Abstract The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces... more Abstract The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia argues that one of the central causes of the armed conflict has been the historic state absence or abandonment of the peripheral territories most affected by its violence. It proposes expanding the state to these regions, and posits that certain material conditions – such as the construction of infrastructure – would have a pacifying effect and promote better governance, while others – like the presence of illicit crops – would undermine these goals. These presumptions fail to recognize the multiple and variegated experiences of state formation that have unfolded in the territories. We argue that in these regions, there has been no gradual and linear progression from state absence to state presence, nor has the presence of the state been historically equated with peace. We analyze the process of state-building in the frontier municipality of Cartagena de Chaira between 1978 and 2016, by observing the relations activated and enabled by two material conditions: coca and roads. Combining ethnographic fieldwork, historical revision, interviews and cartography, we show the complex ways through which coca and roads 1) generate the conditions for the emergence of social and political orders 2) are the medium through which they are formed 3) are the product and instantiation of shifts in these orders and processes. This brief material history records the relationship between actors who participate in the complex and non-linear process of state-building in frontiers marked by the armed conflict. Ultimately, we stress that material conditions do impact state-formation, but the peacebuilding efforts must not understand this as a mechanical relationship and must rather inquire about the nature of the articulation and power structures realized through these material conditions, as well as the kind of state they build. In doing so, these materialities can contribute towards constructing a just and enduring peace.
En el estudio de los patrones de asentamiento en la frontera agraria de Colombia, han predominado... more En el estudio de los patrones de asentamiento en la frontera agraria de Colombia, han predominado estudios sobre el proceso de colonizacion rural; este mismo sesgo rural existe en torno a los efectos del conflicto en esta region del pais. Esta tesis plantea la importancia de entender la “ciudad colona” como ventana para entender a la colonizacion entre 1959 y 1985 como un dispositivo que conecto una serie de heterogeneas instituciones que respondian a una coyuntura politica, y que cumplio una funcion estrategica inscrita en relaciones de poder para lograr cierto fin. En particular, la colonizacion se convirtio como una articuladora de los procesos de produccion del espacio en la frontera agraria, incluyendo los centros urbanos; de la formacion estatal desde el nivel nacional al local y finalmente de las diversas formas de conflicto, guerra y violencia en el Caqueta. El trabajo se estructura en cuatro partes. En el capitulo 1, el cual contextualiza la relacion historica entre la form...
What is it like to see like a guerrilla? This article studies hundreds of kilometers of roads and... more What is it like to see like a guerrilla? This article studies hundreds of kilometers of roads and paths that the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces built-or helped build-in order to understand the logic of rebel mobility and logistics, and to shed light on how rebels see and intervene a territory in the context of a prolonged asymmetrical conflict. Departing from the tradition that sees infrastructure as a univocal tool of state power, this article supports recent scholarship in stressing that infrastructure is a means to the creation of political orders used not only by states but also by insurgent actors. Yet given that the FARC did not only use the infrastructure built by others, but also actively built and sponsored it, the case offers a unique opportunity to observe how the logistic needs of such insurgency shapes a distinctive geography and materiality of transportation. We argue that the organizational development, the strategic goals, and the tactical innovation of the FARC forced the rebel group to find methods of long-distance transportation. This was achieved through two innovations: the mobility corridors and the situation maps. These in turn resulted in an infrastructure network that had the following characteristics: 1) it was web-like instead of hierarchical, 2) it connected peripheral areas from within rather than following a center-periphery logic, 3) it was often short-lived instead of permanent, 4) it was irregular instead of straight, and finally, 5) it emerged after territorial control was secured and not before. We find that the infrastructural project of the rebel
The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colom... more The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia argues that one of the central causes of the armed conflict was the historic state absence or abandonment of the peripheral territories most affected by its violence. It proposes expanding the state to these regions, and posits that certain material conditions-specifically the construction of infrastructure-would have a pacifying effect and promote better governance while others-such as the presence of illicit crops-would undermine these goals. These presumptions fail to recognize the multiple and variegated experiences of state formation that have unfolded in the territories. We argue that in these regions there has been no gradual and linear progression from state absence to state presence, nor has the presence of the state been equated with peace. We analyze the process of state-building in the frontier municipality of Cartagena de Chairá between 1978 and 2016, by observing the relations activated and enabled by two material conditions-coca and roads. Combining ethnographic fieldwork, historical revision, interviews and cartography, we show the complex ways through which coca and roads 1) generate the conditions for the arising of social and political orders 2) are the medium through which they are formed 3) are the product and instantiation of shifts in these orders and processes. This brief material history records the relationship between actors who participate in the complex and non-linear process of state-building in frontier marked by the armed conflict. Ultimately, we stress that material conditions do impact state-formation, but the peacebuilding efforts must not understand this as a mechanical relationship but rather inquire about nature of the articulation and power structures realized through these material conditions, and the kind of state they build. In doing so, these materialities can contribute towards constructing a just and enduring peace.
