Del extractivismo y otros demonios: movilización social y defensa del territorio por medio de una consulta popular en Tauramena, Casanare

Abstract

The expansion of the oil extractivist model in Colombia, legitimized by the developmental discourse in which the extraction of natural resources is associated with economic progress, has activated and intensified a series of problematic socio-territorial situations, as well as the conflict between the operating companies and the communities. These have fostered processes of social mobilization for the defense of the territory, through mechanisms of participation such as popular consultation. In accordance with the above, and based on a qualitative approach and the use of some quantitative research tools, the popular consultation process is analyzed in the municipality of Tauramena, department of Casanare, in 2013, in response to the project of ODISEA 3D seismic exploration. The results allow us to understand the process of popular consultation as a scenario of citizen mobilization, for the defense of the territory and the environment and to curb extractivism; at the same time, they help to make visible a series of tensions that derive from the extraction of resources among present actors: communities and local authorities, State and company.