Tarso
Official Title: Constituent Municipal Assembly of Tarso
Departamento: Antioquia
Region:
Population: c7,500
Location: Southern region of Antioquia, c100 km. south west of Medellin.
Ethnic mix: Mestizo.
IDP population: Not available
Date of establishment: Jan.2001, altho’ meetings to consider action had taken place since Oct.1999
Traditional political affiliation: Not currently known
Trigger event[s]: Possibility that municipio would be downgraded to a corregimiento with consequent loss of status and resources.
Persons/organisations involved in establishment:
Leadership: Mayor and members of municipal council took a leading part in organising the Constituent Assembly and producing an agreed development plan.
Supporters: Help from REDEPAZ.
Declared objectives: Originally related to sustainable development and peaceful coexistence, with an emphasis on democracy & public participation, jobs, education, culture and care of the environment
Relations with local government bodies:
Mayor’s office: Leading role taken by the Mayor. 
Governor’s office:
Memberships of regional organisations:
Organisational structure:
Community meetings:
Decision making bodies
Functional committees.
Valued goods produced in region:
Local armed actors in the region:
Armed forces:
Paramilitaries: Took over control of the region from about 1997
Guerrillas: ELN were very active in the region in the early 1990s
Arrangements with L.A.A.s
Significant events:
Further comments: Local campesinos had a tradition of organising civil resistance to armed actors dating from the 1970s and including a declaration of several “hamlets of peace” in the 1990s. Several peasant leaders have been assassinated, but it seems clear that the formation of this particular Constituent Assembly was not mainly a response to local violence between combatants, at least initially.
Contact details. Tel. +845-8541 and 571-9044/45. E-Mail: [email protected]
Last Updated: Fall 2007.
