The purpose of the research was to identify the aspects influencing the environmental history of solidarity and strengthening processes of local and regional identities in rural areas in southwest Colombia. The methodology was based on the design and the carrying out of itinerant workshops of Participatory Rural Development, Ethnographic records and semistructured interviews. The results highlight the ethical and political tensions in the department of Cauca between liberalism and communitarianism which become central issues in the definition of the sense of community in rural, indigenous and Afro-descendant population.