The Peace Agreement and tertiary roads in Colombia

Abstract

This article presents a reflection on the territorial challenges of the Peace Agreement between the FARC-EP and the Colombian State, from the perspective of the road connection —specifically the tertiary roads— of territories in conflict. It is observed that the country’s road network favors the acceleration of flows and the provision of geographic regions for globalization over social and territorial articulation. However, the Agreement continues to be an opportunity to articulate communities previously at war, instead of deepening territorial marginalization and its connection to the market and war. For this, first, a theoretical discussion is established from the socio-spatial perspective, building a critical approach towards the development of certain infrastructures and the colonial perspective with which the country’s road network is developed. Second, the article examines the state and institutionality of the tertiary network, making visible the progressive abandonment of the state. Third, the contents of the Agreement regarding infrastructure and tertiary roads are addressed. Finally, the territorial challenges of the tertiary pathways for peace are studied.