'Other people's dirty work': Ferronickel, local elites and armed groups in Colombia
| Autor | Alexandra Milena Bernal Pardo |
| Páginas | 251-286 |
6
“Other people’s dirty work”: Ferronickel,
local elites and armed groups in Colombia*
A M B P**
Introduction
F Colombia is concentrated in the munici-
pality of Montelíbano, in the department of Córdoba, a setting trad itionally
characterized by t he presence of illegal armed g roups. is situation has been
compounded by the complex relationship between those groups and the local
elites, and the presence of illegal crops in t he region, a convergence of factors that
oen leads the ferronickel sector to wind up doing ‘other people’s dirty work.’
is chapter addresses the economy of ferronickel mining in Colombia from
a standpoint that is dierent from the one which has struck the attention of
investigators, engineers and academics so fa r. is study seeks to contribute to
an understanding of nickel m ining in Colombia — specically, the relationship
between mining a nd the armed conict and the way in which t he legal economy
does or does not exacerbate the regional armed conic t. is approach allows
one to see the importance of economic motivations in armed g roups’ agendas,
* To cite this chapter: http://dx.doi.org /./..
** I would like to th ank Angelik a Rettberg for her guida nce and support, as wel l as Carlo Nasi
and Ralf J. L eiteritz, for their cons tant support and orientat ion in the development of this s tudy.
I also than k the Department of Polit ical Science of the Universid ad de los Andes for its support
and the Internat ional Development Research C entre (IDRC) for its commitment to the comple-
tion and dissem ination of this rese arch. In , the situ ation in Córdoba reected t he aermath
of the demobiliz ation of the United Self-Defens e Forces of Colombia (AUC), in which new armed
groups emerged to take over t he spaces le behind by the for mer paramilit aries. Political e lites,
illegal a rmed groups, regiona l and local authorit ies, the busines s sector, and the civil ian popula-
tion were compelled to reac t to the new securit y situation created by t his context, as d iscussed in
this chapter. Six yea rs later, in , as I prepared the st udy for publication, I updated t he chapter
to include new informat ion and to reect changes in t he local context.
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different resources, different conflicts?
Map 12. Ferronickel-producer region in Córdoba
Source: Map drawn by Paola Lun a, Cartography L aboratory, Universidad de los A ndes,
based on the dat abase of the Colombian M ining Informat ion Service (SIMCO)
and informat ion from the authors.
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“ ’ ”
as well as the dierent strategies t hey may use to reach the same objectives, in
this case, t hrough links with local el ites.
Given the characteristics of the resource, which is concentrated at a single
place in the country’s territory, there is no opportunity for an a nalysis which
compares this region with others where t he resource is exploited, the way it is
done for other products discussed in this book . In contrast with other resources
in the extract ive sector, such as coal and oil, where illegal armed groups’ ex-
ploitation of the legal economy combines direct mechanisms (extortion, kid-
napping, sabotage) and indirect ones (appropriation of revenues from mining
activities), the relationship between the ext raction and production of ferronickel
in Colombia and the dynamics of the reg ional armed conict has mainly been
mediated by three factors: () the coexistence of the legal and il legal economies
in the municipality where t he mine is located; () the complex relation between
local elites and il legal armed groups; and () the alliance bet ween the company,
the armed forces and the community in a geographical place with particular
characteristics. In t he midst of this scenario, ferronickel shares with ot her min-
ing resources the possibility t hat illegal armed actors and the regional pol itical
class may exploit the revenues generated by the legal economy.
Ferronickel as a ca se study
Ferronickel is an alloy of nickel (approximately ) and iron (approximately
). In Colombia, the mineral is produced by the Cerro Matoso SA (CMSA)
mining complex, a company founded in with public and private capital
and, since , a subsidiary of the Anglo-Australia n multinational BHP Billiton.
e mine is located in the municipal ity of Montelíbano, in the depar tment of
Córdoba in n orthwest Colombia .
In Colombia, of its production is exported, maki ng it one of the main
items among the country’s traditional ex ports, along with oil, coee, and coal.
e regional importance of ferronickel min ing is striking, i n view of the depart-
ment’s traditional economy of agriculture and stock reari ng. At the municipal
level, ferronickel mining is the main source of revenues in Montelíbano, the
main legal source of employment, and the driving force of sectors like com-
merce and services.
e leading economic role of the production of this primary good in the
municipality, whose exploitation is undertaken by a private company focused
on the external market , means that the economy revolving around the mining
To learn more about the history of CMSA, se e Hernando Gandara () and Héctor Melo
().
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