political Context
o
the
Contemporary Indigenous Struggles
Unti l the
ea
rly 1960s the system of
owner
ship of la rge hold
in
gs
in Latin
A
meri
ca,
kn
ow n
as latifundismo wa
s the
economic
inst itu
tio
n
that
s
truc
tured
socia l and pol it i
ca
l interests. Through
this
sys
tem
, s
ocietal
values
were
art
i
culate
d
and
c
ul
tural
identities
wer
e p l
aced
into
a
hi
e
rarchi
cal
st
ructur
e.
The
i
nd
igenous -
and
pea sant ry -
were forced
in to
ma
r
gina
l
ization , w here their ex istences were l
itt
le above the level
of
sur viva l.
at
ifundismo h
as
given
way
to neolibera li
sm as
the
ma in
force
and
ideo
lo
gy
st r
u
ctu
ring
Colomb
i
an
society toda
y.
T he
eage
rness
to
commod i
fy
a ll
aspects
of life,
an
d to explo it natura l reso urces w ithout
hounds
affects even th e most remo
te co mm
unit ies . Acco rd ing to this
ide
ol
ogy,
soc
i
ety
mu
st
be regul
ate
d
only to th
e
exte
nt t
hat
the free
flow
of
capi
tal is not hindered. Go ods an d services are va l
ued
on
stric
tl y
LCOn
omi
c crite ria. Po lit i
ca
l and social
qu
es
tio
ns a re sub
su med
to th ese
vnl ues, which req uires the adaptation of the country s social, politica l an d
<
ul
tura l
cond
itions to a m a
rk
et i
deo
logy . O ne pr ime e
xa mpl
e is the
acc
el
r
ratio
n of
exploitatio
n
of
t
he
natur
al res
ou r
ces, even in en
viron
m
enta
ll
y
e nsitive areas . Co lom bia is one
of
many co un tr ies in Lat in Amer ica tha t
rapidl y expanding the
extracti on of
mw
mate
r ials
as
a result of this
ne
olibera
l push.
The
results
of this assau lt on the environm ent co uld
be
s
ee
n d ur ing the
1
99
0s. The govern ment of
Cesa
r Gav iria ('1990-4
),
gave private
compa
ics, especia
ll
y
thos
e invest ing in
raw
m
ate
ria ls, the green
li
ght
in sp
ite of
the l
ega
l
rest
rict ions that pro tec ted
co mm
una l la
nd
s. Crude oil b
ecame
one
of the
most
important
mater
ia ls for export and
fo r
eign
reven
ue.
Th
e
An
dr
es
Pastra
na
adm
ini
stration
(1998-2002)
modified
the m inin g la
w,
1111plcmenting a
Mining
Code that weakened the established mechan isms
nl consultatio n a
nd
parti cipation
with the
affected co
mmu
nities.
l'll'v iously, every phase
of
a project re
qu
ired an env
ironm
enta l license that
dlmved for the presentation of con
ce rn
s by th
ose
affected. Since 2000,
ltnweve r, a ll
impac
t
eva
lu
at
ion pro
ced
ures have bee n red uced to a sing le
II VIronm ental li
ce
nse, transfo rming wh at was once a coordinated and
J
oll
t ici
pa tory
process into a simplified pro-forma process. T his threatens
1l11
·
prov
isions
of th
e
nationa
l constitution a
nd
interna
tiona
l agreements
('oi iLh ns Co n
vent
ion 169 of the Int erna tio nal La bor Organization), wh ich
Juntl·ct in
digeno
us
terr
itorial autonomy.
i
t the
po
l ti
ca
I level, the sce
nari
o presents itself less
unilate
rally,
dt houg h it fo llows s
imilar
lines. The latifundismo structure was a factor
tIt
I lwlpt·d s
11
stain th e authoritar ia n regime th
at
culm i
nated in
t
he
civ
il
1\.
11 k11ow
n
l.a Vio/encia
{the violence), w
hi
ch r
avage
d the country
"''''" \ tI
ll
·
1
1
)
1
0
-.
.
111d
l lJ
50s. M
11rdv1 , i11t
11111d
.tt io11, :tnd eviction o f those
U
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
3/14
Theodor Rathgeber
who di
sag
reed wi th the system beca me the off icial i
nstruments
for so lving
the soc ia l cr isis. None
of the ma
in actors responsib le
for
the crimes have,
thus far, been brought to justice. No r did this system come to an end with
the ag
reem
en
t si
gn
ed by
th
e politicians
to
end t he civil
wa
r.
Th
e N at
iona
l
Front, in effect between 1958
and
1974, was a
pact
between the
li
beral
and conservative pa
rt
ies to share politi
ca
l power in o rder to pacify th t
co
un try. Under the formally dem ocratic
Nationa
l F ro
nt
regime, electiom
were openly manipu la ted , discredit ing the most fundamental participa
to
ry ins
titution: the
vote.
Po
li
tica l violence became end emic. W ith th e
pr
etext
of
contai ning thl.
guerrillas, t
he
gove
rnme
nt of j ulio Cesar
Turbay
(1978-82) imposed :
wave of re
pr
ess ion tha t ended mos t socia l p rotest. In th e second
half
of
the 1980s, the electo ral
part
icipation
of
the Uni6rr Patri6tica (
Patr
iotic
Union, a leftist pa
rt
y fo rmed by for mer guerrillas) ended in disas ter: d eat h
squads
and param
il
ita ry groups ann ihila ted
mo
st of
it
s leaders. Similarly,
du ring the
pr
esidential
campa
ign
of 1989-90,
three o f the president ial
cand idates wi th the best chances
of
being elected were kil led.
In 199 1, as we discuss below, t here was a n im
porta
nt
po
li tical
proc
ess
wh
ich resulted in ref
orms grant
ing rights to indigenous and peasan t
gro ups. Yet, the current president, Alvaro Uribe (2002-6) seems to haw
t ~ k e n
on th
e au
tho
rit
ar
i
an
style
of
Pr
esi
dent
Turbay.
Accordin g
to
decla
rations made by the Home Affairs Mini ste r Fernando Lon dono, the
r i g h t
granted by the 1991 constitu ti
on
wi
ll
be restricted. It appea rs that on ly
the
actors
of the dirty
wa
r have c
ha
nged. I
nstead
of the s
ta
te acting
aio
the m
ain
source of repression, as was the case in the time o f the Turbay
regime , now the par ami litar y or self-defense g roups are crushing wha t
they consider subv ers ion. Th ey are no t alone,
of co
urse, since they recei
ve
support from the state forces as we ll as the whol e socia l env ironment
wh
ich a
llows
the repressi
on.
T he Ur ibe admi nistr
atio
n is also
bent
o n
creatin g a rural militia c
om p
osed
of
peasan ts a nd a network
of
an d vigilan tes.
lt is a lso clear that guerr illa groups a lso act w ith th e sa me ra tiona
li
ty,
and th
at
they are
an
integral
part of
the problem. Due to the basis of thci1
income - especially that coming from taxes on drug-traffick ing,
kidn
ap
p ing, and bl ack mailing of oi l co mpan i
es
there is little need n
ow
for them to try to reac h an
und
ers
tandin
g with the rest of society .
pressure com mu nities into supplying them w ith food and fue l, recruiting
youngs
ter
s by force.
Th
us,
the
military logic
of
so lving the crisis th rough
a rmed co nflict a
pp
ea rs to have been ad
opted
by all ac tors. The wa r i,
directed n ow at the society as a whole, and protesting this brings subs
t:111
rial
ri
sks. The state of emergency has become
routi
ne, a
nd part
icip
atio
is increasing ly being restricted
to
activ ity within cliente list netwo rks.
