A municipality of the La Guajira Department since 1994, it has a population of approximately 17,014 inhabitants, the majority of which being workers of El Cerrejon coal mine.

BHP and its joint venture partners, Anglo American and Glencore, became equal owners of the Cerrejon Zona Norte (CZN) coal mine in Colombia in February 2002, When they acquired International Colombia Resources Corporation (Intercor) from ExxonMobil, Which held the mine's remaining 50 per cent ownership and operational interests.

As part of the legal process, a survey was conducted to determine whether the people of the village wanted to sell their possession rights or be relocated.

The survey established that there were 213 possession rights in Tabaco, of which 8 were municipal public properties, 151 were unoccupied lands or houses and 54 were occupied dwellings.

In August 2001, the remaining 13 possession rights were acquired through an expropriation process ordered by national judges in accordance with the Colombian Mining Law.