The Asociación Municipal Campesina de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores de Piamonte Cauca (ASIMTRACAMPIC) is a Colombian non-governmental organisation founded in 2013 in the municipality of Piamonte, located in the southwest of Colombia, in the region of La Bota Caucana, between the regions of Cauca, Caquetá and Putumayo. It began as an organised response by the local peasant community to environmental degradation, violence and institutional neglect in one of the most biodiverse areas of Colombia, but also an area with a strong presence of illegal armed actors and illicit economies.
ASIMTRACAMPIC has more than 900 members, that promotes the right to territory, the construction of peace based in community involvement, the protection of Amazonian ecosystems, food sovereignty and the strengthening of human rights, with a focus on children, youth and gender equality. The organisation actively opposes practices that threaten the environmental and social balance of the territory, such as the expansion of the agricultural frontier, deforestation, illegal mining, illicit crops and pollution from the oil industry.
Among their main activities are supporting illicit crop substitution processes, the promotion of community forestry management and the consolidation of sustainable production systems. ASIMTRACAMPIC has promoted productive alliances with the aim of developing sustainable production chains of meat, milk, rubber, cocoa and non-timber Amazonian products, such as Amazonian pineapple. In addition, in alliance with the Amazonian Institute for Scientific Research (SINCHI), the organisation protects more than 1,380 hectares of Amazonian forest. It also participates in the recovery of biological corridors for endangered species, such as the endemic and critically endangered Caquetá titi monkey.
ASIMTRACAMPIC has also promoted human rights training workshops for rural communities in order to strengthen their organisational and protection capacities in the face of the risks they face.
It is worth noting that the organisation has been a promoter of the creation of a Peasant Reserve Zone (ZRC) in Piedmont, as a mechanism to guarantee rural development with a territorial and environmental approach.
However, their work is fraught with risks. Since 2014, members have faced threats, arbitrary searches, stigmatisation, forced displacement, attacks and even killings. These aggressions have intensified due to their stand on rejecting illegal economies and their active defense of the environment.
Since 2024, ASIMTRACAMPIC has been accompanied by SweFOR, as part of an effort to provide greater visibility and protection to human rights defenders in high-risk contexts.