From chaos to reconstruction of a community in Colombia's Atlantic coast

Abstract

In 2000 El Salado, municipality of Carmen de Bolivar in the region of Montes de Maria on the north coast of Colombia, was the scene of a bloody slaughter. Terror, death, trauma and the consequent displacement meant corrosion of social projects of the Saladeros. The processes of relocation to the city and return to the community gave impetus to the re-construction of social projects and the re-configuration of traditional gender roles. In this process a women´s association was evident as the protagonist. In the community as well as the human life cycle, this phase of construction did not imply the absence of elements of disintegration. At different times in the history of El Salado, factors of destruction and death prevailed and significant moments of re-construction occurred where creativity and resilience gave strong responses to these devastating agents.