Cómo citar: Uribe, Simón, Silvia Otero-Bahamón e Isabel Peñaranda. 2021. "Hacer el estado: carret... more Cómo citar: Uribe, Simón, Silvia Otero-Bahamón e Isabel Peñaranda. 2021. "Hacer el estado: carreteras, conflicto y órdenes locales en los territorios de las FARC". Revista de Estudios Sociales 75: 87-100. https://doi.org/10.7440/res75.2021.08 R E S U M E N | En agosto de 2017, como parte de los acuerdos de paz con el gobierno colombiano, las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) hicieron entrega de una extensa lista de bienes destinados a reparar a las víctimas del conflicto armado. Entre estos se incluyeron cerca de 3.700 kilómetros de carreteras, la mayoría localizadas en zonas de influencia de esta guerrilla. En este artículo indagamos el tipo de actores, colaboraciones, relaciones de poder y tecnologías que hicieron posible la construcción de carreteras en Puerto Guzmán, un municipio amazónico con presencia prolongada de las FARC. En este sentido, argumentamos que la construcción y transformación en el tiempo de estas infraestructuras permiten entender al estado como una coproducción que involucra dinámicas y actores distintos, algunos antagónicos al orden estatal.
En el estudio de los patrones de asentamiento en la frontera agraria de Colombia, han predominado... more En el estudio de los patrones de asentamiento en la frontera agraria de Colombia, han predominado estudios sobre el proceso de colonización rural; este mismo sesgo rural existe en torno a los efectos del conflicto en esta región del país. Esta tesis plantea la importancia de entender la “ciudad colona” como ventana para entender a la colonización entre 1959 y 1985 como un dispositivo que conectó una serie de heterogéneas instituciones que respondían a una coyuntura política, y que cumplió una función estratégica inscrita en relaciones de poder para lograr cierto fin. En particular, la colonización se convirtió como una articuladora de los procesos de producción del espacio en la frontera agraria, incluyendo los centros urbanos; de la formación estatal desde el nivel nacional al local y finalmente de las diversas formas de conflicto, guerra y violencia en el Caquetá. El trabajo se estructura en cuatro partes. En el capítulo 1, el cual contextualiza la relación histórica entre la formación estatal y las ciudades en la historia Caqueteña. El capítulo II traza la genealogía de las políticas de colonización al nivel de geopolítica y coyuntura nacional, dinámicas que quedaron plasmadas en la Ley 135 de 1961. En el capítulo III, exploro cómo la colonización dirigida por el estado llevó a resultados imprevistos, pero con una sistematicidad propia que se extendió desde la frontera agraria hasta la capital departamental. El capítulo final describe la invasión de Las Malvinas como la expresión urbana del dispositivo de la colonización. Palabras Clave: Colonización, Urbanismo Amazónico, historia urbana
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2020
During 2019 and early 2020, analyses of the Colombian Paro Nacional protests proliferated in diff... more During 2019 and early 2020, analyses of the Colombian Paro Nacional protests proliferated in different national and international media outlets and academic blogs. These analyses have highlighted the size of the protests, the diversity of claims, the “awakening of civil society,” the militarization of cities or the violent response of the state to the strikes. In this brief essay, we highlight an aspect that has not been analyzed as thoroughly yet in these analyses: the role of urban public spaces and the circulation of South-South urban repertoires of protest, particularly from Chilean cities, in facilitating the protests and, more specifically, the politicization of the emerging Colombian urban middle-class. Although protest dynamics have changed dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic, the deep political and economic discontent that it exposed, the political potential of the newly mobilized citizenry, and the new uses of public spaces that emerged in Colombian cities may have a lasting impact. We take the case of Bogotá to specifically analyze the role of the city in facilitating new expressions and practices of citizenship among the Colombian urban middle class. While the ideas in this text emerged before the coronavirus arrived in Colombia, we conclude with some reflections on how the recent revolts against police brutality in Bogotá in September 2020 show the contradictions of protesting in public space during a pandemic, the increasing role of the judicial branch as a guarantor of protest rights in Colombia as well as the connections of Bogotá protests with recent global mobilizations against racism and police brutality.
