El campesinado de la Amazonia colombiana: una historia de menosprecio institucional, constitución identitaria y lucha por el reconocimiento

To understand the construction processes of the identity and organizational experiences of the peasants who currently inhabit the Colombian western Amazon region, it is necessary to know the historical characteristics that defi ned the social occupation of this geographical area. As in other colonization processes which took place in the Peruvian, Bolivian and Ecuadorian Amazon, in Colombia the peasants who occupied the Amazonian space in the fifties and sixty arrived after being expelled by the reproduction and expansion of the capital. But, unlike these countries, in Colombia, during these same years, the State undertook a military persecution against those peasants who had resisted the land expropriation process. In this sense, and seeking to comprehend the identity construction process of these peasants, this article will present a brief historical reconstruction of their first organizational efforts and a description of how they undertook their identification process as a social group. Finally, the article will analyze the mechanisms of resistance that Colombian Amazon peasants have created and consolidated in their struggles for recognition and their struggles against injustice and institutional disrespect experienced by decades.