At dawn on 26 November, Barrancabermeja opened a new chapter in the territorial dialogue of the Santander Vision 2050 project. Social leaders, businesspeople, community representatives, and government officials gathered with a common purpose: to understand the territory in all its complexity and advance its transformation from the ground up, beyond debate, in an exercise of collective reflection and future-building. The event took place at the Alejandro Galvis Galvis Public Library, headquarters of the Industrial University of Santander.
For Juan Sebastián Gómez Fuentes, a student at UIS Barrancabermeja, this type of space is essential because it allows ‘in-depth knowledge of the problems facing the region, both in terms of business and supply and demand, in order to identify what needs to be addressed and how to improve for the future.’
Along the same lines, Richard Walter Triana, director of the Magdalena Medio Regional Studies Centre, highlighted that foresight ‘helps us to carry out planning exercises by looking at possible scenarios for 2050, visualising those futures and then returning to the present to ask ourselves which scenario we want to commit to and what decisions the actors in the territory must take to get there’.
The executive director of ProBarrancabermeja, Susana Meza, stressed that the role of the productive sector is decisive for the region’s future: ‘The development path of the city and the region depends on entrepreneurs. We have to prepare ourselves today to build that new path, especially in the midst of the national and international circumstances we are experiencing.’
The discussion on Santander 2050 Territorial Prospects thus marked the beginning of the SVP2050 team’s fifth tour, this time through Magdalena Medio. Between spontaneous interventions and profound reflections, the participants agreed on something essential: the future cannot be improvised; it must be built by listening to those who inhabit the territory and know it from its shores, its streets and its rivers.
A journey through the productive heart of the region
After the discussion, the Santander Vision 2050 team, accompanied by Andrés Mauricio Montes Tenorio, coordinator of the UIS Barrancabermeja, set sail on the Magdalena River, that living corridor that has shaped the economic, social and cultural destiny of the region.
The boat advanced through gentle eddies and a humid breeze, revealing a landscape that is everyday for locals but striking for visitors: the river as the backbone of a productive system that breathes between historical tensions and emerging opportunities.
For Andrés Montes, coordinator of UIS Barrancabermeja, these tours are essential because ‘the actors in the territory are the ones who know it, who know what the needs are and who are called upon to build the future they want for their communities’.
Cantagallo and Puerto Wilches: two shores, one challenge
The journey continued downstream to Cantagallo (Bolívar) and Puerto Wilches (Santander), territories separated by administrative boundaries but united by similar problems.
In Cantagallo, the conversation revolved around African palm production, subsistence crops, livestock, rice, and economic dynamics based on river transport and trade with Barrancabermeja and Bucaramanga. However, one warning became clear: accelerated sedimentation on the left bank of the Magdalena, which could render the river port itinerant and drastically increase logistics costs, affecting the livelihoods of hundreds of families.
In Puerto Wilches, on the other hand, concern focused on the urgent need to update the Land Use Plan, a decisive instrument to prevent rapid productive and urban expansion from leading to disorderly development.
San Rafael de Chucurí: a territory that resists
The journey then continued upstream to the village of San Rafael de Chucurí, home to just over a thousand inhabitants who are resisting the transformative and threatening force of the river.
Over the last fifty years, the Magdalena has migrated eastward, slowly eroding the banks. In just two decades, the township has lost one urban block, and projections warn that another could disappear in the next 25 years if measures such as the installation of hexapods, known as “tablestacado”, are not taken.
For Sergio Lozano, a resident of the district, it is urgent that companies generate employment for local young people to prevent migration. He also highlighted the ecotourism potential of the area: ‘San Rafael has beautiful places that could attract visitors.’
But in addition to challenges, San Rafael is home to an invaluable natural treasure: the Ciénaga de San Rafael de Chucurí, a wetland covering nearly 21 kilometres that is part of the Chucurí system, home to marshes such as Aguas Blancas, El Barro and Aguas Negras. To access this ecosystem, one navigates a narrow canal where buffalo, monkeys moving among trees, and herons watching from the marsh can be observed.
The district also has a deep historical connection: archaeological remains of ceramics have been found in its northern area, evidence of the presence of ancient communities, which represents enormous potential for cultural and research tourism.
Infrastructure, education and a river that defines destinies
San Rafael has sports fields, a gym, a playground, paved roads, and storm and sanitary sewer systems. Its secondary school remains open thanks to subsidised river transport, which allows students from nearby villages to get to class.
However, river traffic has decreased by 30%, affecting more than 60 families. New roads have reduced demand for this traditional service. Andrés Ayala Contreras, a river transport operator, sums it up as follows:
‘Young people have migrated in large numbers because river transport is tending to disappear. We used to travel to La Dorada, Caldas or Magangué, Bolívar, but now only the route to Puerto Berrío remains active. Land transport is cheaper and we cannot compete.’
A collective reading towards 2050
The tour revealed the diversity of Magdalena Medio, but also one constant: each territory retains a deep desire for the future, one that is built between urgent needs and deferred dreams.
Key points for the technical report emerge from the voices collected:
- Port risk due to sedimentation and increased logistics costs.
- Urgency to update the POT (Land Use Plan) for Puerto Wilches and surrounding municipalities.
- Accelerated erosion and imminent urban risk in San Rafael de Chucurí.
- Tourism, natural and historical potential of the marshland and archaeological finds.
- Dependence on river traffic, now reduced but vital for social and educational cohesion.
The river as a teacher
The Magdalena was not just a route: it was a teacher. Through each landing stage, each community dialogue and each changing landscape, the Santander Vision 2050 team confirmed that foresight is not written from offices: it is built by navigating, listening and recognising the territory.
And those who participated understood this clearly: the future of Santander is not upstream or downstream; it is in the sum of all the voices that inhabit it.