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 2020
Two of my research interests concern changes in the logics of the developmentalist state in Caque... more Two of my research interests concern changes in the logics of the developmentalist state in Caquetá and the process of state-formation as seen from the angle of infrastructure in this same territory (Peñaranda Currie 2020; Peñaranda Currie, Otero-Bahamon, and Uribe 2019). In this text, I place these research interests in dialogue—along with my experiences working with some of the NGOs, programs and institutions charged with implementing the peace agreements—to identify three thematic lines of inquiry: the question of persistent failure, the political subjectivities formed in these “post-conflict” programs, and finally, the programs’ impact—intended or not—on modes of production in the periphery.
Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro's success shows that whatever happens in Colombia's elections tod... more Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro's success shows that whatever happens in Colombia's elections today, change has come to the country.
The western hemisphere's oldest guerrilla army is putting down their arms and becoming a politica... more The western hemisphere's oldest guerrilla army is putting down their arms and becoming a political party. What does the future hold for them?
El coronavirus ha mostrado no solo la fragilidad de las ciudades amazónicas, sino también el pote... more El coronavirus ha mostrado no solo la fragilidad de las ciudades amazónicas, sino también el potencial de las mismas. Sin embargo, potenciarlas depende de reconocer su capacidad económica, las relaciones funcionales que tienen con la ruralidad, y los retos que enfrentan.
A photo-essay published in the Indian online journal "The Citizen" analyzing the dynamics behind ... more A photo-essay published in the Indian online journal "The Citizen" analyzing the dynamics behind the Paro in Colombia in November 2020, and the way the left can take advantage of the opportunities it opens.
On November 21, hundreds of thousands of Colombians poured into the streets all over the country.... more On November 21, hundreds of thousands of Colombians poured into the streets all over the country. A diverse coalition including labor unions, indigenous organizations, the student movement, and LGBT activist groups had called for a paro nacional, a general strike, in the country. The outpouring of citizens defied all expectations. The streets of the main cities like Bogotá, Medellín, and Bucaramanga, but also of smaller cities like the Amazon towns of Puerto Asís, were carpeted with strikers. The strike was planned months in advance in response to the number of labor, tax, and pension reforms referred to as Iván Duque's "paquetazo," or "the package," which promised to deepen the country's inequality, the second-highest in Latin America. However, as the strike approached, organizers' demands broadened to include full implementation of the country's peace agreements, environmental protection, and denouncing the assassination of social justice leaders and of gender violence. The streets on November 21 revealed the melee of demands: those with fins on their heads protesting the legalization of shark hunting were particularly visible, as were the broken dolls mourning the army's assassination of eight minors killed in a bomb attack against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissidents in Caquetá. As the day wore on, the peaceful marches gave way to confrontations with the Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios (ESMAD), Colombia's riot police. Downtown Bogotá, as well as many peripheral neighborhoods, turned into a battlefield, as the ESMAD shot tear gas against protesters behind improvised barricades.
