Migración: una verdad oculta dentro de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Abstract

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta’s indigenous communities, face latent and non-visible problems. One of them is migration and the consequences that it entails, that is, it arises from problems that are in the area due to the differences between the “younger brothers” and the communities themselves; in addition, the presence of illegal armed groups looking for a territorial appropriation in order to make different illicit businesses and the exploitation of natural resources by mining companies. In this research, a documentary search was done, audiovisual and oral sources were carried out to understand the causes of this migration and, we learnt that, in the middle of this nomadic process, different environmental and health consequences arise, which arcanely affect the cultural and identity characteristics of these native communities. This research found that the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta’s natives, not only suffer from forced displacement, but also, on several occasions they move within the same territory looking for a better living condition and to be able to strengthen the bond with the "Mother Land”. However, upon arriving the territory, it was evident that the communities, despite their tireless work, continue to see their rights as ethnic communities in the country violated by different state entities that claim to defend the Colombian territory, without really knowing the place occupied by indigenous people in this sacred space, nor obtaining any answer from the national government to their petitions to recover an ancestral territory.