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Paper short abstract:

I discuss how dominant forms of territoriality are contested by the informal cross-border mobilities of Colombians living at the border, and discuss implications for survival and human rights. I draw on ethnographic work, participatory Minga workshops, mental maps, and biographical interviews.

Paper long abstract:

The cities of Cúcuta and San Antonio are separated by the Simon Bolívar bridge over the Táchira river and only 300 m long. However, the first is in Colombian territory and the second in Venezuelan territory. During decades, the inhabitants of these two cities have woven close ties of friendship, kinship, trade, circulation, habitation and study. A transnational social space connecting the two cities has thus emerged where the political border has little relevance. However, in recent years Maduro's Venezuelan government has exercised its territorial power to prohibit cross-border crossings along the bridge to include or exclude 'desirable' or 'undesirable' populations. In 2005, Colombians living in San Antonio were deported, accused of being paramilitaries threatening the public order in Venezuela. Thousands of Colombian families were violently expelled from their homes and forced to return to Colombia through the Táchira River on foot. Subsequently, the international Simon Bolívar bridge was and is still closed. However, many Colombians informally returned later to San Antonio where they own homes. They sleep there but work, buy, trade, study and receive medical services in Colombia. They cross the trocha daily, an informal path dug into the jungle, and subsequently cross the river on foot to satisfy basic needs in Colombia. This paper discusses how dominant forms of territoriality are contested by the informal cross-border mobilities of Colombians, and discusses implications in terms of survival and human rights. It is based on ethnographic work, participatory Minga workshops, mental maps, and biographical interviews with 30 cross-borders.