This piece is second in a two-part series on crop substitution efforts in post-peace accord Colom... more This piece is second in a two-part series on crop substitution efforts in post-peace accord Colombia.
After the peace accord, can the Colombian government incentivize coca planters to cultivate other... more After the peace accord, can the Colombian government incentivize coca planters to cultivate other crops? Not if they don't address the inequality and land grabbing that prompted them to start growing coca in the first place. In June 2017, a coca harvester picks his last harvest in the village of Pueblo Nuevo before the uprooting of their plants. (Photo by Isabel Peñaranda) This piece is first in a two-part series on crop substitution efforts in post-peace accord Colombia published in the North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/news/2017/11/29/coca-and-agriculture-post-peace-accord-colombia-part-i
A pesar de la firma de los acuerdos de paz, una reciente ola de asesinatos de líderes sociales po... more A pesar de la firma de los acuerdos de paz, una reciente ola de asesinatos de líderes sociales pone a Colombia de nuevo en la espiral de la violencia. El Estado se niega a reconocer la sistematicidad y los patrones en estos homicidios.
Abstract The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces... more Abstract The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia argues that one of the central causes of the armed conflict has been the historic state absence or abandonment of the peripheral territories most affected by its violence. It proposes expanding the state to these regions, and posits that certain material conditions – such as the construction of infrastructure – would have a pacifying effect and promote better governance, while others – like the presence of illicit crops – would undermine these goals. These presumptions fail to recognize the multiple and variegated experiences of state formation that have unfolded in the territories. We argue that in these regions, there has been no gradual and linear progression from state absence to state presence, nor has the presence of the state been historically equated with peace. We analyze the process of state-building in the frontier municipality of Cartagena de Chaira between 1978 and 2016, by observing the relations activated and enabled by two material conditions: coca and roads. Combining ethnographic fieldwork, historical revision, interviews and cartography, we show the complex ways through which coca and roads 1) generate the conditions for the emergence of social and political orders 2) are the medium through which they are formed 3) are the product and instantiation of shifts in these orders and processes. This brief material history records the relationship between actors who participate in the complex and non-linear process of state-building in frontiers marked by the armed conflict. Ultimately, we stress that material conditions do impact state-formation, but the peacebuilding efforts must not understand this as a mechanical relationship and must rather inquire about the nature of the articulation and power structures realized through these material conditions, as well as the kind of state they build. In doing so, these materialities can contribute towards constructing a just and enduring peace.
En el estudio de los patrones de asentamiento en la frontera agraria de Colombia, han predominado... more En el estudio de los patrones de asentamiento en la frontera agraria de Colombia, han predominado estudios sobre el proceso de colonizacion rural; este mismo sesgo rural existe en torno a los efectos del conflicto en esta region del pais. Esta tesis plantea la importancia de entender la “ciudad colona” como ventana para entender a la colonizacion entre 1959 y 1985 como un dispositivo que conecto una serie de heterogeneas instituciones que respondian a una coyuntura politica, y que cumplio una funcion estrategica inscrita en relaciones de poder para lograr cierto fin. En particular, la colonizacion se convirtio como una articuladora de los procesos de produccion del espacio en la frontera agraria, incluyendo los centros urbanos; de la formacion estatal desde el nivel nacional al local y finalmente de las diversas formas de conflicto, guerra y violencia en el Caqueta. El trabajo se estructura en cuatro partes. En el capitulo 1, el cual contextualiza la relacion historica entre la form...
