ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors analyse the development and resistance dynamics of extractivism in Colombia around water, land and gold. This analysis is framed by the theoretical perspective of socio-cultural studies and the geoeconomics of extractive capital. With an analytical focus on the environmental situation brought about by the development dynamics of extractivism, the authors focus on three expressions of the extractivist model in Colombia: hydroelectric projects, agroindustry and mega-mining, which, prior to the crisis brought on by the coronavirus epidemic, was widely viewed as the motor of the development process, and the primary source of financing the peace and economic reactivation process. With this introduction, the authors turn towards the main strategies, social agents and class fractions that make up the social space of extractivism of in the current context. The main argument advanced is that extractivism in the current context is environmentally, culturally and socially unsustainable and a major obstacle in the search for, and construction of, peace in Colombia on the heels of a long class war.
