After the publication of some videos showing destroyed frailejones, excavated soils and areas affected by the passage of 4×4 trucks, in the Cruz Verde de Sumapaz moor, a great debate has been sparked about the regulation of tourist activities and the entry of heavy vehicles for sporting purposes that are usually common in these places, and they may be operating within the limits of what is considered a protected area.
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This situation occurred on May 18 in the morning hours, where Six Toyota brand off-road trucks entered the forest reserve area and left destroyed vegetation in their wake. This was captured on video and caught the attention of authorities. The Regional Autonomous Corporation (CAR) began an investigation into the events and is investigating whether they were responsible.
In the Sumapaz moor, the rivers Paguey, Bajo Sumapaz, Panches, Cujía, Negro, Medio Sumapaz, Pilar, San Juan, Alto Sumapaz and the Negra stream emerge.
Photo:Courtesy Oscar Perfer. Photographer CAR Cundinamarca
Several tourism, rally and other companies are located around the moor to use these lands for sports purposes. The residents of the area comment that every eight days enduro-type motorcycles go to race these roads. In addition, residents report that they compete with this type of vehicle without any authorization.
Law 1930 of 2018 prohibits activities that threaten the well-being of the moor, such as making bonfires, playing loud music, driving heavy traffic and doing motor sports, among others.
These groups are associations of bikers or people who practice the sport of motocross, hiking, motorcycle tourism, and truck gatherings. Generally, when they do it in moors, they cause damage to native vegetation, because not everyone goes along the roads that are enabled, but rather along closed bridle paths, and these places are more likely to be violated by the passage of vehicles. .
White Toyota in the Santa Cruz wasteland, 2024
Photo:Social networks
In a complaint made by the user Carlos Tamayo on the social network According to Tamayo, They are part of the Toyoteros Colombia group that organizes meetings in vehicles of this brand on roads in poor condition.usually called ‘trails’.
In the videos you can see six trucks but more could have joined this journey. Among one of the owners of the trucks is Rodrigo Tuscher, candidate for the Cota council in 2022.
EL TIEMPO called the number that appears on the profile of Toyoteros Colombia, whose founder is Sergio Lozano, but the person who answered responded with another name.
The director of the CAR, Alfred Ballesteros explained to EL TIEMPO how these tourism companies operate in these prohibited areas, “these companies never ask for permits to access the moors, and they cannot be given them, because these activities are prohibited in these areas.” reservation areas” and adds “generally companies circulate information about events on social networks and people who want to attend register and go wherever, they are very large communities.”
For her part, Paola Echeverri, spokesperson for the WWF of Bogotá and an expert on paramos, explained the impact that this type of traffic and competitions generate on the ecosystem “these activities go against all the precautions that must be taken in the paramos. There is an impact on water regulation because these cars destroy the soils that function as a sponge, In addition, the noise produced by vehicles scares away the native fauna of the area, such as bears, birds and other types of animals. The third point is that they destroy the vegetation and these ecosystems take years to recover.”
frailejones affected
Photo:Social networks
One of them was Nativos Road, a company dedicated to motorcycle tourism with multipurpose motorcycles. The CAR put a preventive measure against the activity that was planned to take place on May 26 along a route that, according to the entity, is a wasteland area and cannot be entered with this type of vehicle.
The call for said event circulated on social networks, indicating that the meeting point would be at the SITP Las Gaviotas location in the town of San Cristóbal Sur and the description of the 50-kilometer route to the municipality of Chipaque.
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EL TIEMPO contacted Javier García, founder and director of the Nativo Road company, and in response to the situation he declared that “we were not going to enter the moor, it was a misinterpretation by the CAR.” According to García, they had a permit from the Mayor’s Office, but not from the regulatory entity, therefore, the event was canceled.
The director of the CAR indicated that in the coming weeks they will convene meetings to educate and socialize the rules of the moors to tourism companies.