What is it like to see like a guerrilla? This article studies hundreds of kilometers of roads and... more What is it like to see like a guerrilla? This article studies hundreds of kilometers of roads and paths that the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces built-or helped build-in order to understand the logic of rebel mobility and logistics, and to shed light on how rebels see and intervene a territory in the context of a prolonged asymmetrical conflict. Departing from the tradition that sees infrastructure as a univocal tool of state power, this article supports recent scholarship in stressing that infrastructure is a means to the creation of political orders used not only by states but also by insurgent actors. Yet given that the FARC did not only use the infrastructure built by others, but also actively built and sponsored it, the case offers a unique opportunity to observe how the logistic needs of such insurgency shapes a distinctive geography and materiality of transportation. We argue that the organizational development, the strategic goals, and the tactical innovation of the FARC forced the rebel group to find methods of long-distance transportation. This was achieved through two innovations: the mobility corridors and the situation maps. These in turn resulted in an infrastructure network that had the following characteristics: 1) it was web-like instead of hierarchical, 2) it connected peripheral areas from within rather than following a center-periphery logic, 3) it was often short-lived instead of permanent, 4) it was irregular instead of straight, and finally, 5) it emerged after territorial control was secured and not before. We find that the infrastructural project of the rebel
The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colom... more The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia argues that one of the central causes of the armed conflict was the historic state absence or abandonment of the peripheral territories most affected by its violence. It proposes expanding the state to these regions, and posits that certain material conditions-specifically the construction of infrastructure-would have a pacifying effect and promote better governance while others-such as the presence of illicit crops-would undermine these goals. These presumptions fail to recognize the multiple and variegated experiences of state formation that have unfolded in the territories. We argue that in these regions there has been no gradual and linear progression from state absence to state presence, nor has the presence of the state been equated with peace. We analyze the process of state-building in the frontier municipality of Cartagena de Chairá between 1978 and 2016, by observing the relations activated and enabled by two material conditions-coca and roads. Combining ethnographic fieldwork, historical revision, interviews and cartography, we show the complex ways through which coca and roads 1) generate the conditions for the arising of social and political orders 2) are the medium through which they are formed 3) are the product and instantiation of shifts in these orders and processes. This brief material history records the relationship between actors who participate in the complex and non-linear process of state-building in frontier marked by the armed conflict. Ultimately, we stress that material conditions do impact state-formation, but the peacebuilding efforts must not understand this as a mechanical relationship but rather inquire about nature of the articulation and power structures realized through these material conditions, and the kind of state they build. In doing so, these materialities can contribute towards constructing a just and enduring peace.
Cómo citar: Uribe, Simón, Silvia Otero-Bahamón e Isabel Peñaranda. 2021. "Hacer el estado: carret... more Cómo citar: Uribe, Simón, Silvia Otero-Bahamón e Isabel Peñaranda. 2021. "Hacer el estado: carreteras, conflicto y órdenes locales en los territorios de las FARC". Revista de Estudios Sociales 75: 87-100. https://doi.org/10.7440/res75.2021.08 R E S U M E N | En agosto de 2017, como parte de los acuerdos de paz con el gobierno colombiano, las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) hicieron entrega de una extensa lista de bienes destinados a reparar a las víctimas del conflicto armado. Entre estos se incluyeron cerca de 3.700 kilómetros de carreteras, la mayoría localizadas en zonas de influencia de esta guerrilla. En este artículo indagamos el tipo de actores, colaboraciones, relaciones de poder y tecnologías que hicieron posible la construcción de carreteras en Puerto Guzmán, un municipio amazónico con presencia prolongada de las FARC. En este sentido, argumentamos que la construcción y transformación en el tiempo de estas infraestructuras permiten entender al estado como una coproducción que involucra dinámicas y actores distintos, algunos antagónicos al orden estatal.
