Magic Comes to Life

Central to the oral history of the Santo Madero community is the legend of a miraculous tree that fell in a violent storm only to reappear a few days later, upright and green. The event, which reflects the magic realism that Colombia is known for, has evolved into a vital part of local folklore and is celebrated by the Afro-Colombian community every year.

The roots of the Santo Madero community run as deep as the magical tree, tracing a path hundreds of years back to the mid-16th century when slaves brought to Colombia from Africa, known as the Palenquera diaspora, fled Cartagena and settled in the hills of Montes de María in Colombia’s Caribbean region. 

Around 1845, the first Santo Madero families settled the lands of an area known as El Paraíso, located in the municipality of San Jacinto, Bolívar. Today, the Santo Madero community is home to more than 430 families, or 1,350 people.

Amilcar Rocha, who is the current leader of the Santo Madero Community Council, knows firsthand how the community’s ancestral territory plays a crucial role in their cultural identity, economic stability, and environmental stewardship.

“For black communities, the ancestral territory is an ancient issue that was not born in Colombia. The Colombian government has to guarantee land rights so that Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities can maintain their culture and carry out their traditions,” he explains.

Rocha witnessed how hundreds of people from his community were displaced by violence in 1999, and he helped shape Santo Madero’s initial request for a collective land title with the Colombian Institute of Rural Development (INCODER). Drawing on the experience of Colombia’s most famous Afro-Colombian community in the town of San Basilio de Palenque, he was hopeful that in 2010, the government would respond to their request for a collective land title.

“Six months turned into 14 years, because in Colombia, these procedures are a little longer than what the norm says. And since the implementation of policies here depend on the political will of the government, they did not do it,” Rocha explains.

Protecting their Culture

Santo Madero is nestled in the Montes de María region of the Caribbean where thousands of people were caught in the conflict and subjected to extreme violence and massacres. For more than a decade, residents regularly faced threats and extortion, leading to the loss of income and jobs based on agriculture and prompting many to search for a new life in nearby cities. By 2010, many feared that the traditions of the Palenque diaspora would be lost forever. 

Those who returned to their lands attempted to process individual land titles by joining Colombia’s land restitution program. Rocha continued to advocate for a collective land title to ensure the community’s integrity, since under a collective title, the land cannot be purchased.

“We wanted the collective title to maintain the unity of our territory, to avoid being displaced again, and to avoid land purchases. I knew that if we were divided, eventually people would come to buy our land,” says Rocha.

The Palenquera diaspora has kept alive language and oral traditions as well as a rich cultural heritage of cuisine, dance, and music. Above, the Santo Madero community displays horseback riding skills at a community fiesta.

A Different Type of Miracle

In 2016, in the wake of the historic Peace Agreement, USAID began working with the National Land Agency (ANT), the Colombian institution responsible for titling property that replaced INCODER. Together, USAID and the ANT have implemented municipality-specific Rural Property and Land Administration Plans, known by the Spanish acronym POSPR, in more than 10 municipalities affected by the conflict.

Implementing a POSPR consists of collecting data on all parcels within the municipality to process and register land titles and includes supporting Afro-Colombian and indigenous groups to gather data and request collective land titling.

Between 2021 and 2024, land teams conducted social mapping, historical timeline, and interviews with community leaders in the municipalities of San Jacinto and El Carmen de Bolívar. USAID supported a technical roundtable between the Santo Madero Community Council, the ANT, and the Land Restitution Unit (URT) where technical issues and institutional and community challenges were identified and addressed.

USAID also played a key role in coordinating meetings between government land agencies to determine the how the information collected by USAID through the POSPR can be used.

In May 2024, the ANT issued the collective land title for the Santo Madero community, guaranteeing that the ancestral territory cannot be sold, divided, or taken away.

It is the first collective land title issued as a result of POSPR implementation supported by USAID.

In the municipalities of San Jacinto and El Carmen de Bolívar (Montes de María region), USAID surveyed nearly 14,000 land parcels and set up the government with land and cadaster information to formalize or legalize upwards of 8,000 parcels.

Self-Governance

“This collective land title represents our identity and has a larger scope than just being our property. It means we can govern ourselves and decide what to do with our own resources.”

-Amilcar Rocha, Community Leader in the Santo Madero Community Council

Guiding Principles: Social Inclusion

USAID designed and utilized protocols that include free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) and the designation of an ethnic liaison delegated by the community. 

USAID is working with ethnic authorities and communities in Tumaco, Santander de Quilichao, San Jacinto, El Carmen de Bolívar, and Chaparral to collect information and finish the necessary paperwork so they can request collective land titles from the government.

In total, USAID has conducted 70 successful FPICs, 35 with Afro-Colombian communities and 35 with indigenous groups.

"USAID came at a time when we were ready to throw in the towel and connected us to the National Land Agency to restart the titling process. Our collective land title is the basis for unity and protects our land and our lives."

- Amilcar Rocha