Indigenous communities of Cauca and political participation: 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998

Abstract

This study focuses its attention on the indigenous communities of the department of Cauca and the processes of struggle and organization they have carried out and have allowed their presence in scenarios of political participation, negotiation and processes of linkage for decision making of the indigenous populations in the nation. The objective is to analyze and contrast the evolution of the political participation of these communities in the electoral process that took place from the creation of the 1991 Constitution until 1998, emphasizing the elections of the Constituent Assembly, Senate, House of Representatives, governorship and mayoralties, which will be a viewpoint to reference the progress of participation. This article is structured making use of quantitative and qualitative methods, at first through the review of statistical data as a fundamental element for the diagnosis and decision making of the political actors in this case, in which it is necessary the construction of analysis units and variables that allow us to measure the political participation in the electoral processes; this methodology, in complement with the documentary analysis, establishes indicators that show the population that goes to the polls, education levels of the candidates, increases and decreases in the number of seats obtained.