Piamonte was founded in 1959 as a district of the municipality of Santa Rosa. Its inhabitants are settlers from various regions of the interior of Colombia that have been established there in successive migrations attracted initially by the quinine bonanza in the 1930s, displaced by the violence in the 1950s and 1960s and finally attracted by the oil fever. There are also members of the Inga indigenous community. Piamonte was declared as municipality in 1996.
The municipality of Piamonte borders to the north with the Huila Department and the municipality of Santa Rosa in the Cauca Department; to the East with the Caquetá Department with the municipalities of Belén de los Andaquíes and San José del Fragua, to the West with the municipality of Santa Rosa and the Río Caquetá and towards the south with the Putumayo department.
History
The town of Piamonte was established 1959 by a group of settlers led by Aristides Perez in a site known at the time as La Barbasca. In the year 1966, some leaders of the area, including Bosco Arcos, José Antonio Hurtado, Gustavo Pérez and Arístides Pérez among others, proposed the separation of the Piamonte from the municipality of Santa Rosa; this proposal materialized years later as result of the incursion of several petroleum companies in the regions in the early 1990s. Piamonte was recognized as a municipality under ordinance 024 of November 18, 1996.
The process of settlement of the area of Baja Bota was slow until recently. The first settlements know were reported in the 1930s; Among them, the Inganos stand out in Guayuyaco and other sectors of the Andean foothills towards Belén de Andaquies, apparently people displaced from Putumayo.Nápoles, which is the oldest departmental inspection in the area, was settled by migrants from Nariño, on the strategic trail today known as the Carretera Marginal de la Selva (Peripheral Road of the Jungle). This settlement had to be moved to a new location in the early 1970s, after a flood in the upper plains of the Caquetá River devastated a significant part of the town and caused losses to the settlers in its surroundings.By the 1950s, starting from the main trail, roads were opened into the interior of the area and the first ones opened in Piamonte, on the Tambor, Miraflor and Campoalegre rivers, on the Guayuyaco and Nabueno rivers. This is how the strip with the oldest settlement is located in the upper part of the area, demarcated by the trail. Since that time, two areas have been defined, according to the migratory currents that penetrated the area and the market and service centers to which its inhabitants go. To demarcate them, an imaginary curve could be drawn.between Puerto Bello, at the northwestern end, bordering the mountain range and then following the course of the Inchiyaco River on its left bank, to the El Cedro settlement. To the east of this curve is the area of direct influence of the Caquetá, the object of a colonization that penetrated along the trail from San José del Fragua, Yurayaco and Fragüita and extended along the banks of the Fragua, the Congor and the Tambor. This route was not as important as the one that penetrated in the last decade from Currillo up the Caquetá River, when factors such as the so-called crisis of the colonizing model in Caquetá, the opening of the road to the port of Currillo and the appearance of the coca economy.The migratory flow that entered from the west came mostly from Nariño and Putumayo, a product of the migratory movement that began from the high plateau to the slope of the eastern mountain range. The colonizing flow moved through the valley of the Mocoa River until it reached its mouth in the Caquetá River in Puerto Limón; intensified with the subsequent opening of roads penetration in the past decade. Currently, in terms of the categories of land holders, it can be seen that in Baja Bota Caucana the vast majority of inhabitants are settlers who have de facto possession over their improvements, without mediating the legal act of titling. For the settler, the property title is a necessary requirement, but not sufficient to access institutional credit (type Caja Agraria). In Baja Bota, the age of the settlement corresponds in some parts to the existence of an incipient livestock activity. This activity is concentrated in the strip that demarcates the line of the Peripheral trail from Piamonte, La Vega, to Naples-El Edén, in properties that are located in the range of 100 to 200 hectares. [3] The process of municipalization emerged between the years 1994-1996, from its segregation from the municipality of Santa Rosa. Its creation was the result of the coca strikes that occurred during this time, due to the abandonment that peasants and indigenous people felt by the state, and to the fact that no resources from the exploitation of the oil were allocated to the Baja Bota region. [4]
Geography
In geographical terms, the municipality of Piamonte located in an area known as the as the Baja Bota Caucana, due to the characteristic shape of its map, is located in the Southwest of the Department of Cauca , which is in an region of transition between the Pacific coast, the Andes and the Amazon rainforest. Part of its potential comes from its location since it is a strategic transit area and border between four departments that are located in the Colombian Massif region -an important water source-, biologically it becomes the merging point between the Central Cordillera, the Eastern Cordillera, the Amazon, the Magdalena Valley and the Eastern Slope of the Andes, becoming a jungle corridor natural. In the South American context, it has to be highlighted this region of the Amazon is located at a distance of 335 km from the Pacific Ocean, which makes it the shortest stretch of land between the Pacific ocean and the Amazon in all of South America. Piamonte is part of the Amazon basin characterized by its high biodiversity, water resources, oil and ancestral culture [5]
