Muros de papel: la metamorfosis del comercio libre en actividad informal bajo la sombra de Macondo

With the aim of overcoming conventional econometric limitations and capturing the human dimension of informal trade, this study sought to analyze the evolution of this activity through the narrative framework of One Hundred Years of Solitude. It demonstrates how, through the fictional reality of Macondo—from its founding to its disappearance—one can simultaneously access the real historical process underlying the transformation of free trade into informal economic activity. In doing so, the study highlights the dialectical tension between the intrinsic nature of human commercial exchange and the restrictive legal structures imposed by the State in its attempt to regulate it.The research was conducted within the interpretive paradigm, employing a qualitative approach, an analytical-documentary design, and the analytical-synthetic method. Through the triangulation of the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Hernando de Soto, the study deconstructed the identified problem and revealed three major milestones in the commercial activity of the village that transcend the universe of Macondo: first, primitive exchange and natural openness; second, economic autonomy versus external regulation; and third, the banana enclave economy. The findings confirm that informal trade emerges as a historical response to legal barriers and that the novel constitutes a scaled representation of the socioeconomic and political development of Latin America.