Cacao: A Path of Everyday Resistance and the Pursuit of Peace

Abstract

Cacao crops are not only a form of subsistence and agricultural project but also connect the way of life and resistance in conflict scenarios. San José de Apartadó, Colombia, and its local population have suffered from the consequences of long-term armed conflict, which left hundreds of victims of forced displacement and disappeared, leaving a territory disconnected from its population and its interactions with agriculture and peace. The 2016 Peace Agreement between the FARC-EP and the Colombian government reopened a history of resistance among peasants, who have cultivated their lands to live and build peace by recognizing patterns of violence in the search for missing persons. Today, the armed conflict has not ended; there is a repeated presence of other armed groups in Urabá, a factor that involves the possibility for local populations to live in peace. Favorably, the institutions have begun to take action to continue with the efforts of the Peace Agreement. The creation of the Search Unit for Missing Persons (UBPD) has helped the families to continue searching for the disappeared and recognize the ways of life and practices of the territory, where cacao crops are a central form of life and social organization.