Co lombia, author itarianism has been a histor ica lly
com
mon appronch ttl
managing
th
e rel
at
i
ons
hip between state
and
soc iety, and is a lways con d
crcd as a first option when it is necessary to de:1l with a crisis (Gui ' ll1 .tllt '/
IOU
ndigenous Struggles in Colombia
11f l977; Pizarro 1985; Sanchez and
Peiiaranda
1986; Sanchez
Gomez
l
lJ9
1, Human Rights
Wa
t
ch
1996,
1998;
Pecaut 2002) .
The Reforms of he 1990s
l Jnder t he slogan o f modernization
of
the st
ate,
a legal framework
was
rstablished to allow for wid
er ar t
iculation between sectors
of
the society.
-.L·ve
ral
important
reforms
were m
ade
to
th
e
const
itu
tion
a
nd the
po
litica l
t
ructure wh ich proved helpfu l
to Co
l
om b
i
a's
indige
nou
s peoples.
During the admin istration of Virgi lio Barco
(1
986-1
990),
the impl e
mentatio n of the ini tia tives tak en by the government of Belis
ario
Bet
anc ur
( 1
982-
19 86)
co
ntinu ed, especia ll y state decen traliza tion. Ac
co
rd ing
to
1oisier (1999), the
wi
nds
of
decentral izat ion were bl
owi
ng a ll over
I
Hi
n America by then. Mo re than LOO years after the first
at t
empt (in
IH63), the first d irect elections for t
own
counc ilors an d mayor
took
place
111 1
988
. The Gaviria go vernment a l
so
extended the direct vote to the
el
ec
tion of depa rtme ntal
governo
rs.
The num ber o f town
co
uncil
ors
and ma j
ors
w
ho
presented themselves
.t., inde penden t increased greatly with the opportunity for direct voting
lor
l
oca
l
re
presentatives .
Ho w
ever , the
ex
pec
ted break-
up
of
the hege
lllony of the two traditi
ona
l parties and th e cliente list system was n
ot
.tl hieved. One imp o
rtant
result , however, was tha t the electo ra l reform
.tllowed indigen
ous grou
ps
to
elect their
ow
n loca l au thorities and
ob
tain
l('prcsenta tion in depar tm enta l assem blies
and
the n
ationa
l Co ngress. ln
t
lt
c
20
00 elect
io
ns an indigenous can did
ate,
Floro T unub
ala,
was elected
11ove rn
or of
the Cau
ca
depa
rt
ment.
Tog
ether w ith fi
ve other
governors,
IH· openly opposed the n
at
iona l gove
rn ment's
po licy of fumigation
of
dlrga l drug c
rop
s (Fa ls Borda 1989; Restrepo
1991;
Rathgeber 2001c;
I .
1Jar
do 20 01).
Wit h the new const itution of 19 91 (A rt .] 03), the Gavi ri a government
t ~ l d d
more parti
cipato ry cle
ment
s, particula rl y at the loca l level. O ne
,
\;tmp
le is the transfer
of
f
und
s to the municipal ities, which is now
an
tlltportant item
in
the budget
of indi
ge
nous or
ga
n izations .
Under
t
hi
s
,, lll'me, the muni cipal ity (or a n
ot
her public entity of the sa me type such
,., the indigenous councils)
pr
esents p ro jects for the im provement
of
ptlh
lt
c ed ucat ion, public hea lth , or ot her loca l services. Once the p ro ject
' .tpp
rov
ed ,
the
municipa li ty has
the
ri
ght to
receive tra nsfers from
the
, 1
11t1 al state to cover m
ost
of th e costs
of the
project. Another factor th
at
1
qw
tt
cd the way for more par ticipat io n was the provisi
on
of lega l instru
ttll' ltl th::t
ta
llow citizens
to
claim their rig
ht
s vis-a-vis the sta te. In the case
1 the indigen
ous
gr
oups,
it is p
ar t
icu la rl y important that they
can
exe r
t thdr
derec
ho
de tutela
their r ight to use injunction
s,
to make sure
tiLt
I
tiH·y n: co
nsulted before projects a re ca rri ed o
ut
in their a
rea
s of res i
dl 'll\ t'. l low( VL' r, nn inj unction no t gu:1r:1n tcc thnt the gove rn ment
IU f
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
4/14
Theodor Rathgeber
w ill
comp
ly, especially when the
project
s have
to do
wit h oil
extraction
or
th
e exp l
oita
t ion of other natural resources. For all its importance as a
mec
han ism that
seeks
to
promote
partici
pat o r
y,
d
emocrat
i
c,
and trans
pa r
en t proced ures in government, the fact is tha t the
tutela
right has
become a conflict-r idden legal issue.
Why
did
the government
make
th ese
changes?
Th ere were important
fac
to r
s behind these reforms. O n
the one
hand,
the Gavir
ia
government
was keen on mode rn izing th e institutiona l apparatus of the state. It was
ev ide
nt
th
a
t,
apa
rt fro m
the
violence,
Co
l
ombia's
polit
i
ca
l
system
was
unde
rgoing
a crisis of governance. Eve n indu st ry had comp la ints
about
the inefficiency of the adm
inistration,
und
erscoring
the need to improve
the
management
and regul
atio
n
of
the
state
.
In the same way,
i
nternation
al
insti
tu
tions at the bilateral as we
ll
as the mult
ilatera
l leve l - call
ed
f
or
an
innovation of the tradition
al pol
itica l stru ctures and emphasized t
he
need for
democrat
iza t ion " a
nd pa r ti
cipati
on
in dec ision-mak ing.
To
th is
end,
the
state's regulatory ca pac ity at the n
ational
level
was
reduc
ed
in
so
me sectors,
espec
ially in
relation
to t
he
welfare question, and at the loca l
level it had less infl uence
vis-a-vis
the
eco nom y.
In o
th
er areas, for
exam
pie
the
issuing
of
licenses for
minin
g and o il pr
od
u
ct
ion, there was
:
co
nce
ntration of tr
an
sac tions at the
st
ate
leve l in o r
der to
" incr
ease
effi
ciency. T hese
mo
d
ernizing
efforts also pa
ved
the
way
for the
sackin
g of
em
ployees and wo rkers of na tion a l insti tutions, thus complying wi th th e
neolibera l challenge
of
a minimized state.
ln
th is sense,
the
modernization
of soc iety is
not
limited
to
the free trading of
goods (No
lte
1996).
On
the other hand, modernization r
efor
ms provided political o p e n i n
for
soc ial
movements, wh
ich had demanded increased di rect participatio 11
since
th
e beg in
ning of
the 1970s. They used the refo rms
to
revitalize
rlw
po litica l field at the m unicipa l level, push for fu ll
pa r
t icipati on
for
all citi
~ e n s
an d sea r
ch fo
r ways
to
reg ul
ate the soc
ial crises
wi t
h civ il (that
i,
,
non-military) methods . Colombia 's history is character ized by th1
strugg le
aga
inst structu res imposed by the r u ling
classes
: the centurit·,
long in
digenous
res is tance; the
co
mmoners' rebellion
that
preced
ed
tlu
independ
ence
movement in 178 1; the craftsm en's struggle fo r
democr;h
1
in 1854; th e
socia
l p r
otes
ts of the 1930s; the ra di
ca lizat
ion of agran.111
reform in
the
1
960s
and 1970s; the
regional
and
urban
civic m o v e m c t ~
that
started in the second half of the 1970s; and the confluence
of
li11
indigenous and
civic
movements advocat
ing for a
mult
i
cultura
l
nati1111
Despite
the
pervasiveness of armed conflict
and
repressi
on,
these
sm
1tl
forces and thei r debates and activities showed that there were actor'> w ill•
the potentia
l
to
d i
ssent
w ithin
democratic framework
s .
