Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE BOLIVIAN AMAZON
The Bolivian Amazon is home to twenty-nine indigenous peoples, each with their own dis-
tinct language and culture, ranging in size from the
Moxeños
, who number around 43,000,
to groups like the
Araona
, now reduced to no more than about a hundred people. While
the combined population of these indigenous peoples is in the region of one million, this
is a mere fraction of the population that lived here before the arrival of European diseases
and the near-genocidal impact of the rubber boom, when huge numbers were enslaved and
forcedtoworkinappallingconditions.Aftercenturiesofexternalcontact-withconquista-
dors, missionaries, rubber barons, soldiers, drug traffickers, anthropologists and now tour-
ists-manyoftheindigenouspeopleoftheAmazonnowspeakSpanishandhaveadopteda
fairlyconventionalBolivianlifestyle,engaginginthemarketeconomyasworkersandcon-
sumers and preferring rubber boots and football shirts to their traditional handmade cos-
tumes. However, many others still survive by hunting, fishing and cultivating manioc and
other crops in small clearings in the forest, much as they have done for thousands of years,
and rely for medicine on the powers of traditional healers and their encyclopedic know-
ledge of thousands of different rainforest plants. The most traditional indigenous groups
are the uncontacted tribes - known as the
Nahuas
and
Toromonas
- small nomadic bands
thought to be living deep in the rainforest who eschew all contact with Bolivian society.
THE STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY
Largely dependent on the rainforest for their livelihoods, the indigenous peoples of the
Bolivian Amazon were among the first to recognize the danger posed by the gathering pace
of deforestation. In 1990 they staged the first of several “
Marches for Territory and Dig-
nity
”, walking 650km from Trinidad to La Paz to demand the recognition of their right to
land and self-determination. This campaign drew international attention to their plight and
led to new legislation and the recognition of large areas of the Beni as indigenous territori-
al reserves. While the 2005 election of Evo Morales brought further legislative successes,
with the ratifying of indigenous rights to self-determination, self-government and financial
management, the situation on the ground remains precarious, with Morales facing the un-
easy contradictions of bolstering the rights of native people while developing the country's
newly nationalized oil, gas and mineral reserves.
In May 2010, the region's indigenous groups declared themselves in a “state of emer-
gency”, demanding that the government protect them from oil, logging and mining com-
panies, and speaking out against ongoing delays in the titling of indigenous lands. They
also denounced corruption in governmental consultations with the Moxeño, Yuyucare and
T'simane peoples of the
Parque Nacional y Reserva Indígena Isiboro-Sécure
, a beau-
tiful wilderness region between the Ríos Isiboro and Sécure, through which the Morales
administration has approved the construction of a major road. Yet, in addition to proposed
