Juegos de Poder en la Conquista del Sur.:Dominacion, resistencia y transformacion en las luchas contra el extractivismo. Parque Nacional Canaima, Venezuela
The purpose of this manuscript is to closely examine the power dynamics in resistance struggles to extractivism in Latin America, through a case study in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. Through a retrospective analysis of a socio-environmental conflict over the construction of a high voltage power line to explore electricity from Venezuela to Brazil, which took place between 1997 and 2000, the authors describe and analyze the power dynamics among the indigenous people Pemon and the State for the duration of the conflict, and the subsequent fifteen years. The purpose is to shed light on power games in the dynamics of transformation of socio-environmental conflicts. This implies analyzing the interrelation between the strategies used by the Pemons to impact the hegemonic power, but also those used by the State to reinforce its power and advance an extractivist agenda in the south of the country. This case study will demonstrate that what is transformed and what is not during socio-environmental conflicts depends on the way in which these power relations are exercised and how they develop over time, together with the definition of roles and strategic objectives in a relationship that is generally asymmetric between indigenous peoples (in this case Pemon) and the State