Their
prol '
'l
·
forced
governmen
ts
to
adjust
their
programs
and
develop n
ew
in,llll
ments
that
wo uld fac ilitate nego tiations with the d issa ti sfied scc to1 ' \
case in point were the m
ob
i
liza t
i
ons
- w ith i
nt
ense invo lvement
of itH
IIJ\1
no us
gro
ups- th at
co
n
tributed to
th r c ' t.lhl lllncnt of :1 l.., l,tt•
Atto rney offit't' th :lt
monitm'
h111ILIII
IIJ
\111 '
\llli ltiO
il '
.111d
tlllll llll l . lito
U
Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
Colombian government to cooperate wi
th
t he Internation a l Com
mission
for the
Pro
tec
tio
n of
Hu
m
an
Rights.
Once aga
in,
however, there
is
no
guaran tee tha t state age ncies will
comply with th
eir consti
tu
tional duties
(Meschka t et a/.
1980;
Garda 1981; Zamosc 1986; Chaparro 1989;
Rat hgeber
1991;
Huhle
2000
).
These legal and
political
changes n
ow
make it possible for the indige
nous movement to expand its power, representation, and participation .
This is
happening on
a
number of
levels. Some
of the decentral
i
zation
r
eforms now
a
llow
the
cabildos
or indi
genous co
uncils,
to
d
ir
ect
fund
ing
for biling ual schools,
to
build hea lth
centers
with trad itional and western
medicine, an d
to set
in p l
ace
a wa ter an d energy infras
tru ct
u
re
w ithin a
Lommuna l regime (not p ri va tized).
Th
e indigenous pop ulation also
111vested in small in
dustr
ies
and
o ther in
co
me-gener
at
i
ng
ventures.
They
we re also ab le
to
regain
some of
their t rad itio nal legal jurisdiction,
which
.li lowed room, once again, for the institutionalizat ion
of
ind igenous
1
onfli
ct
resolution
proces
ses .
This has
no t bee n without te n
sion
s,
however, as some comm unity members (for exam ple, those
who
saw a
physical punishment as a violation
of
ind ividual human ri ghts) questioned
this ind i
genous
jurisdict i
on
.
Others
conflicts emerged . fn
the
past, it
was
h.trd to find a new governor for a n ind igenous resguardo {rese rvations
dlocated
to
the
i
ndigenous
peoples
in
co
l
onial
t imes).
Si
nce the
posts
at
1
l
l'
cabildo
of a
resguardo
imply access
to
funds, there is now stiff
com
pe
tit ion fo r t hese jobs .
'l'hus, wh ile i n other countries decentra lization was often implemented
1
11
:1
half-hear ted man n
er,
in
Co
lomb ia, dece
ntra
l
izat
i
on
re
forms were
l
.t
kcn as a se rious challenge .
In
a sh
ar
p departLlre from past p ract ices, in
lhr 1990s,
soc
ia l movements
an
d organ iza tions
were
able
to
tr ansform
~ t l n 1 r a t i v e
reform
in to
a r ea l revit
alizat
i
on of po
l it ics, especially at the
11 11 11 eve
l.
The indigen
ous
organizations in seve
ra
l regions of the country
liT
It' among the m
ost com
mi
tted
players in this process.
Indigenous Groups as Social ctors
\ ltc ll refe rr ing to the indigenous movement as a soci
al
actor in the current
I''
11
m
l,
we cannot forget the history of ind i
genous
resistance
against
illllllll,lt ion since the
Span
ish conquest, or the other complex processes
tit
11
h.1vc a llowed their culture to be maintained, in particul
ar
in remo te
I IIIII
' w ith a d ifficult topography and
thus
difficult access.
Furthermore
,
lllolll\l 'llous peop les
developed
a surprising capacity
to adapt
some colo
It
tl 111•.t i1ut io ns to thei r
own
pu rposes . The cabildos or l
ocal
co uncils,
"
'
' ' ti t11t ed in
Span
ish
co
lon i
11
t imes with the
goa
l
of
having commu
1 1111 111.111.tgc their own pown y. This type of self-
government wa
s
il lolliilld. ltcd
hy
11:1tion :d .1111
1
dl'p.lllllll' llt.tl l:l
w'
p:1sst•d in the 1
890
s. In
du I I 0•, , ilw llldl
j ,t IICIII • IIIII Vl
llll 111
to Hoi
.td viiiii ,IJ,\' of th r o f
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
5/14
Theodor Rathgeber
these laws, t ran sfor ming the cabildo in
to
the ins tituti ona l b
as
is for
winning a uto n
om y
.
T he
main
ind igenous protagonist of that per iod,
CR
IC, emerged
fight ing al ongs ide peasant organizat
ions
for a cha nge in the d is
tr
ibu tio n
of rural land and for d
em o
cratizat i
on
of soc iety. CR IC advocated not on ly
indigeno us
terr
ito ries, bu t a l
so
for tr
ad
it iona l rights, the mainten
an
ce of
ind igenous customs, and the impo rtance
of
cu ltura l d iversity in the
co untry. t became the m
ode
l fo r
reg
ional ind ige nous organizat ions . From
its beg
inn
ing in 1
97
1,
Cauca's
in
di
geno us
movement
att
rac
ted
att
e
ntion
because
of
the
st ren
gth of its mob ilizations even in times of repression.
T he great
cap
acity o f
it
s
le
aders to convoke gat herings gener ated its own
dyna mic, whi ch - acc
ord
ing to
co
nserva ti ve est imates - resulted in the
reclaiming
of
m
or
e than
35 ,
000 hectares of l
an
d t hat h
ad
been previously
occ upied by la rge landowners a nd the church .
(CRIC
est i
ma
tes a re o n the
or
der
of
60,000 hecta res.) Th ey a lso did
away
with oth er d ut ies s uch as
the pol l tax, elimina ting the bases for the po lit ical do mina n
ce
exe rcised
by the
landowners
.
In the 1980s, the indigenous populat ion
of
the Amazo n bas in succeeded
in ob
ta
in ing guarantees to ap p
rox
imately 18 millio n hectares . Th is ex pan
sio n of indigeno us ter
rito
ries
was deep
ly
cr
itic ized by
prev
ious
gove rn me
nt
s a
nd
investors because it h
am
pered
ex
p
lo it
at
i
on
of na
tu
ral
resources in t he
reg
ion. The recovery of ances t ra l land
mea
nt not only the
further ava
ilabil ity of
ad
d itional la nd
to sa t
isfy the n
ee
ds of the families
of the ind igenous po pul
at
ion, but a lso loca l governance, con trol, and
utilization of the
in
dig
enou
s te rri
to r
ies accordi ng to their own rules a nd
meth ods. T hese ach ievemen ts d id not come abo ut wi tho ut losses: between
197 1
an
d 20 00,
ap
proxim
at
ely
60
0 indigeno us leaders were killed,
and
for the m
ost
part the ir assassi
ns
remain unpu nished (Rathgeber 19 94;
Pineda Ca mac ho 1995; CR IC 1997, 2000).
From 1
980
onward, the po liti
ca
l platform
and
disco urse of the CR IC
an
d the na t
iona
l ind i
genou
s orga nizati
on ONIC promoted
the auto n
omy
of the indigenous co unc ils. In 1985 the cabildos in the Ca uca
reg
io n
presented the Vitonc6 resolut ion, which wo
ul
d become a landmark for
the a uto nom y of i
nd
igen
ous
commun
it
ies. T he
co
n
cep
t of autonomy
consisted
of
the managemen t o f na tura l resources by the communit ies, the
election of their
in
di
gen
ous representatives
accor
ding to their traditi
on
,
and the development of their ow n rules, all financed by funds ava ila
bl
e
from the
pu b
lic bu dge t (so-ca lled tr an
sfers )
and backed by a system of
jus tice b
ased
on their c u
stomary
law
(Rat
hgeber
1994;
Pi
ne
da
Ca
macho
1995; Bonilla 1995) .