En el estudio de los patrones de asentamiento en la frontera agraria de Colombia, han predominado... more En el estudio de los patrones de asentamiento en la frontera agraria de Colombia, han predominado estudios sobre el proceso de colonización rural; este mismo sesgo rural existe en torno a los efectos del conflicto en esta región del país. Esta tesis plantea la importancia de entender la “ciudad colona” como ventana para entender a la colonización entre 1959 y 1985 como un dispositivo que conectó una serie de heterogéneas instituciones que respondían a una coyuntura política, y que cumplió una función estratégica inscrita en relaciones de poder para lograr cierto fin. En particular, la colonización se convirtió como una articuladora de los procesos de producción del espacio en la frontera agraria, incluyendo los centros urbanos; de la formación estatal desde el nivel nacional al local y finalmente de las diversas formas de conflicto, guerra y violencia en el Caquetá. El trabajo se estructura en cuatro partes. En el capítulo 1, el cual contextualiza la relación histórica entre la formación estatal y las ciudades en la historia Caqueteña. El capítulo II traza la genealogía de las políticas de colonización al nivel de geopolítica y coyuntura nacional, dinámicas que quedaron plasmadas en la Ley 135 de 1961. En el capítulo III, exploro cómo la colonización dirigida por el estado llevó a resultados imprevistos, pero con una sistematicidad propia que se extendió desde la frontera agraria hasta la capital departamental. El capítulo final describe la invasión de Las Malvinas como la expresión urbana del dispositivo de la colonización. Palabras Clave: Colonización, Urbanismo Amazónico, historia urbana
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2020
During 2019 and early 2020, analyses of the Colombian Paro Nacional protests proliferated in diff... more During 2019 and early 2020, analyses of the Colombian Paro Nacional protests proliferated in different national and international media outlets and academic blogs. These analyses have highlighted the size of the protests, the diversity of claims, the “awakening of civil society,” the militarization of cities or the violent response of the state to the strikes. In this brief essay, we highlight an aspect that has not been analyzed as thoroughly yet in these analyses: the role of urban public spaces and the circulation of South-South urban repertoires of protest, particularly from Chilean cities, in facilitating the protests and, more specifically, the politicization of the emerging Colombian urban middle-class. Although protest dynamics have changed dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic, the deep political and economic discontent that it exposed, the political potential of the newly mobilized citizenry, and the new uses of public spaces that emerged in Colombian cities may have a lasting impact. We take the case of Bogotá to specifically analyze the role of the city in facilitating new expressions and practices of citizenship among the Colombian urban middle class. While the ideas in this text emerged before the coronavirus arrived in Colombia, we conclude with some reflections on how the recent revolts against police brutality in Bogotá in September 2020 show the contradictions of protesting in public space during a pandemic, the increasing role of the judicial branch as a guarantor of protest rights in Colombia as well as the connections of Bogotá protests with recent global mobilizations against racism and police brutality.
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 2020
Two of my research interests concern changes in the logics of the developmentalist state in Caque... more Two of my research interests concern changes in the logics of the developmentalist state in Caquetá and the process of state-formation as seen from the angle of infrastructure in this same territory (Peñaranda Currie 2020; Peñaranda Currie, Otero-Bahamon, and Uribe 2019). In this text, I place these research interests in dialogue—along with my experiences working with some of the NGOs, programs and institutions charged with implementing the peace agreements—to identify three thematic lines of inquiry: the question of persistent failure, the political subjectivities formed in these “post-conflict” programs, and finally, the programs’ impact—intended or not—on modes of production in the periphery.
Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro's success shows that whatever happens in Colombia's elections tod... more Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro's success shows that whatever happens in Colombia's elections today, change has come to the country.
The western hemisphere's oldest guerrilla army is putting down their arms and becoming a politica... more The western hemisphere's oldest guerrilla army is putting down their arms and becoming a political party. What does the future hold for them?
El coronavirus ha mostrado no solo la fragilidad de las ciudades amazónicas, sino también el pote... more El coronavirus ha mostrado no solo la fragilidad de las ciudades amazónicas, sino también el potencial de las mismas. Sin embargo, potenciarlas depende de reconocer su capacidad económica, las relaciones funcionales que tienen con la ruralidad, y los retos que enfrentan.
