Indigenous peoples in Bolivia

Native Bolivians

Bolivianos nativos ( Amazon Rainforest
La Paz	1,474,654[1]
Cochabamba	835,535[1]
Potosí	572,314[1]
Santa Cruz	521,814[1]
Chuquisaca	289,728[1]
Languages
Spanish • Indigenous languages (including Quechua, Aymara, Guarani, Chiquitano)
Religion
Majority: Catholicism Minority: Indigenous religion
Related ethnic groups
Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The Indigenous peoples in Bolivia or Native Bolivians (

An additional 30–68% of the population is mestizo, having mixed European and Indigenous ancestry.

Lands collectively held by Indigenous Bolivians are Native Community Lands or Tierras Comunitarias de Origen (TCOs). These lands encompass 11 million hectares,^[6] and include communities such as Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area, Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory, Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve and Communal Lands, and the Yuki-Ichilo River Native Community Lands.

Rank	Department	Percentage	Total population
1	Potosí	69.50%	572,314
2	La Paz	54.49%	1,474,654
3	Oruro	51.08%	252,444
4	Chuquisaca	50.29%	289,728
5	Cochabamba	47.52%	835,535
6	Beni	31.82%	134,025
7	Pando	23.78%	26,261
8	Santa Cruz	19.65%	521,814
9	Tarija	14.49%	69,872
Source: Bolivian census 2012 [1]

In 1991, the Bolivian government signed the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, a major binding international convention protecting Indigenous rights. On 7 November 2007, the government passed Law No. 3760 which approved of UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.^[6]

In 1993, the Law of Constitutional Reform recognized Indigenous rights.^[8]

Historically Indigenous people in Bolivia suffered many years of marginalization and a lack of representation.

Similarly, the 2000 Water War bought these protests to national attention.^[14] The Water War began in the city of Cochabamba, where the private company Bechtel began to increase rates for water after the government contracted out to privatize Cochabamba's water system.^[14] When Cochabamba's residents realized they could not afford to pay for this resource, they began to protest in alliance with urban workers, rural peasants and students.^[13] The mass protest resulted in a state of emergency as clashes against the police and protestors became more violent.^[9] The protests were largely successful and resulted in the reversal of the privatization.^[9]

Additionally in 2003, as reliance on natural resources in Bolivia's economy grew, resistance came from Bolivia's Indigenous community in the form of the Gas Wars.^[15] This conflict, which grew from the Water Wars, united coca farmers, unions and citizens to protest the sale of Bolivia's gas reserves to the United States through the port of Chile.^[14] Again, Indigenous peoples participated alongside miners, teachers and ordinary citizens through road blockades and the disruption of traffic.^[14] Political protests for social and economic reforms have been a consistent method for Indigenous mobilization and inclusion in the political process.^[14] They have concluded in successful results and created a platform for Indigenous rights. The protest movements soon paved the way for legal and political changes and representation.

Indigenous march in 2011

In 2011 Bolivian Indigenous activists started a long protest march from the Amazon plains to the country's capital, against a government plan to build a 306 km (190 mi) highway through a national park in Indigenous territory.^[16]

The subcentral Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS), the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia (CIDOB), and the highland Indigenous confederation National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu (CONAMAQ)—supported by other indigenous and environmental groups—organized a march from Trinidad, Beni, to the national capital La Paz in opposition to the project, beginning on 15 August 2011.^[17]

"One of the latest tactics deployed by governments to bypass Indigenous contestation is to consult non-[local] Indigenous communities. This happened to communities in the case of the road project through Bolivia's Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS)." International pressure built up after Evo Morales' government violently repressed a large Indigenous march against a road project in "the massacre of Chaparina".^[18]

This led to the Chaparina Massacre—on 25 September 2011, national police brutally repressed Indigenous marchers protesting the construction of a government-proposed highway through the TIPNIS Indigenous territory and national park.^[19]

One of the biggest successes for Bolivia's Indigenous community was the election of Evo Morales, former leader of the cocaleros and Bolivia's first Indigenous president.^[20] President Morales attempted to establish a plurinational and postcolonial state to expand the collective rights of the Indigenous community.^[21] The 2009 constitution recognized the presence of the different communities that reside in Bolivia and gave Indigenous peoples the right of self-governance and autonomy over their ancestral territories.^[21] Expanding on the Constitution, the 2010 Framework Law of Autonomies and Decentralization outlined the legal rules and procedures that Indigenous communities must take to receive autonomy.^[20] Through these decentralization efforts, Bolivia became the first plurinational state in South America.^[22] However, many Indigenous communities claim that the process to receive autonomy is inefficient and lengthy.^[21] Along with Indigenous concerns, there are internal issues and competing interests between Bolivia's restrictive legal framework, liberal policies and the concept of Indigenous self-governance.^[20] Nonetheless, the addition of subautonomies in Bolivia's government has made strides in including Indigenous communities in the political process.

In 2015 Bolivians made history again by selecting the first Indigenous president of the

• Ossio Acuña, Juan M. Ideología mesiánica del mundo andino. Ignacio Prado Pastor.