T he indigenous movement a lso touched on the issue
of
seeking civi l
so
lut ions for social conflicts. O ne of the
mo
st not 1hlr successes was tlw
1984 CR IC ag reement w ith the
o n : ~
p 'I
l
l 1
)1
. ;; \N, the C:1t t lc
Ra isers Pede
r:1t
ion, whose mcmlwrs h,uJt , ,u lt ttnllodl l t l ~ t pM;un ilit.l l )
h n n d ~
to
r c p r r ~ ~ tlw th.l l tl u 'd
11''"'
Il l
'' tl1111
l
tllcl
' l11 tl
11o.
h'
l',
h
l)
Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
vio lent situati
on,
bot h pa rt ies
put
emphasis on a dialogue to safeguard
their own inte rests. The cattle raisers agreed to peacefully s o lve
the
land
co
n
fl
icts involvi
ng
ind igenous communi ties, w hile
CR
IC p
ro
mised to use
its influence to p ut an end to the land
invas
ions. Some
gr
oups on the po lit
icalleft
denou nced the agreement as t reason, bu t mos t of the ind igenous
com
m
un
ities supported i t, sin
ce
it a
llowed the
m to consol i
da
te
thei
r t
er
r
i-
tories in a time of war. T he C RIC/FEDEGAN agreement beca me one
of
the few exa mples in Co lomb ian h istory in w hich civilian a ctors were a ble
tO
solve a major
soc
ial
conf
li
ct
with
ou
t
th
e i
nt
er
ve
nt
i
on
of
st
ate
a
uth
ori
ties . Sti ll, in many other regions of the co un
tr
y, indige nou s gr oup s suff
ere
d
the consequences of the dirty war that developed in t he second ha lf of the
1980s. ·
Using the same app roach, Ca uca's indigenous move ment opted fo r
estab lishing a d ia l
ogue
with state in
st
itutions. After the mid-198 0s -
when
the a rmed
co
nf lict became more acute and the Cold Wa r cr ushed many
ocial mo vements and
tr
ade unions - th e CR IC tried to convince the
govern men t, the Ca th olic Ch
ur
ch, a nd even the mil ita ry to impleme nt the
civil option to so lve the conflict. At the nat i
ona
l level, it ach ieved the
creation of a Depart ment of Indigen
ous
Affairs at the Attorney Genera l's
Of fi
ce
fo r th e investiga tion of
abus
es
co
mmitted by the mi l
itary and th
e
police
on
indi
geno
us te r
ritor
ies. Since l
996
the indi
genous
p
eo
ples in the
Antioqu ia region have been tr
yi
ng to reach
an
agreemen t w ith the armed
grou
ps-
the
guerr
i
ll
a
and
the p
aramilit
ary -u
nder
which
th
eir a utonomy
wit hin t heir terr itO ries is to be respec ted , as is their neutra lity vis a vis the
ongoing battl e fo r powe
r.
The guer ri ll as rej
ec
ted the agreement and it
seems that the Uribe gove rnm ent w ill do the sa me; yet, th e s tate is now
trying to induce the ind igenous grou ps to co llab orate with state secur i
ty
forces, even
thou
gh they do no t share the sa me notion of n
at
ional secu
rity. The dialogues
co
ntri buted
to
the
precar
ious ba lance between those
in favor of, and th ose aga inst, mili tarizat io n.
The co
ntinued
milita rization thr
eate
ns to bring soc ial a
nd po
lit i
ca
l
;Kt
ivity in t he ind igenous
co
mm unities to an end. It o bstructs the supp ly
of food and medicine and restricts tas ks car ried out in the different
climatic zones
(ope
n
-air
rel igio us ceremonies
and com
m
una
l assembl ies)
.1nd even in central urban areas . The ind igeno us aut horit ies recognized by
l.1w need
permi
ts from the milit
ary
or
guer
rilla comma nders to move
with in the region or to
ca
ll m
eet
ings.
The
gu
err
ill
as
of the FARC
(<
:o lom bia's Revo lu t io nary Armed Forces), have
at
t imes impeded ind ige
ltous efforts to recupera te territory because it is not
conve
nient to their
obj ectives. T he fighting bet
ween
of
th
e
state's
fo rces,
th
e pa ra
llli li tnry, and the guerri llas is threa tening the physi
ca
l ex istence of the
111d igc no us communi ties. T he indigenous gro up
Q
uint in Lame,
was
IClmlt'd in 19H4 ns :1 self-defense group aga inst the landowners' paramil
lt ,liY r o u p ~ It h.1d li ttle ntil it:Hy :
H:
t ion, hut w:1s suppor ted by the local
Jll 'llp il', NI VI' It lwlt·o.,•,, 111 m 1 of it o. indigt'll lll\ lt·:H
kr
o r c : 1 l i : ~ n l tha t the
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
6/14
Theodor Rathgeber
a
rm
ed
approac
h did
no
t suit the needs
of the co
m
munit
ies, or the concept
of autono my, and so the group
was
disso lved
at th
e beginni ng of
the
1
990s
(Rathgeber 1994, 2002; Bonilla 1995).
Despite the militarization of the cou
ntry
, and the difficu lt ies it causes
them, indigen
ous
organizations have still been ab le to accomp lish signif
icant cha nge.
Probably
the mo st impo rtant have been the
constitution
al
reforms in 1991.
Th
e indigenous move me
nt
brought its impressive discur
sive ab il ities to the debates of the 1991 Constituent Assem bly, wh ich came
as the
co unt
ry
took
a bri
ef
i
nt
erl ude from
th
e
wa
r to try
to bring th
e
ar
med
conflicts
to an
end.
In
digenous organizations were represented by three
elected assembl y mem bers who we re able to get some sign ifi
ca
nt provi
si
ons
passed i
nto
the n
ew
con
st
itution. U
nder
the
reforms,
the sta te h
as
the following
ob
li
gat
i
ons
:
to
r ecognize and pr otect th e ethnic an d cul tur al
di versity of th e cou nt ry (art. 7); to ensure equality an d safeguard the
dig
ni
ty
of
th e different cultures (art .
70); to
recognize traditi
ona
l ind ige
no us in
st
i
tu t
ions (art.
72
); to guard th e co llective property
of
the
indige no us territor ies and grant them the status of Indigenous Territorial
Entities (art.
63,286
and 329);
to guaran
tee ances
tr
al relig ion (art. 18 and
19); to respect the r igh t to a sus taina ble develop ment an d to consult with
the ind igenous commun it ies when a proposed project rela tes to ind ige
no us t
erritory (art.
79, 80
a
nd
330);
to
give officia l s
tatus
to
th
e
indigenous languages and estab lish bi lingual education in the ind igeno us
territories
(art. 10,
68.5);
to guarant
ee
autocht
hono us systems
of
justice
wi t
hin the indigen
ous
te rritories (art. 246); and to ensure a minimu m of
indigenous representation
at
the parliamentary leve l (art. 17 1 and 176).
Th
e
in
di
ge
n
ous pop
ul
ation
witn essed the enshr ineme
nt of
the ir funda
mental rights in th e constitut ion; an event without precedent in the his
to
ry
of Col om bia (Bonilla 1995; Pineda Camacho 1995; ON IC 1
996a;
M uyuy
Jacanamejoy 1997).