A photo-essay published in the Indian online journal "The Citizen" analyzing the dynamics behind ... more A photo-essay published in the Indian online journal "The Citizen" analyzing the dynamics behind the Paro in Colombia in November 2020, and the way the left can take advantage of the opportunities it opens.
On November 21, hundreds of thousands of Colombians poured into the streets all over the country.... more On November 21, hundreds of thousands of Colombians poured into the streets all over the country. A diverse coalition including labor unions, indigenous organizations, the student movement, and LGBT activist groups had called for a paro nacional, a general strike, in the country. The outpouring of citizens defied all expectations. The streets of the main cities like Bogotá, Medellín, and Bucaramanga, but also of smaller cities like the Amazon towns of Puerto Asís, were carpeted with strikers. The strike was planned months in advance in response to the number of labor, tax, and pension reforms referred to as Iván Duque's "paquetazo," or "the package," which promised to deepen the country's inequality, the second-highest in Latin America. However, as the strike approached, organizers' demands broadened to include full implementation of the country's peace agreements, environmental protection, and denouncing the assassination of social justice leaders and of gender violence. The streets on November 21 revealed the melee of demands: those with fins on their heads protesting the legalization of shark hunting were particularly visible, as were the broken dolls mourning the army's assassination of eight minors killed in a bomb attack against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissidents in Caquetá. As the day wore on, the peaceful marches gave way to confrontations with the Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios (ESMAD), Colombia's riot police. Downtown Bogotá, as well as many peripheral neighborhoods, turned into a battlefield, as the ESMAD shot tear gas against protesters behind improvised barricades.
This piece is second in a two-part series on crop substitution efforts in post-peace accord Colom... more This piece is second in a two-part series on crop substitution efforts in post-peace accord Colombia.
After the peace accord, can the Colombian government incentivize coca planters to cultivate other... more After the peace accord, can the Colombian government incentivize coca planters to cultivate other crops? Not if they don't address the inequality and land grabbing that prompted them to start growing coca in the first place. In June 2017, a coca harvester picks his last harvest in the village of Pueblo Nuevo before the uprooting of their plants. (Photo by Isabel Peñaranda) This piece is first in a two-part series on crop substitution efforts in post-peace accord Colombia published in the North American Congress on Latin America. https://nacla.org/news/2017/11/29/coca-and-agriculture-post-peace-accord-colombia-part-i
A pesar de la firma de los acuerdos de paz, una reciente ola de asesinatos de líderes sociales po... more A pesar de la firma de los acuerdos de paz, una reciente ola de asesinatos de líderes sociales pone a Colombia de nuevo en la espiral de la violencia. El Estado se niega a reconocer la sistematicidad y los patrones en estos homicidios.
Este texto está estructurado en cinco secciones. En la primera, se expondrá la trayectoria histór... more Este texto está estructurado en cinco secciones. En la primera, se expondrá la trayectoria histórica, fundamentos teóricos y objetivos de la PNCSC. En la segunda, se presentarán los elementos principales de la Política, y en particular, la línea estratégica orientada hacia la productividad, la cual está compuesta por recomendaciones orientadas hacia los clústeres y hacia intervenciones territoriales dedicadas a potenciar las economías de aglomeración. Basado en esto, realizaré un breve diagnóstico de la productividad en las ciudades amazónicas que servirá para identificar uno de los retos de la aplicación de la PNCSC en la Amazonía: la falta de consideración de los clústeres urbano-rurales. En la sección de resultados se contrastará la aproximación de la PNCSC con las realidades del funcionamiento de las economías de aglomeración en esta esfera, para así identificar recomendaciones sobre cómo la política puede adoptar un enfoque territorial y diferenciado.
