Protection of Colombian Intangible Cultural Heritage. Perspectives from its Safeguarding in the Departament of Tolima; Protección del patrimonio cultural inmaterial colombiano. Perspectivas desde su salvaguarda en el departamento del Tolima

The intangible cultural heritage is of great importance for society, because it gives a sense of posterity and collective consciousness, generates identity and belonging. In this sense, Colombian society, and in particular the society of Tolima, is a clear example of this social phenomenon. In its territory where a heterogeneity of richness and cultural visions produced by the convulsed history of the country converge. In view of the above, the State as representative of society has developed strategies for the protection of intangible cultural heritage in accordance with international treaties and various social actors who advocate mechanisms for the protection of intangible cultural heritage, due to the dangers that can undermine these social assets of each community. Such situations would include, for example, Colom-bia’s internal armed conflict or the cultural homogenization that globalization can bring. Therefore, it is pertinent to analyze the various actions of the Colombian State in order to fulfill the aforementioned purposes. This being so, the need to grant protection to intangible cultural heritage and more specifically to traditional cultural expressions through intellectual property is also problematized. Under this reasoning, the present text proposes to review by means of the SWOT matrix the regulations produced by the Colombian State for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage in the department of Tolima.