Th e ot her arena in wh ich indigenous peoples have been ac tive is in th e
search for pea cefu l so lutions to the wa r. In 1996, the indigenous move
m
ent
mo bilized
at
national level
to
push this
is
sue. The govern
ment
of
Ernesto Sam per (1994-8)
had
not complied with the va rious agreements,
and t he nu mber of leaders killed h
ad
increased dr amatica lly. In the
Cauca
region, the Pa ez, Totor6, and Yanacona gro ups h
ad
secu
red
their la
nd
rights with the hand ing over
of
more than 20,000 hectares betwee n 1992
and 1994. With th e occ upation of the Episcopa l
Confe
rence headquarters
and of
other pub
lic build ings
and
the b loc
kin
g
of
the Pan-American
Highway and other important roa ds, th e indigenous population pressured
the governm
ent in t
o signi ng
two
decrees.
Th
e first one
(No
. 1396/96)
created the Human Rights Co mmission fo r the Ind igenous Peoples. The
second (N o. 1397/96) created the Na tio na l
Com
mission for lndi genow.
Terr
itories.
Th
is l
at
ter decree h
ad
the tas k - :1 111 0 111 .
ot hn s
of
defining
the tim eline for the issuing of t itl es :1nd thl
p 1 1 1
1 o l 1 1 1 1 d
A Perm:1nent Co unc
il
of /\glt'l'lllt'
ll
l .111d
<
1 lth tilt· llldlgt'IIOI I\
4
n
igenous Struggl
s
in olombia
Peoples
and Organizat
i
ons
were als o established.
The participation of
regiona l and nationa l organiza tions did not preclude the inv
ol
veme
nt
of
local o rganizations in the negotiat ions . The Hu man Rights Commission
and th
e Pe rmanent Council st ill
ex
ist. T he
prov
ision that created the
Commission for the Indigenous Territo r ies was abolished later by the
Pastrana gove
rnment.
In the past three yea rs, the ind igen ous
pop
ula t ion in the
Ca
uca region
estab lished a terri
tory of
coexistence, d ia logue
and
negotiatio n in the
c
ommu
ni t
y
of
Pien
dam6
, n
ext
to
th
e P
an-A
merican
Highway
between
Cal i
and
Popayan. This public space has been set
up
w ith
the
aim
of
ful
filling severa l objectives : to discuss a lt ernati
ve proposals
to Plan
Col omb ia (th e Uni ted St
ates'
drug
era
dicat ion assistance p
ro
gram), to
exchange a lternative
ex
p
er
iences,
and
to bu ild o n the relationships
of
solidari ty with the international
com
m uni ty. It seeks to ga ther those
groups of civ il society n
ot
wishing
to
place themselves wi
thin
the bipo
lar schemes set by t
he
government
an
d the guerrilla
gro
up, FAR C. T he
indigeno us
popu
lation d id not trust the d ia l
og
ue process between the
two pa rties; no r did they feel represe
nt
ed by eith
er
side. They were seek
ing a new rela ti
ons
hip between the ind igen
ous
groups, the other ac to rs,
and the govern ment,
em p
has izing the necessity of civ
il
opti ons fo r so lv
ing social
co
nflicts.
Su rro un ded and t
hr
ea tened on several occasions by th e FARC
and
th e
parami li tary, the indigen o us
populatio
n has ma naged to mainta in th eir
territory of
coex
istence in P
ie
n
dam6.
Whi le the governm
en
t
and
th e
guerrilla groups have not paid mu ch
attentio
n to th is initiat ive, it has
ge nerated
substa
nt
ial interest
at th
e in ternational level. Even
th
e presi
dent of the Ita lia n Pa r lia men t pa rticipa ted in one of th e meetings in 2000
(CRIC 1996, 1999; ON IC 1996b; Ra thge ber 2000,
20
01a,
20
01 d ).
However , there are l
im
its for indi
geno
us
actors
trying to ne u
tra
lize
negative forces and in fl uence inst i
tutio
nal changes. Since the mid- 1990s,
they have not been ab le to prevent the intens ifica tion of the con flict or the
111ilitar i
za t
ion wi thin the borders
of
ind igenous t
er
ritories.
Th
ose respon
-.
ihle fo r t he massacre in the Ni lo hac iend a in 199 1 (in the m unicipa lity
of
Ca l
oto, Ca
u
ca
regi
on), in
which 20 i
ndigenous
Nasa
peo
ple
we
re kill
ed,
hnve not been punished. However, the
CRIC's
invest iga ti
ons
have
lt
·vea led that the responsibility lies with mem bers
of
the national police
,1nd drug-dealers. Th e Inter-American Human Rights Co
mm
ission recom
lllt·nded that the
Colomb
ian governm
ent pa
ss a decree allow ing the
111ll1gcnous peo ple to acqu ire the lands the y have claimed fo r more than
decad
e, the
confli
ct over which
was
the underly
in
g
reason
for the
'' '
·' ':H.:re.
The
government still refuses to issue t he decree (ON IC 1
996
b,
I J IJ < Ic; R
thgeber 2001a, 2001 b, 200
1d
).
Mtli'
L
i
111 pona
ntly, the government ha s not imp leme n
ted
the laws
or
tin 1 T nrct·,sa ry to put the con sti tu tion
:1
l p rov isions in practice. T he
•
' ' '' ' ' ' nl l.1nd hy whitt· -.t·t
tl
r r
..
,
l.1
nd lord-., .111d dru g tr:1ffickcrs c
on
tinue
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
7/14
heodorRathgeber
in sp ite of the
Constitution.
Such
bas
ic needs as
health, ed
u
cation, food,
and
h
ousing are
n
ot
met. In the
areas of
oi l
explorat
i
on
-
above
all
in
Ar a
u
ca,
Boyaca, No rth
Santander,
and Put
umayo
departments- the right
to consul
tat
i
on
and parti
cipatio
n is
li
mited to
me
re at tendance to a
pro
forma
public event.
According to the indigenou
s
organizations,
they
are
dea ling with a new form of colonization. Th ose who
oppose
the indis
cr iminate
exploitation
of
gold,
coal, wood , or medicina l
plants are
acc used
of
belonging
to the guerr
illas,
wh
i
ch
in
so
me
areas
is
equivalent
to
a
deat
h sentence. Cul t
ural
aggression is
practiced da
i
ly
by a variety
of
state institutions,
as well
as
by the
churc
h, missi
ons,
settlers, landlords,
dr
ug-t raffickers,
the pa ramil
it
ary, and the
guerrillas.
If we
co
mp
are
the c urre
nt
s itua ti
on to
that of the 1
970s,
the impact of
the
i
ndigenous
movement
on
soc i
o-polit
ica l rea lity in
Colo
mbia is
r
ema
rkable. T hey have successfu lly st rengthened the processes of democ
rat i
zation, exte
nded cit izen pa r
ticipation,
a nd renounced violence as a
meth
od of co
nfli
ct
resolution. They
hav
e
mana
ged
to
tra nslate
the
state s
rules into inst ruments that they
are
now using to meet the needs o f
their
communi
ties,
protec
t t
heir terr
itories, prom ote imp
ro
ve
ments
in
their
li
vi
ng
co
nd i
tio
ns,
and experime
nt w i
th new
forms of soc ia l
li
nks. T he
indigenous movement has emerged as one of the l
oudest crit
ics of the
Co
l
ombian
s
tate
, even th
ough
they defend the
ex
istence
of
the con
st
itu
tion
as
a
core sta
n
da
rd
an
d
as an
i
ndispensab
le
condi
t
ion for the
development of a different
culture. They
have come
forward
as a
majo
r
force pr
omot
i
ng
the
open
ing of political spheres, in
addition to
articu
lating
their
own
model of development
(Ra thgeber
199
4;
Stroebel
e-Gregor
1994 ).
Shaping the Future from an Indigenous Perspective:
Three Case Studies
Global
ization
proce
sses impl y
an
acceleration
of th
e
fl
ow
of capi
t
al.