Economy
Piamonte has an economy based on the extraction of natural resources cinchona, rubber, wood, oil and coca, and specialized in agricultural activities for subsistence, with traditional crops such as banana, cassava, corn, chontaduro. Amazonian fruit trees stand out such as arazá, borojó and caimarón grape. The economic impacts have to do with its character as a development hub, since among its goals is enabling regional coordination and the transit of goods. Piamonte as an Amazon region that contains oil deposit under its subsoil covers southern Colombia, part of Ecuador and Peru, which is currently being exploited by Oil Companies. In Piamonte, the multinational Argosy Energy International, a subsidiary of Canadian Gran Tierra Energy, has explored and exploited 5 wells: Mary 1, Mary 2, Mary3, Mary 5 and Miralor 1 from 1993 to 2008. The current oil exploitation activities are being carried out by Gran Tierra Energy Inc. Oil production in 2002 was 2290 barrels/day; the oil reserves discovered to be exploited: approximately three million barrels.[5] Large private companies are the main generators of employment are the Gran Tierra Company with facilities in the village of La Honda, Rosario, El Morro, Florida West; the Betra Company with facilities in the Piamonte, Petronova in vereda La Samaritana and Oilgrass with explorations around Piamonte. [4]
According to the Territorial Planning Scheme, the municipality of Piamonte is responsible by law (141 of 1994, article 31) for 12.5% of the 20% of the total royalties, which must be allocated according to article 15, 100% social investment, in priority projects contemplated in the general development plan of the Municipality. At least 80% of the income received must be invested until minimum coverage is reached in the basic social programs of electricity and environmental sanitation. Despite the law, a large percentage of the region lacks these services; only the population centers of Piamonte and Miraflor have very recent electrical interconnection. Having these riches has not translated into better living conditions for the residents, nor are they expressed in social or economic investment by the State; a great contradiction typical of the dynamics of capitalism that privileges some regions at the expense of the misery and exploitation [5]
Piamonte is recognized as a place of transit due to the constant population mobility from neighboring departments such as Putumayo, Caquetá and Huila, due to forced displacement, the search for wealth or the arrival of people in search of productive lands, which is why it can be denominated as a multicultural municipality given its social composition. It is commercially linked with neighboring towns in the departments of Caquetá and Putumayo such as: Curillo, San José del Fragua, and Belén de los Andaquíes in the first case and Villagarzón and Mocoa in the second.[4]
Communications
The Carretera Marginal de La Selva (Peripheral Road of the Jungle), which crosses the municipality of Piamonte, is part of a series of megaprojects aimed at connecting all of South America with road infrastructure (IIRSA) from Piamonte, to Villagarzón and Puerto Asís towards Ecuador , and from Villagarzón towards Pasto and Tumaco. [5]
Demographics
The municipality of Piamonte is inhabited by settlers from the interior of the country (departments of Caquetá, Putumayo, Nariño and Cauca), also by indigenous peoples – 12.24% of the Inga ethnic group – and a significant percentage of Afro-descendants. [5]
Its population, as of 2012, amounted to “7,241 people, of which 8.29% (600) live in the municipal capital and the remaining 91.71% (6,641) in the rural area. There is a total of 69 villages, and the indigenous population is organized into 9 councils recognized by the indigenous authorities: Bajo Chuspizacha, San Gabriel, Alto Suspizacha, Rumiñawi, San Jose del Inchiyaco, Ambiwasi, Musurrunacuna, Caucapapungo and Aukawasi. As well as 6 Reservations legally recognized for the Inga community: Guayuyaco, Inga Wasipanga, La Floresta Española, La Leona, Las Brisas and San Rafael.. [4]
Administrative Division of Piamonte
Corregiment
Veredas (Inspections)
# of Veredas
Piamonte
EL Convenio, San Isidro, El Jardin, La Sonora, Puerto Bello, Santa Rita, La Vega, San Jorge, Piamonte, Nueva Esperanza
9
El Remanso
Villalozada, Las Perlas, El Morro, Las Delicias, Playa Rica, Puerto Miranda, El Remanso, La Libertad
7
Miraflor
Buenos Aires, Sevilla, EL Rosal, San Pablo, La Palmera, La Floresta, Campoalegre, Nabueno, El Cerrito, La Segovia, La Gaviota, La Esmeralda, Bajo Inchiyaco, La Española, Miraflor, La Floresta Española
15
Yapurá
Angosturas, Bututo, Villanueva, Palmito, La Consolata, Yapurá
5
Nápoles
Baja Primavera, El Edén, La Guajira, La Florida, Nápoles
4
EL Cedro
El Vergel, El Caraño, Trojayaco, La Samaritana, Villa del Prado, Los Almendros, El Cedro
6
El Bombonal
La Leona, Brasilia, El Bombonal, Puerto Bello, La Isla
4
Bajo Congor
El Diamante, La Cabaña, El Triunfo Congor, La Tigra, Bajo Congor
4
Fragua VIejo
EL Porvenir, San Gabriel, El Sinaí, Los Pios, Fragua Viejo, Reservation San Rafael
5
Climate
Piamonte has a tropical rainforest climate (KöppenAf) with hot temperatures, high humidity and heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.
