Precarization linked to environmental risk: review of the case La Loma in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia)

Abstract

This article aims to deepen the debate around the precarization and marginalization experience of impoverished social groups in the Colombian Caribbean, associating these two categories of analysis to the risk of environmental disasters. Here we present a concrete experience of marginality linked to environmental risk, the case of La Loma in Cartagena, located on the highest hill of the city (La Popa) and designated by the authorities as «high risk area». The case was reviewed through the application of a preliminary survey, five semi-structured interviews to collect the stories of the villagers and a detailed examination of the official correspondence between Government institutions and community leaders. The results obtained allow us to affirm that the «environmental risk» is, for the authorities, a) the discursive framework that justifies interventions towards the eviction, but also b) the point of convergence of community identities linked to the territory. To situate the above, a specific experience of marginality linked to environmental risk, La Loma’s case, identified by the authorities of Cartagena as «high-risk landslide zone», located in the highest hill of the city, La Popa, will be reviewed.

Tres rutas para entender la racialización como sufirimiento generalizado

“…Está situada en las ANÁLISIS CAROLINA 24/2022 SERIE: GÉNERO faldas del cerro más alto de la ciudad que sirve de tierra a barrios muy empobrecidos. La loma es una calle habitada, en su mayoría, por mujeres negras y descendientes de indígenas que se estremece y se derrumba un poco cada vez que llueve (González-Güeto, 2019). Con persistencia, las mujeres que la habitan se encargan de reconducir la vida.…”

“…Salir de las casas del cerro supondría para ellas endeudarse para pagar un alquiler en un lugar en el que, de todas maneras, no cabe toda su familia. El riesgo ambiental no atendido repercute para ellas en la adquisición de nuevas deudas para volver a alzar los techos, reconstruir los baños destruidos por la lluvia o volver a armar las cocinas (González-Güeto, 2019).…”