In
the process, the activities
of
extractive
indu
str ies have the effect of
spre
ading
insecurity,
threatening the cu ltural
an d
phy
sical
su
rvival
of
indig
enou
s peoples (
Ha
r
dt
and
Negr
i
2000
). In
th
e
previo
us sections of
this chapter, we have considered
broad
processes of
change
at the nat iona l
level, paying attenti
on to
the ways in
which the ind
i
genous movement
ha s
been
adapt
ing
and
trying
to
influence
po l
itics.
In the
foll
ow
in
g sections
we review three exa m ples of local and regiona l st rugg les focused on the
defense, recovery, and
developme
nt
of
i
ndig
enous ide
nt
i
ti
es a nd ten·iro
ries.
l i
Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
The U wa: Defending an Ancestral Territory
T he ap proxi mately 5,000 members of the U wa people have
traditionally
lived in
th
e
footh
ills of the Eastern m
ou
ntain
range
and
th
e Sierra Nevada
del Cocuy. In
the depa
r
tmen
t
of
Boyaca,
the U wa sha
re
the territory with
peasant
fam
ilies. Th ey ma intain a land m
anage
ment strategy
on
their
territory that distributes land
in certain areas,
according to
the
agricul
tu
ral
calenda
r.
This
strategy, which provides
basic
food
security,
has
already been n
egat
ive
ly
affected by
th
e loss
of
land
and
dissoci
at
i
on wit
hin
the
territory. The Cobaria
comm
unity lac ks access to l
and
in
th
e lower
regi
ons,
wh
ich mea ns t
hat the
y go
hun
gry
du
ring certain times
of
the year.
Plans for oil
extraction
in their territory i
mp
ly
an
additi
onal
threat to the
food security and
cu
l
tura
l integrity
of
the U wa
peop
le.
The
oi l compan y
Oxy,
Occidental of Col om bia , planned to car ry out explorati
on
act ivities
in
the
so-called B
loque
Sa
mor
e, on
whic
h the U wa ances
tral terr
i
tory
lies.
The Gaviria
govern
m
ent
sign
ed
a contract
with Oxy
and Ecopetrol (the
Co lombian state oil company) a llowing both co
mp
anies to
explore
the
en tir
e are a of Bloque
Samo
re fo r
28
years. T he
Samper
government
(1 994-8)
decided
to
license
the Oxy project
(in
199
5)
without pr
ior
consult
ation
with the indigenous
com
munities.
At the beginning
of the 1990s, the government licensed
areas
su
rrounding
th
e
Cobarla resguardo, Aguablanca
i
nd
i
geno
us reserve,
the
Cu
rip
ao resguardo
and an :Hea
not
yet appointed as
resguardo.
Resguardos are
collectively
owned lands
that, since colon ial ti
mes
,
have
had th
e
status
of
in
di
genous
terri
toria I
reservations.
Si
nce 1
994,
the
U wa
had
been dema
nding the
expans
i
on
and unificati
on
of their
resguardo
from INCORA, the
Na t
i
ona
l Inst itute fo r Agra rian
Refor
m. The inspec
tion and cartographic stud ies of the
ter
rit
ory
had already been carried out,
but INC O
RA was
undecided on wh
ether to
gran t the changes because of
the
oil
i
nt
erests.
The case
of the
Nu
k
ak territory
was al
so
i
ns
tructive.
The
of their terr ito ry had been reduced at the time of its establishment,
the northwest
ern
part bei
ng
tak
en away
from the m. As a semi
-no
madic
re o
ple
of
roving f
ar
mers in the Am
azon
jungle, this area
was
indi
spens
.1ble for thei r survival. It
was
later discovered that
on
this particu lar land
there were potential oilfields.
Other indigenous
peoples in
Co
l
om b
ia
have
also experienced
the cata
t rophic
impact
of oil exploration and exp loitat i
on on their culture
and
tnrito ri
es, includi
ng
the
Yar ig
ui and Aripi peoples
from
Magd
alena, the
Bnri from
Ca tatumbo, the
Kofan
from Putumayo and
the Hitni.i, Hitani.i,
lktoye, a
nd
J iwi
from
Arauca . All these gro
ups
live
in the
vicini
ty
of the
l l'wn, who were
also awa
re of the negative
expe r
iences of
ind
i
genou
s
in Ecuador and
Pe
ru th rough reports from the environ
lll
l
ll :l
l o rg:1ni
za t
ion Oil W:1tch. Th e U'wa p
eop
le decided to defend their
.liiU
tr;ll
territor
y 11 ,dl
ON I(
1997a, 1997h, 1
999
b; Rathgeber
1 1 1 7 .
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
8/14
Theodor Rathgeber
Accord ing to the
Co
lombian constitution,
the
resguardos a
nd
the
other
communal lands of eth nic groups are collective property of the na tive
com
m unities
an
d, as su
ch,
they can n
ot
be sold or confiscated by the
govern ment .
Mo
reover, the agrarian refo
rm
reg ula tion 1
60
1993 estab
lished
that
those land sites determined as co mmun al land are also
regul
ated .
The
U wa succeeded in
ensuring that the
area
for
oil
exp
lo
ration be dealt with according to the prov isions established by Conven tion
169 of the Int
ernation
al Labor
Organizatio
n . Th is meant that the p
ro
ject
co
uld
not
have been
carried
out
w ith
out
prior co
nsul
ta t
i
on
with the
community and their expressed
approva
l. It re
quir
ed th em to agree on
th
e
in
demnit
y,
reparations,
and benefits the co mmunities should receive as
com pensation for their r ights of usufruct. In
ad
dition, it req uired specific
stu dies regarding the impac t o n the social, econom ic, and cu ltural inte
grat i
on
of t he comm unities.
Th e environmental license issued in
1995
by the Mi nist ry for
the
Environment
for
the ex plor
at
ion in the Bloque Samore condit ioned Oxy s
ac tivit ies to a previous pr ocess of
cons
ultation and ag reement with the
indigenous population in the region . However, this
cond
i
ti o
n sho
ul
d have
been dec id ed before the au thor ization of the seismic activi ti es was issued,
th us verifying the poss ibilities
of
negative impacts on the indigenous
c
ommunit
y.
Oxy carr
i
ed
out the
first seismic
act
ivities
on part of
the
U wa
territory wi thout complying with these ob ligations, arguing that no explo
ration within
the
resguardo
was to
take place,
and
th at they did
not
have
the
cartography
of
the
U
wa
territory. The compan y went on to suggest
that the gue rril las were acti ng on the Bl
oq
ue Samore region and influ
encing
th
e indigen
ous populati
on.
Of
course FARC was active in the area
and favored o
il
exploration, becaus e they
ho
ped to ga in an additional
source
of
fun
ds. Three foreign
ac
t ivi sts who
wo
rked for the U wa cause
were k ill ed in 1999 as a result . Th e U
wa co
mm unit ies denou nced th is
lack of
co
mpliance by Oxy wi th various au thorities. T hey presented a
tutela
before
the court and
agreed with the Foreign Affai rs M inister -
whose
duty
is to ensure compliance of the rights
of
ind igenous p
eop
les -
on the establishment of a com mission to rev iew complaints. They also
sought
to capture
the n
at
i
onal
and internation a l pu
bl
ic s
at
te
ntion
in
order
to stop Oxy s act ivit ies. Var ious non -i ndigenous social sectors,
including some of the blu e-collar
workers
from Oxy and She
ll
, backed th e
U
wa
cause.
