In April 2003, the Peasant Reserve Zone of the Cimitarra River Valley was suspended, though in February 2011 the Colombian Government gave the legal green light reactivate these 184,000 hectares that benefit 8,935 families.

Northeast Antioquia is a sub region of the Department of Antioquia located on the eastern border of the central Colombian mountain range and to the southwest of the San Lucas range. Situated between mountains, prairies and waterfalls, 12 municipalities make up this sub region of the department of Antioquia,[1] a region rich in mining and lumber production that has caught the attention of several multinational companies.

Northeast Antioquia has large forests that provide a large variety of natural resources and a wide diversity of land and water species. In fact, part of its territory has been included since 1959 in the Forest Preserve Zone[2] of the Magdalena River.

Resources and violence

Lumber and gold are the main resources to be exploited in the region. Small-scale gold mining has historically been the principle source of income for many families that have arrived in the region, some displaced by violence in other territories and others in search of mining riches. But this mineral has also been the cause of many conflicts that have taken the life or caused the displacement of thousands of peasants. Northeast Antioquia has for decades been the site of various acts of violence that, for their intensity, have left a mark on this region and its communities: massacres, economic blockades, forced displacement, unfounded accusations, intimidations, torture, threats and extrajudicial executions have been used against the civilian population by the different armed actors in order to control the land and the riches there within.[3] The situation is such that, according to censes, from 1993 to 2005 the population of Northeast Antioquia decreased from 172,246 inhabitants to 169,713,[4] which demonstrates the effects of forced displacement, murders and disappearances at the hands of the armed groups.[5]

Mining Projects

The government project “Vision 2019, Colombia Mining Country” seeks to convert Colombia into a worldwide reference in mining extraction, under the legal umbrella of the recently reformed Mining Code.[6] Said Law promotes foreign investment in mining, permits land expropriation for mining development, declares small-scale mining illegal, and establishes a five-year period (beginning in 2010) during which the national government may remove the land from Forest Preserves that is needed to develop industrial mining.[7]

According the Colombian Geological and Mining Institute (Ingeominas), in 2007, 73.73% of national gold production came from the department of Antioquia,[8] and, of this, between 70 and 80% came from the municipalities of Segovia and Remedios.[9] According to this data, then, it is not surprising that the project “Vision 2019, Colombia Mining Country” intends for the mining district[10] of Northeast Antioquia to be the principal national mining district, passing from 21,977 kg of gold in 2005 to 88,382 kg in 2019.[11] These results will be obtained by further increasing mining by multinational corporations and reducing small-scale mining, now criminalised, which for some constitutes a strategy to remove the local population from the land and facilitate the introduction of mass production mining or mega-mining.[12]

Mining permits in the Northeast

To this end, the Autonomous Regional Corporation of Central Antioquía (Ceorantioquía)[13] has been moving forward with a project called “Sustainable Forest Organisation in the Reserve Zone of the Middle Magdalena,” which in Northeast Antioquia includes the municipalities of Remedios and Segovia. The purpose of this project is to “support removal activities in the reserve zone and the legalisation of private property in order to obtain a zone of property owners who can take advantage of the multiple benefits of the State.”[14] The current Mining Code considers small-scale mining illegal and demands these miners hold a mining permit in order to continue with an activity that they have practiced for years. But upon soliciting such a permit, these miners have found that their lands have already been requested in mining concession requests by large companies.[15] This means that land, which has never been granted to peasants despite the fact that they have lived and worked on it for 50 years, is now being handed over to multinational companies that in some cases also enjoy the right to explore and exploit the subsoil.[16] This is the case in municipalities like Remedios, where 90 mining concession contracts, 23 extraction licenses, and 16 exploration licenses have been granted, and 164 mining concession contracts have been proposed.[17]

Today there are at least 12 companies in the area that have exploration permits, and some also have extraction permits. The majority are multinationals from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.[18]

Absence of the State

Despite the fact that the benefits of these natural resources could be a source of wealth and social development in Colombia, there exists a “direct relationship between large-scale transnational mining projects and lack of development, hunger and misery among the population.”[19] Proof of this is the high level of poverty (38.9%) and misery (41.5%) in Northeast Antioquia[20] and the increase in land concentration,[21] which inevitably is linked to violence and displacement.[22]

It is also of note that this natural resource wealth does not bring social investment from the State: basic services like potable water and electricity, as well as sanitation and education services, do not exist in this region.[23]

Peasant Reserve Zone

Facing this situation, small-scale miners in the region have organised themselves in committees along with the Peasant Farmer Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC), working to lift the suspension of the Peasant Reserve Zone of the Cimitarra River Valley. In April 2003, the Peasant Reserve Zone of the Cimitarra River Valley was suspended, though in February 2011 the Colombian Government gave the legal green light reactivate these 184,000 hectares that benefit 8,935 families.[24]

The reactivation of this zone means the small-scale farmers can exercise their right to use and collectively own the land, which prohibits the expropriation of this land into the hands of transnational corporations.

The Peasant Reserve Zone is a legal entity recognised in Law 160 of 1994, and establishes a territorial boundary in which peasant and mining communities can design a development plan to guarantee a life of dignity, access to basic services, deeds for peasant land, the promotion and stabilisation of peasant and small-scale mining economies, and the protection of natural resources and the environment.[25] The State is obliged to respect peasant territory from the various armed actors, both legal and illegal, and recognise the territory as collective, preventing the exploitation of its riches by private companies.

The peasant population of the region, grouped in distinct organisations and association, continues to struggle for the land, pursuing a dream that now more than ever seems close to reality.