Territorial reintegration for peace-building. Self-managed habitats by former FARCEP combatants, Colombia

Abstract

The Territorial Spaces for Training and Reincorporation (ETCR) as settlements for demobilized FARC-EP members and their reintegration into civilian life, in the framework of the Peace Agreement signed in 2016 between the government of Colombia and this insurgent group, stand out for the self-management and self-construction of these villages of the future, by the former combatants as discrete actors, with varying degrees of spatial consolidation, from a collective intelligence that has been building its habitat in the jungle for half a century. An examination of the urbanization process of the ETCR Las Colinas, Department of Guaviare, and comparison with documents associated with the Peace Agreement, makes it possible to establish the territorial elements that make it possible for these settlements to be reincorporated into the host communities. It is noted that ex-combatants face a sense of uncertainty as a result of continuous pressure from various actors to make the TRCs disappear, which motivates their inhabitants to accelerate the production of their habitat in their interest to remain.