The Co mmi ssion verified seismic ac tivi tie s in
the
U wa territory, but
sanctions against Oxy never materialized. Besides, the gove rnment
insisted that the
U wa
people did not have a unified
po
sition an d
that
a
considerable proportion
of
them were in favor
of
o
il
exploration. The
U wa communities responded that they were a
ll
agninst the project ,
declaring this in multiple opportun it ies thro ugh th('
ctdll'lt os
:
111d
t hci r
tradit iona l au thorities. Th ey underlined t lw III'I HIIt .llll c· nf
u l t i n
thtse rtprt
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
9/14
Theodor
ath
geber
hecta res w i
th i
n t he Paramillo na tural park in th e northwest of Colombia.
The Embera-Katfo belo ng
to
the Embera people
co
nsisting
of
around
57 ,40 0 mem bers distributed in the departments of Choco, Antioq uia, an d
Co r
do ba. In the
latter,
the Em bera-Kat fo live s ide
by
side wi
th
Afro
Co
lom bian communities, descendants
of th
e C
imarron
slaves who in
the
eighteen th century sought refuge in these ra infores ts. Currently, the
Emb
era-
Katfo
comprise
19
communities situated
in the hydrographical
basins of the rivers Simi, Esm
era
ld
a,
Verde,
and
Cruz Grande.
The
reg i
on
is a
tropica
l jungle, well
known for
its ric
hn
ess in biodiver
s ity d ue,
in
large
exten
t,
to
the way the E
mb
era-K
at fo
have l
iv
ed a
nd
manag
ed the rai
nfor
est, which
demands
high mobi lity in t imes of scarcity.
T hey li ve scattered alo ng the rivers and st rea ms, in family gro ups that
exploit the environmental d iversity availa
bl
9 around the ir settl eme
nt
s.
Th ey have developed their own sophisticated syste rn s of production,
'
nco rporat in g fruit tree seeds in to the vegetable ga rdens dist ri
buted
a rou nd the communities. T hey
comb
ine horticulture with frui t collection,
hun ting, and fishing depend ing on th e season. This type of economy
sustains the fa mily and provides food sec urity, but
does
n
ot
leave much
excess p rod uction for trade. In genera l, the Embera do not have a central
ized system or a hierarchical politica l st ruct
ur
e. Th e fam
il
y nucleus is
autonomous
in
terms of
decision-making,
alt
h
ough
advice provided by
the
other
famili es is taken into
account
(Mueller- Piantenberg 1999;
Rathgeber 1
999)
.
The
1
960s
saw the beginning
of
a continuing process
of
co lonizat ion
or set tleme nt on Embera-Katfo's land. T hese sett le rs d id not k
now
a bout
rainforest management. At first they began wi th small-scale wood
ha r
vesting, which did
no
t cause serious da
mag
e
to the
ra inforest.
Devastation rea lly comm e
nc
ed with the use of the power saw.
t
is esti
mated that in the eight ies ar
ou
nd 95,000 hecta res of
primary
for est we re
razed . A pa rt of the Embera-Ka t
fo popu
lation also began
to cut
down the
forest in o rd er to get income to bu y tools, mot
or
boa ts, flashlig hts, and
radios. T he traditiona l indigeno us sectors raised th e ala rm to prevent the
des truction of their
terr
i
to
ry.
At
th
e beginning
of
the
nineties th ese
tradit
i
onal
sectors began a process
to elaborate an ethno-developme nt plan that wou ld
recupe
rate
pa r
t
of
the
trad
iti
onal
economy
and
re vital ize domestic relations between the
com
munities. However, the plan failed due to differences of opinion
regardi
ng
the use
of
the ecosystem. Balancing the different interests
wa
s
the most important part
of
the plan because it h
ad
to ta ke all proposals
into cons iderati
on
and st ill be
sustainab
le. To thi s end, th e plan included
the cre
at
ion
of
a pol itical body
whose
funct ion
was
to mediate between
differen t interests according to its own previous ly
ag
reed-upon reg uln
tions, and to establish a mechanism fo r co mpensati
on
vis a tJis diffcr
t
l
ll
forms
of
au th
or
ity
and
soc ia l relations. T his necessa ry bcC:lll't
ex ist ing governm ent institu t io ns h
ad
a ll crn lihility.
I
Indigenous Struggles
in
Colombia
Th e plan
sough
t to increase food
secur
ity, esta blish new fo rms of subsis
tence, i
mp
rove exist ing medical care, and complete the
transport
inf rastructure. On t
he
basis of their mode l
of
subsistence they wanted to
broade
n their econo mic activities, gradua
ll
y developing an
economic
mode
l
that wou
ld m eet the needs o f a growing popu lation and generated
income.
New
and adapted tech nologies were introduced which were to
increase yields of tra ditiona l
production.
The plan also covered
manage
ment
of
the Sinu
ri
verbed to be used as
drink
ing water reservo ir, fina n
ced
by funds fro m
the wa
ter
compan
ies
that
supply
approximately
one
million
customers
(R
at
hgeber 1999).
T he entire process cam e to a hal t with rhe construction of the hyd ro
electric plant Urra I Back in the 1950s, the politica l elite from the
Cordoba
depa rtme
nt
proposed the
constr
uct ion
of
a hydroe lectric
plant
(Urd I and II) in
the
Sinu River. For th is pu rpose,
at
the beginning of the
1980s, feas ibility studies were carried out and funding sour ces sought.
Th
e Urra l project incl uded the floodi ng
of
7,400 hectares, mai nly
land
from the Paramillo natura l park
that
had been affected by the settlements.
The first
part
of th e d
am
was to include 100 hectares of Embera-Katlo
te rritory, and the second phase, Urd
II
, pl
an
ned the fl
ooding of 70,000
hectares, affecting 475 Embera-Katlo families. In additi
on, the
project
represented a
threat to approximat
ely I
00,000
people (3
0,000
families)
who
lived on
the
areas below
the
da m, fishi ng
and
farmi ng
for
their liveli
hood. A ll in all, it was esti mated that about o ne m illi on peo ple wou ld be
affec
te
d by the
pro
jec t.
The
electric p lant in Urra 1 was to
pr
od uce
340
megawatts,
or
2 percent
of th e country 's energy producti
on
. T he immed ia te beneficiaries of the
pro ject were pl
anni
ng commercia l
ag ri
culture and
cat
tle-breeding
enter
prises on 262,000 hectares, constructing an ir riga tion system th
at would
turn 150,000 hecta res into pr
oducti
ve land. Among t he h
oped-for
bene
(its were
the
cr
eat
ion of
3,500
job s
and
the co llection of i
nc
ome by the
mu nicipa lities from the sale of energy. However, the cost-benefit studies
1
lso revealed tha t the pr o ject was not economica lly viable in the
long term,
tha t it would cause envi ro nmental damage to the rainforest,
and would
have a negative
impact on
the
p
op
ul
atio
n living
along
the riverside,
all
1 n sons w hy the pr oject was rejected in the first place.
In
light of the power cuts
that
the
country's
capital , Bogota, experienced
during 1992, when the city suffered hours-long cuts on a dai ly basis, the
gove rnment
dec
i
ded to
consolidate the flow
of
energy
with construction
ol
addit
ional electric plants like Urra
I. Works
were started in 1
993
by a
1-,wc
dish company which used exclusively Canad ian and Swedish funds,
nee
th e
Wo
rld Bank
had
decided
to
ab
ando
n the project given its nega
ll
vt· impacts. A Russian
company
su pp lied the equ ipment to generate
the
t•n
ngy
needed
du
r in g co nstru crion. Th e
dam
was completed in
1998
(1\
luvlln Ph1ntcnhl' rg 11
1
>>; C::th
il dm
Mayores Em bera-Katfo 1999a ).
