Regional report Cauca
| Autor | Saúl Mauricio Rodríguez Hernández |
| Cargo del Autor | Historiador, magister en Investigacion en Ciencias Sociales, profesor de cátedra de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Actualmente, Profesor-Investigador, Departamento de Historia, Universidad Sergio Arboleda |
| Páginas | 645-691 |
CHAPTER 4.
REGIONAL REPORT CAUCA
Saúl Mauricio Rodríguez Hernández1
AS HYPOTHESIS2
It is not in vain that the department of Cauca uctuates between poverty and exclusion, and that two of
the most gripping phenomena in Colombian violence in the last 50 years happened in its territory, as is the
presence of illegal armed groups and the intensive production of illicit crops (poppy, coca and marihua-
na). All this mixed with tension due to the scarce available terrains that local communities have available
to cultivate. With a pretty wild geography, this has been an ideal region for the actions of dierent illegal
armed groups in the last 15 years (AUC, FARC-EP, ELN, Los Rastrojos, Aguilas Negras), in which they
have not only searched to gain control of the production and transit of illicit crops and the extraction of
mineral resources, but also take advantage of the geography as a strategic area and corridor for mobility,
between the country’s east and west (Pacic), the north and south, and between the departments of Valle
del Cauca, Nariño, Putumayo, Tolima, and Huila. FARC-EP and ELN have learned to take advantage of
the native communities’ autonomy to maintain their presence in the region, despite the initiative sustai-
ned by the native communities during the mentioned period to oppose the presence of any armed player,
by using their organizational and mobilization capabilities, as well as their position in favor of peace.
Since 2002, FARC-EP –as the most numerous illegal armed group in the region- intensied its
presence in Cauca due to the military pressure they received from the Public Force in other zones around
the country, especially through the aerial power enforced by the Colombian Air Forces (FAC). ereinaf-
ter, and throughout the decade, they took advantage of the geography and autonomy of the native groups
to apply pressure on the authorities with a countless number of armed actions, which at the end of the
decade led to the impression that this illegal armed group had control of the region. Cauca became a neu-
ral center for the non-international armed conict, where all types of military actions against the Public
Force and the authorities took place: harassments, use of militias, “pistol plan”, among others.
e actions taken by the Colombian Air Forces and the Surface troops led to the death of FARC-
EP’s maximum leader, Alfonso Cano at the end of 2011, and from there on the actions from FARC-EP,
and the responses from the Public Force reached their highest intensity in 2012, with combats becoming
1 Historiador, magister en Investigacion en Ciencias Sociales, profesor de cátedra de la Ponticia Universidad Javeriana. Ac-
tualmente, Profesor-Investigador, Departamento de Historia, Universidad Sergio Arboleda.
2 is hypothesis is supported by the empirical work with primary and secondary sources on eldwork carried out in October
2015 in northern Cauca; the explicit references to sources appear later (Author’s Note ).
646 Regional report Cauca
known at a national level. However, the joint action between the FAC and the surface troops through the
Apolo Task Force, allowed reducing the combat action capabilities of FARC-EP in the department of Cau-
ca. In spite of this, the department’s strategic importance was such for this illegal armed group, for both
their nances as well as for their mobility in the country’s southwest region, that they carried out several
actions that may have been called desperate, such as the incursion into Santander de Quilichao, and the
amphibian attack on the Police forces in the island of Gorgona in 2014.
From this, that the department of Cauca is seen as the epitome of the non-international armed
conict in Colombia in the last few years, but also as a place where the combat capabilities of the Colom-
bian Air Forces were vital during the last phase of this study, to tilt the balance towards the governmental
forces and allowed FARC-EP to sit down and negotiate with the national government.
ARMED PEACE: 1998-2002
Structural elements within the context
Cauca is located in the so called Macizo Colombiano, in the southwest part of the country (see Map 1a).
e three geographical cordilleras are located in its territory, with the western and central ones being
the most relevant, making the geography in that region quite fragile. In this mountainous knot, there are
more than 20 rivers, and two of the most extensive regions in Colombia are born, the Magdalena and
Cauca rivers. e department is divided into ve large sub-regions that are: Central (9), Northern (10),
Southern (12), Western-Pacic (3), and Eastern (8) (Table 1). e environment is very fragile, and the
majority of its territory is not appropriate for agriculture. Between the years of 1998-2002, sowing of pop-
pies in the central cordillera became a source of ecological instability, due to both planting and fumiga-
tion with glyphosate by the Public Force3. Likewise, the industry attracted by Law 218 from 1995, known
as the Paez Law (which oered tax benets to companies), was subject to scrutiny by the community, fos-
tered by Cauca’s Autonomous Corporation4, to assess its possible environmental impacts over the lands.
3 Pinzón & Sotelo, 2012, p. 2-7.
4 El País, 1999, 4 de diciembre.
Regional report Cauca 647
Table 1. Subregions of the Department of Cauca
Department of Cauca
Sub region Municipalities Projected Municipality’s
population as of 2014
Population by sub-
region
as of 2014
Central Popayan 275,082 504.287
(With Popayan)
229.205
(Without Popayan)
El Tam bo 47,372
La Sierra 10,662
Morales 28,781
Piendamo 42,102
Cajibio 37,218
Rosas 13,219
Sotara 16,384
Timbio 33,467
Northern Buenos Aires 33,645 321.804
Caloto 17,607
Corinto 31,485
Guachene 19,775
Miranda 39,003
Padilla 7,924
Puerto Tejada 45,541
Santander de Quilichao 92,114
Suarez 18,715
Villa Rica 15,995
Southern Almaguer 21,194 262,985
Argelia 26,473
Balboa 25,381
Bolivar 44,529
Florencia 6,119
La Vega 45,011
Mercaderes 18,018
Patia 35,877
Piamonte 7,303
San Sebastian 13,807
Santa Rosa 10,380
Sucre 8,893
Western-Pacic Guapi 29,641 71,324
Lopez 20,193
Timbiqui 21,490
Para continuar leyendo
Solicita tu prueba