Everyday human rights practices in the Colombian Caribbean

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the everyday human rights practices of Villa Gloria, a Black community located in the Colombian Caribbean. What do these practices consist of, what elements underlie them, and what implications do they have for the exercise of citizenship? Through interviews, timeline mapping workshops, and a review of different secondary sources, I argue that these practices contribute to the survival of a community that is anchored to its physical territory. These practices are critical if the community is to be included in the project of modern Colombia, that is, adapting to the changes brought by a new constitution in the 1990s and later to the project of post-conflict as a result of the peace dialogues between the state and the FARC-EP guerrilla between 2012 and 2016. Instead of policies of differentiation, Villa Gloria demands inclusion. To validate these arguments, I critique linear time and analyse three practices: the defence of territory, the search for recognition as ethnic people and as victims of the armed conflict, and peaceful resistance. These analyses provide empirical evidence to demonstrate the exercise of human rights by Black people on the margins of the nation-state.

KEYWORDS:

• Time
• land struggles
• Black communities
• critical geography
• qualitative methods
• Cartagena de Indias

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the Villa Gloria community, particularly its leaders, for their generosity in sharing their time, space, knowledge, and motivation with me. I must also extend my thanks to Dr. Susan Banki and Dr. Allison Henry for their valuable comments and guidance during the editorial process. Lastly, I appreciate the anonymous reviewers for providing top-notch feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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2 When I mention ‘victims’, I am not referring to Colombia’s Law 1448 provisions about attention, reparation to victims, and land restitution. Neither am I implying that these individuals are passive or lack agency. On the contrary, victims are politically engaged subjects actively taking part in the country’s public life. They come forward to share their experiences of pain and to challenge society, the state, and victimizers, with the aim of preventing similar occurrences in the future.

3 The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), a guerrilla organisation, signed a peace agreement with the Colombian government in 2016. As part of this historic accord, the FARC became a legal political party called Comunes.

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57 Deavila (n 55)142.

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73 According to the Colombian Truth Commission, there are 115 Indigenous peoples, 772 reservations and approximately 68 native languages in the country. Most of them are Indigenous or Indo-American, two Creole languages spoken by Afros (Creole and ri Palenge) and Romani of the Roma people. Article 7 recognizes and protects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the nation.

74 Boaventura de Sousa-Santos, Refundación del estado en América Latina. Perspectivas desde una Epistemología del Sur (Plural Editores 2010).

75 Prior consultation is a fundamental right of ethnic groups and consists of protecting their social, cultural, and economic integrity and guaranteeing their right to participate when any project is conducted in their territory or when legislative or administrative measures are taken that affect them.

76 Colombian Truth Commission, Resistir no es Aguantar: Violencias y Daños contra los Pueblos Étnicos (Puntoaparte Editores 2022) 367.

77 ibid.

78 ibid.

79 Interview with an inhabitant of Villa Gloria (Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, March 2022).

80 Alexander Schejtman and Julio Berdegué, Desarrollo Territorial Rural (Rimisp-Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural 2004) 5.

81 Diana Bocarejo, Tipologías y Topologías Indígenas en el Multiculturalismo Colombiano (Instituto Colombiano de Antropología, Universidad del Rosario y Pontificia Universidad Javeriana 2015).

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86 Ruz (n 53) 19.

87 Interview with a leader of Villa Gloria (Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, March 2022).

88 ibid.

89 Redacción Colombia, ‘Anulan título colectivo de tierras del Consejo Comunitario La Boquilla (Cartagena)’ El Espectador (Bogotá, 20 August 2020) <https://www.elespectador.com/colombia/mas-regiones/anulan-titulo-colectivo-de-tierras-del-consejo-comunitario-la-boquilla-cartagena-article> accessed 15 November 2023.

90 Personal communication, March 2022.

91 Caracol Cartagena, ‘Llamado de atención a alcaldía de Cartagena para que cumpla con reubicación de Villa Gloria’ Caracol (Cartagena de Indias, 26 November 2017) <https://caracol.com.co/emisora/2017/11/26/cartagena/1511721792_244953.html> accessed 15 November 2023.

92 Interview with an inhabitant of Villa Gloria (Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, March 2022).

93 Juan Manuel Santos, La Batalla por la Paz: El Largo Camino para Ponerle Fin al Conflicto con la Guerrilla Más Antigua del Mundo (Planeta 2019) 269.

94 Interview with an inhabitant of Villa Gloria (Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, April 2022).

95 ibid.

96 Pakulski (n 4) 80.

97 Marion Slitine, ‘Contemporary Art from a City at War: The Case of Gaza (Palestine)’ (2018) 77 Cities 55; Samuel J. Spiegel, ‘Fossil Fuel Violence and Visual Practices on Indigenous Land: Watching, Witnessing and Resisting Settler-colonial Injustices’ (2021) 79 Energy Research & Social Science 2; Colombian Truth Commission (n 76) 274.

98 Colombian Truth Commission, Resistir no es Aguantar: Violencias y Daños contra los Pueblos Étnicos (Puntoaparte Editores 2022).

99 Interview with a leader of Villa Gloria (Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, May 2022).

100 Tatiana Acevedo-Guerrero, ‘Light is Like Water: Flooding, Blackouts, and the State in Barranquilla’ [2019] Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society 1.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Camilo Eduardo Espinosa Díaz

Camilo Eduardo Espinosa Díaz is a Researcher and a PhD Fellow at the University of Salamanca (Spain). He holds two master’s degrees in Peace, Conflicts and Development Studies (Jaume I University, Spain) and Government and Public Policies (EAFIT University, Colombia). His research interests encompass human rights, peacebuilding, state-building, and infrastructure.