The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colom... more The Peace Accords signed between the Colombian government and Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia argues that one of the central causes of the armed conflict was the historic state absence or abandonment of the peripheral territories most affected by its violence. It proposes expanding the state to these regions, and posits that certain material conditions-specifically the construction of infrastructure-would have a pacifying effect and promote better governance while others-such as the presence of illicit crops-would undermine these goals. These presumptions fail to recognize the multiple and variegated experiences of state formation that have unfolded in the territories. We argue that in these regions there has been no gradual and linear progression from state absence to state presence, nor has the presence of the state been equated with peace. We analyze the process of state-building in the frontier municipality of Cartagena de Chairá between 1978 and 2016, by observing the relations activated and enabled by two material conditions-coca and roads. Combining ethnographic fieldwork, historical revision, interviews and cartography, we show the complex ways through which coca and roads 1) generate the conditions for the arising of social and political orders 2) are the medium through which they are formed 3) are the product and instantiation of shifts in these orders and processes. This brief material history records the relationship between actors who participate in the complex and non-linear process of state-building in frontier marked by the armed conflict. Ultimately, we stress that material conditions do impact state-formation, but the peacebuilding efforts must not understand this as a mechanical relationship but rather inquire about nature of the articulation and power structures realized through these material conditions, and the kind of state they build. In doing so, these materialities can contribute towards constructing a just and enduring peace.
The process through which coca leaves become coca paste, the first step in the production of coca... more The process through which coca leaves become coca paste, the first step in the production of cocaine, is something between a car mechanics and alchemy. The chemicals used are almost shockingly banal-cement, gasoline, ammonia; while the "labs" are basically shacks with cement floors and plastic canisters barely hidden among the coca farms. And yet there is still something magical about the transformation, from crushed leaves to the crumbling white paste. Other transformations also take place: the coca grower becomes a chemist and entrepreneur. Territories, too, are transformed by the crop, and boundaries blurred. For the indigenous communities of the state of Putumayo, this stimulant has a profound effect of their relationship with their territories, their identity, and the state; yet, despite the entanglement between these fluid and dynamic processes, the figure of the indigenous cocalero occupies a discursive void, which is the subject of our paper. This research takes place as part of a broader study of the current political context in Colombia after the signing of peace agreements between the government and the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia or FARC, in 2016. The agreements included the transitional justice toolkit, as well as more comprehensive measures, such as a broad rural reform and a "comprehensive program for illicit crop substitution", or PNIS, for its somewhat unfortunate Spanish acronym. In a context in which the narratives around the peace agreements range between celebrating them as unprecedented, and bemoaning that nothing has changed, our network-under the name Transitions-set out to understand the continuities and ruptures surrounding forms of governmentality and value chains in Colombia's Southwest under this new "post-conflict" era, by working with local communities and the FARC in developing a framework to understand and act in this new context. The paper I will present today was co-written with the Colombian anthropologist Margarita Chaves. We begin by charting the development of the multicultural regime of recognition of indigeneity in Putumayo, which we argue binds identity and sovereignty. We then analyze a coexisting but different order of sovereignty and relations, that of the coca economy, in order to then explore the tensions between the two models, which we argue come to a head in the context of the "post-conflict" period. Finally, we explore new approaches to sovereignty, analyzing the
En agosto de 2017, como parte de los acuerdos de paz con el gobierno colombiano, las Fuerzas Arma... more En agosto de 2017, como parte de los acuerdos de paz con el gobierno colombiano, las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) hicieron entrega de una extensa lista de bienes destinados a reparar a las víctimas del conflicto armado. Entre estos se incluyeron cerca de 3.700 kilómetros de carreteras, la mayoría localizadas en zonas de influencia de esta guerrilla. En este artículo indagamos el tipo de actores, colaboraciones, relaciones de poder y tecnologías que hicieron posible la construcción de carreteras en Puerto Guzmán, un municipio amazónico con presencia prolongada de las FARC. En este sentido, argumentamos que la construcción y transformación en el tiempo de estas infraestructuras permiten entender al estado como una coproducción que involucra dinámicas y actores distintos, algunos antagónicos al orden estatal.
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Palabras Clave: Colonización, Urbanismo Amazónico, historia urbana
Palabras Clave: Colonización, Urbanismo Amazónico, historia urbana