Cauca Department is a department of Southwestern Colombia. Located in the southwestern part of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Valle del Cauca Department to the north, Tolima Department to the northeast, Huila Department to the east, and Nariño Department to the south. Putumayo and Caqueta Departments border the southeast portion of Cauca Department as well. It covers a total area of 29,308 km2 (11,316 sq mi), the 13th largest in Colombia. Its capital is the city of Popayán. The offshore island of Malpelo belongs to the department. It is located in the southwest of the country, mainly in the Andean and Pacific regions plus a tiny part (Piamonte) in the Amazonian region. The area makes up 2.56% of the country.
Putumayo is a department of Southern Colombia. It is in the south-west of the country, bordering Ecuador and Peru. Its capital is Mocoa.
Vaupés is a department of Southeastern Colombia in the jungle covered Amazonía Region. It is located in the southeast part of the country, bordering Brazil to the east, the department of Amazonas to the south, Caquetá to the west, and Guaviare, and Guainía to the north; covering a total area of 54,135 km2. Its capital is the town of Mitú. As of 2018, the population was 40,797, making it the least populous department in Colombia.
Rafael Reyes Prieto was a Colombian politician and soldier who was the Chief of Staff of the Colombian National Army and President of Colombia (1904–1909).
Amazonía region in southern Colombia comprises the departments of Amazonas, Caquetá, Guainía, Guaviare, Putumayo and Vaupés, and covers an area of 483,000 km2, 35% of Colombia's total territory. The region is mostly covered by tropical rainforest, or jungle, which is a part of the greater Amazon rainforest.
The Colombian Massif, also known colloquially as Nudo de Almaguer, refers to a group of mountains within the Andes of south central Colombia. The massif is mainly within the area of the Cauca, Huila, and Nariño Departments. To the south is the Pasto Massif and to the north begins the Central and Eastern Andes.
Caquetá Department is a department of Colombia. Located in the Amazonas region, Caquetá borders with the departments of Cauca and Huila to the west, the department of Meta to the north, the department of Guaviare to the northeast, the department of Vaupés to the east, the departments of Amazonas and Putumayo to the south covering a total area of 88,965 km², the third largest in the country. Its capital is the city of Florencia.
López de Micay is a town and municipality in the Cauca Department, Colombia. It is located on the Pacific Coast of the Cauca Department in the Naya Region on the foothills of the Colombian Western Cordillera. It is located 84 km from the departmental capital, Popayán.
Patía is a Municipality located in Cauca Department, Colombia. The administrative centre of Patía is El Bordo.
Santa Rosa is a Colombian municipality located in the department of Cauca, in the region known as the Bota Caucana. It is located on the eastern slope of the Colombian Massif, the mountainous area where the Central and Oriental Cordilleras merge. Its economy is based on agriculture, its main products are corn, sugar cane, plantain and livestock. It includes the corregiments of Carmelo, San Juan de Villalobos and Descanse.
Timbiqui is a town and municipality in the Cauca Department, Colombia. It is located on the Pacific Coast of Colombia on the estuary of the Timbiqui River. An earthquake affected its inhabitants on the first of October, 2012.
Because of its natural structure, Colombia can be divided into six distinct natural regions. These consist of the Andean Region, covering the three branches of the Andes mountains found in Colombia; the Caribbean Region, covering the area adjacent to the Caribbean Sea; the Pacific Region adjacent to the Pacific Ocean; the Orinoquía Region, part of the Llanos plains mainly in the Orinoco river basin along the border with Venezuela; the Amazon Region, part of the Amazon rainforest; and finally the Insular Region, comprising the islands in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Colombia is located in South America.
The Colombian Naval Infantry, also referred to as Colombian Marines, is the marine force of the Colombian National Armada. The 53,123-member Colombian Marine Infantry is organized into a single division with four brigades, each with several battalions plus numerous small security units.
The Andaquí are an indigenous people of Colombia, who live in the Upper Caquetá River Basin, the Fragua Valley of Cauca Department, and the Suaza Valley of southwest Huila Department.
The Colombianization of Leticia, Putumayo and Caquetá is the name used to designate a process of transculturation or acculturation of the areas recognized under the sovereignty of Colombia, with the purpose of transplanting Colombian cultural traditions, in replacement of those cultivated in Peru.
The Amazonian Trapeze or Leticia Trapeze is a geographical corridor located in the extreme south of the Amazonas Department of Colombia, which constitutes the southernmost part of the country and allows it to have banks on the Amazon River. At this end of the department, which extends like a peninsula between Brazil and Peru, is the departmental capital of Leticia.
San Juan de Villalobos is a corregiment in the south of the department of Cauca in the region known as Media Bota Caucana, municipality of Santa Rosa. The town was settled in 1937 along National Route 45 at a distance of 8 km from the border between the departments of Huila and Cauca. This town is an obligatory passage between Pitalito and Mocoa and has gained relevance after the construction of National Route 45.
Descanse is a corregiment in the south of the department of Cauca in the region known as Media Bota Caucana, municipality of Santa Rosa located near the borders of Cauca with the department of Putumayo. Descanse has a population of 1,326 inhabitants including the rural area. The town was settled around year 1560. Despite its antiquity, it is one of the most isolated towns of the department of Cauca due to its location in the Colombian Massif and the lack of access roads since it is only connected to other population centers through horseshoe tracks.
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