TERRITORIAL DYNAMICS IN A RURAL BORDER. CASE STUDY: VILLAGE AGUA CLARA, NORTE DE SANTANDER, COLOMBIA

Abstract

Border margins between two or more countries constitute a transition territory, capable of becoming the scene of positive exchanges or, failing that, of tensions and controversies according to the socio-political situation of the bordering countries due to the strong migratory flows of people who they go in search of a better quality of life, infringing on numerous occasions in illegal and even dramatic actions. Undoubtedly, a phenomenon that leads to many reasonings and that in several occasions is handled with a language influenced by unequal views, in large subjective parts, typical of the actors and the disciplines involved in the subject. This is the case of the border between Colombia and Venezuela, specifically in the northeastern margin of the North Department of Santander.

The article initially focuses on the identification of the main natural and constructed components and of this territory and then interprets their configuration patterns. Subsequently, reference is made to informal interactions between the two countries given through paths called “trochas” (trails), elements that form a permeable border in this territory. In the final part, some alternatives to mitigate the problem are outlined, which envision beneficial strategies based on the potential of the peri-urban areas surrounding the settlements identified in the study area, all of them urban centers affected by a good number of border dynamics of a negative nature, as in the Agua Clara district, in the department of Norte de Santander, in this case, the focal point of the study carried out in this area bordering Venezuela.