I ht• 111h .lh i
t 11
1
1'
ol ti ll II 'J' ,BIIIIIt • upu ·d hy l Jn . , in
dudin
g the Em hera
8/18/2019 RATHGEBER Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
10/14
Theodor Rath
geber
Katfo
po
pulation and other fis
hing and
peasant fam ilies, did not have
any
idea
of th
e impact
th
at
th
e plant w
ou
ld ha ve on them . Than ks
to
the help
of two experts from the
Cord
o ba and
Me
dellin University - both of
wh o
m
were
later
killed-
the population began to realize tha t their food sec
urit
y
was being
threatened
. Their staple
foo d, th
e local
fi
sh va
ri
ety B
oc
achi
co
t eir ma in source of pro tein- disappeare d within a pe riod of five years.
In the face such a
treme
nd ous negative impac t, the Embera-Katfo and the
fishing fam ilies deci
ded to
o
ppo
se
th
e sec
ond
phase of the hy
dr o
electric
. (
proJect.
In 1995,
mo
re than
600
ind ige
nou
s
peo
ple - men, wo men, children
1
an d the elde
rly
e
mbarked
in
wooden raft
s on the SinC River
to
say
th
eir
far
ewell to the r iver. Th is first mobiliza tion , known as the Do Wa bura,
at tracted
in
ternationa l and national p
ub
lic atten
ti o
n a
nd
forced the Urra
S.A. c
om pany into
negotiati
ons
with
th
e E
mb
era-Katfo.
Durin
g the f
irst
.
meeting, the company committed itse lf to con sult them regarding
compensation
am o
unts for da mages and to implement the recommenda
tio
ns
of
envi
ronment
al imp act stud ies .
However,
30 percent
of th
e
construction work had a lready taken place, and
th
e ind igenous popula
t i
on was st
ill not clear
about
the damages.
The contract ing com pany Urra S.A. did n
ot
fulfill its various obliga
tions. The Embera
-Ka
tfo decided
to
r
esor
t to the
tu t
e
la
legal suit to
s
afeg
u
ar
d
th
eir
consul
t
atio
n a
nd
mitigation rights . ln
1998,
when the
dam
was
co
nclu
ded
but not ye t f
il
led, the Constitutional Co urt, as f
ina
l
auth or ity, granted the tutela
to
the Embera-Katfo, ruli
ng
a temporary halt
of th
e
wo
rk s. Th e
court
pai n
staki
ngly
exp
la ined the shor t
co
mings of t he
proceedings and order
ed th
e Mi nistry for the Environ men responsible
for
th
e issu ing of licenses- a
nd
the Urra S.A.
com
pany
to compl
y w ith al l
the s
tud
ies, consul t
ations, co
nsensus processes,
and
mit igations before
work could be
co
ntinued. T he Court set a deadline of six months for
set tleme
nt
discussions
to
ta ke place , and emp has ized the fact that the
M inist ry and th e compa ny sho uld respect the cult
ur
al unity of the commu
nities, refra ining from attempt ing to foster divisions
when
ca rrying out
co
nversat ions with
th
e Embera-Katfo. The se
nt
ence
was
ra ther can
ny
because, in fac t,
th
ere
was
an at
temp
t
to
divide
th
e E
mb
era-Katfo in
ord
er
to achieve an agreement for financia l r
epar
at ions i
nstead
of land
co
mpen
sation. Desp ite
th
e
enco
uragem
ent of th
is division, the M inistry was
forced into compen
sa
ting the Embera-Kati o w ith land as well , as a result
of international p rotest and mob
il
izations
(CCC
1998; Ca bildos Mayores
Embera-Katfo 1
999a;
M ueller-P
lan
tenberg 1999;
Rathgebe
r 2001b).
During this tim e, the p
ara
military kill
ed
a traditional leader of thl
Embera-Katio, a very importan t figure
of
the in
di
genous resistance, a nd
six other leaders received
death
threats. Three
co
nsul
tant
s of t lw
Embe
ra-
Katfo
who worked with ON IC were decla red : - ~ r y
) . 1 , l ' t ~ >
and had to take refuge
abr
oad. Before this
l Vl
nt , thr ee
p(;()pk
who Wt
ll
commiu e
cl to
the indigenous l ' l ' S i ~ t , l
lud
.llq ·:
Hi
y
h t'l' ll
llll ld
t•JI'd ,
Indigenous Struggles in Colombia
From 1999 to 2001, other indigenous leaders who had playe d a k
ey
ro le
in the negotia
tio
ns
with
the M inistry
and
the co m
pany
d ied or
di
sap
peared. In
ad
dition,
th
e A
lto
Sint1
area
had been
turned
into an
ep
icen
te
r
of w
ar
, brought ab out by disputes over ter ritorial cont rol b
etween
the
guerrillas and
th
e pa
ramilitary
, involving the ind igenous people and
c
aus
i
ng
man y
deat
hs.
At
t he begin
nin
g of the
negotiations
at the end of 1998, the Emb
era
Katfo prese
nt
ed an
ethn
o-deve l
opme
nt plan
th
ey ca
lled
the plan de vida
(pl
an
for life). They
proposed
several
prog
rams
aime
d
at
long-t
erm
foo d
securi
ty
for their people . The
pr
ocess of
imp
lementation of the
court
ve rdict took more
tha
n six mo
nth
s
an
d was
accom
panied by several
demonstrations, includ ing a long march from the Sinu River to Bogota
(800
km) and
the occupation of the q
uarters
of the Mi nistry for
th
e
Env
iron
ment.
At th
e
sa
me t ime
th
e Em
be
ra-Katfo
exten
d
ed th
eir s u
ppor
t
links, getting an international body to monito r the
conversations
.
At
the
inte
rnat
ional level, the claims over delays an d tri
cks
played by
th
e
M
in
is
tr
y for the Environment forced the mi
nister to trav
el to
Europe
twice
to ex
plain ma tt ers. The Vice-President and the M i
nister
of Foreign Affa irs
were sh
arp
ly cr iticized when they spoke in pub
li
c on their Eu
rop
ean
to
urs,
the need for
comp
li
ance
with
the
decision
made
by the
Const
itu tiona l Court. The atti tude
of
state
of f
icials suggested th
at
the
se
ntence
wo
uld n
ot
be respected (Cabildos
Mayor
es E
mb
era -Katfo
199
9b, 1999c; ONlC 1998, l999b, 1999c, 1999d; International R ivers
Network
1999)
.
The
conversations fina lly
conclu
d
ed,
and
th
e Embera-Katio
opted
for
J lan ]enen, which contained ma ny of the demands i
ncluded
in their
l thno-development plan. Th ey
had
invoked the ru le of law
to
ma ke sure
tha t the rights enshr ined
in
the
co
nsti tu ti
on were
fulfi
ll
ed.
Meanw
hile
the Embera-Katfo mobilized a
ll
civ il means in their effort to guarantee
the ir cul
tu r
al surviva l. In all these stages, i
nt
ernationa l so
li
da ri
ty
net
wo
rks
kept
su
pporti
ng
th
e
st
ruggle.
However,
this
saga
is not yet over
.tnd the future does not look prom isi ng. Alth ough the
Urra
S.A. may
we
ll
be handing
out
food and
other
esse
nt i
als such as medicine, the
Indige
no
us
ofte
n
remain
empt
y-
ha nded. Frequently, the
pa
ramilitary
t o p
th
em and take
aw
ay their goods upon
ret
urn from Ti
erra
Alta, the
pl.1ce appo
in ted for
di
st ributing goo ds. In s
pi
te of mu ltiple
comp
laints,
tht· sta te securi ty forces have n
ot
intervened yet (Rathgeber 2001b).
/ mace:
Searching for Economic Alternatives
l
la
· r>
ur:1
cc s ulp hur mine lies on the p iedmont of
th
e active vo lc
ano th
at
the s:1n1e nam e,