Laguna de La Cocha, the silent dispossession

Interview conducted in the municipality of Pasto, in the El Encano district, Vereda El Motilón. Laguna de La Cocha, also called Lake Guamuez, is the second largest natural body of water in Colombia after Lake Tota. In the year 2000 it was declared a Ramsar wetland, which seeks the conservation and wise use of wetlands through local, regional and national actions and thanks to international cooperation, as a contribution to achieving sustainable development throughout the world; a Ramsar site is a wetland designated as being of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. For a long time, conflicts over access to land and natural resources have arisen in this territory among the Indigenous population (Quillasinga) belonging to the Refugio del Sol Indigenous reserve, the peasant population and settlers. The inhabitants are in constant tension because of the overexploitation of these resources, dispossession and the purchase of properties at low prices in order to generate economic alternatives different from those traditionally developed by the native people.