Agua, territorio y desarrollo, en la desviación del arroyo Bruno en la Guajira, Colombia: análisis del impacto del agua y el territorio en las comunidades del área de influencia de la extracción minera de carbón en el Cerrejón, por la desviación del arroyo Bruno, en la cuenca del río Ranchería, departamento de la Guajira.

Abstract

The department of La Guajira has been hit by long periods of drought, and many communities have been strongly affected by the impossibility of obtaining water to satisfy their needs, most of the time this is attributed to natural phenomena such as: global warming and however, little is investigated or related to the anthropic actions that generate it, among them: mining extraction that significantly impacts access and quantity of water, and the influence and use of Colombian regulations in favor of private companies, linked to a policy based on the logic of capitalist production that superimposes private interest on the effective enjoyment of water by communities: its distribution, access possibilities, sustainability and protection of the environment, including care and protection of water resources. The case of diversion of the Bruno stream, from the La Puente project, from the mining company Carbones del Cerrejón Limited, will be analyzed, due to the concern that this project has had in the Guajira population due to the affectation of water sources by coal mining and by the strong insistence of sectors of indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant communities settled in the area of ​​influence of the stream, belonging to the Ranchería river basin, who do not want its diversion; Contrary to this, the project was approved through administrative acts by state institutions, including: the Regional Autonomous Corporation of La Guajira - CORPOGUAJIRA, the Ministry of the Environment - MINAMBIENTE and the National Authority for Environmental Licenses - ANLA. Elements that will be reviewed in this document to identify the variables that allowed the approval of the project, to see how viable it is in terms of water enjoyment, and in turn, to be able to make visible power relations and the way in which government decisions benefit or they harm different actors in their relationship with water and its territory.