/* Written 3:37 PM Apr 12, 1997 by igc:newsdesk in ax:ips.english */
Copyright 1997 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 09-Apr-97 ***
Title: INDIGENOUS-BOLIVIA: Still a Way to Go for Full Recognition
By Juan Carlos Rocha
LA PAZ, Apr 9 (IPS) - Bolivia's indigenous people have made great
strides in securing constitutional recognition of their rights but
their leaders say much of the advance toward full equality remains
on paper.
Vice-President Victor Hugo Cardenas, a member of the Aymara
indigenous community, says the State's recognition of indigenous
rights is not sufficiently accompanied in everyday political and
social reality.
Since Cardenas' election in 1993, Bolivia has introduced laws
recognising the position of indigenous groups. The first article of
the new constitution, approved in November 1993, defines this
country as ''a free, independent, sovereign, multi-ethnic and multi-
cultural republic.''
Another constitutional article states that ''the social,
economic and cultural rights of the indigenous people are
recognised and protected, especially those corresponding to their
community lands and guarantee the sustainable use of natural
resources and indigenous identity, values, languages, customs and
institutions.''
Indigenous candidates are represented in the voting lists of all
10 parties contesting parliamentary seats in election on June 1 to
push home the point that the indigenous peoples must continue the
fight for political rights.
As Marcial Fabricano, head of the Confederation of Indigenous
Peoples of Eastern Bolivia, pointed out: advances so far have not
been simply a product of generous concessions by the State, but the
result of a long, hard struggle in defence of those rights.
Fabricano, whose participation in two indigenous marches earned
him widespread support among rights activists will run in the June
elections as the vice-presidential candidate of the Free Bolivia
Movement (MBL), Foreign Minister Antonio Aranibar's party.
Bolivia's new laws recognise native communities and peasant
unions as legal entities, and the authority of their natural
representatives, who can administer and apply their own norms to
resolve conflicts. Laws such as one on 'Popular Participation' are
designed to incorporate indigenous and peasant communities into the
legal, political and economic life of the country, and stipulate
funding designed to gradually reduce the ageold differences in
levels of development.
A recent Educational Reform law establishes intercultural and
bilingual education to replace mandatory instruction in Spanish.
Perhaps the most significant advance will be the State's delivery
to some 300 indigenous commynities title deeds to more than 10
million hectares in six of the country's nine departments.
This is a 'first' for Latin America, says the director of the
National Institute of Agrarian Reform, Isabel Lavadenz.
''We are giving the indigenous people the right to property,
even jurisdiction over parks, with a specific set of laws that
have to do with the preservation of these areas,'' she explains.
''The indigenous have shown themselves to be the best guardians of
the earth, and those who best know how to coexist with the eco-
system.''
Despite such statements Bolivia's institutions, and society as a
whole, have not full accepted that the rights of indigenous people
and the multi-ethnic character of the nation are part of daily
life, say leaders like Fabricano and Cardenas.
''We have to consolidate the progress made in the juridical and
theoretical spheres, and make Bolivian society assume the reality
of diversity and put it into practice,'' Fabricano says.
''Unfortunately, there is not yet a generous opening toward the
indigenous movement,'' says Cardenas, who views his position in the
vice-presidency as the ''first step'' in a long process toward
incorporating his people into the management of State affairs.
(END/IPS/trd-so/jcr/sw/mk/97)
Origin: Rome/INDIGENOUS-BOLIVIA/
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[c] 1997, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
All rights reserved
[ Redistributed to NATIVE-L and Usenet newsgroups with permission. ]
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