Entre avionetas, carreteras y los Shuar: la colonización del Valle Upano

Abstract

The present investigation is focused on inquiring about the process of colonization of the Upano Valley by the Center for Economic Reconversion of Azuay, Cañar area and Morona Santiago, CREA between 1960 and 1980, which sought to consolidate and integrate the area with the rest of the country. It has been seen necessary to address this topic, since it has practically not been studied by Ecuadorian historians, and it is absent in academic works. This should not be treated only as a way of contributing to the history of the Region, but also as a description of both the relationships between the groups present in the area and the state of the local economy, before and after the colonizing project. This will seek to take into account the negative effects of the project within the local population and how it failed to solve the economic and transportation crisis within the valley. To carry out this analysis, we seek to use a qualitative methodology based on the information from the CREA archive and the scattered bibliographic information about the colonizing project and the context in which it was developed.