THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN THE “DOÑA JUANA” LANDFILL DURING THE “SOCIAL ACTION PLAN (2006)” OF THE MAYOR OF BOGOTA-COLOMBIA

Maria del Pilar Leal Londoño, University of Barcelona, Spain

The demographic growth and urban expansion of recent years in the city of Bogota, currently with 6,840,116 inhabitants, has also increased the waste disposal problems, which is a result of the absence of strategic urban planning elements in the above issues. In the year 1988 the so-called "Doña Juana landfill" was put into operation, which at present totals 456 hectares and throughout its history has been managed by various entities, currently being handled by the Spanish company Proactiva. The continuing problems of odors, pests y diseases resulting from the mismanagement of the landfill have led to an important social movement that has existed since 1997, unleashing an unending struggle between the local government and residents of the area affected by the dumping. These residents live in one of the poorest areas of Bogota, represented by two of the local councils (veredas) of the town of Ciudad Bolivar, south of the city. The social organization around the issue of the landfill has led to the creation of the movement "Permanent Assembly for the Closure of the Dump", encouraged by social movements of southern Bogota such as "Southern Assembly" and "Community Alliance Usme". This paper discusses the interesting social movement of the inhabitants of the area affected by the landfill which is dedicated to the closure and non-expansion of the "garbage dump". This landfill was originally decided upon under the mayor office's Social Action Plan in 2006, when the local government proposed to give support to productive projects that could be inserted into the Master Plan of Food Provision of Bogota. The main purpose of this was to respond to the commitment made by the administration to productivity in 2005, a commitment that resulted from demonstrations and the subsequent discussions between social organizations and the mayor.