Assessment for Indigenous Highland Peoples in Bolivia

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Risk Assessment | Analytic Summary | References

Risk Assessment

Despite having some risk factors for rebellion, such as territorial concentration and persistent protest in past years, indigenous highlanders in Bolivia are unlikely to rebel so long as Evo Morales, himself an Aymara, remains in power. Other factors, such as governmental efforts to redress highland indigenous grievances and international support for reform and negotiation, also make rebellion less likely. Protest is a well-established part of Bolivian public life that mobilization around issues such as economic opportunities, government services, natural resources administration, and land rights is likely to persist for the foreseeable future. It is also very likely that the highland indigenous of Bolivia will continue to increase their role in the central and local governments through conventional politics as well as by more confrontational tactics. The relevance of the MAS political party (Movement towards Socialism) is an example of the highland indigenous power in national politics. Indigenous highlanders do remain at risk for involvement in communal conflict, as some of the policies of Morales have bred resentment among other groups, including mestizos and whites in the area of Santa Cruz and among some Amazonian indigenous groups.

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Analytic Summary

Highland Indians are the plurality people in Bolivia, reaching 50% of the population. They are primarily Quechua-speaking (30 percent of the total population) and Aymara-speaking (25 percent) Indians of the altiplano and high valleys (LANG = 1). While both the Quechuas and Aymaras belong to the highland indigenous peoples, Aymara’s social structures differ from the Quechua ones. The structure of the traditional Aymaras communities is based on the jilakatura (political category wherein power derives from the will of the community), while in Quechua communities one leader wields maximum authority over the whole of the community (CUSTOM = 1). Many indigenous communities interweave pre-Columbian and Christian symbols, but they are mostly Roman Catholic (RELIGS1 = 1). Most Aymaras live in the department of La Paz; the Quechuas live in Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosi, Chuquisaca, and Tarija (GROUPCON = 3). Other highland groups include the Uru located in the Lake Poopo region in the department of Oruro; the Chipaya of Oruro; and the Callahuaya, an Aymaran subgroup from northern La Paz. Within the Quechua Indian group, local groups exist, including the Tarabucos, the Chayantas, the Laimes, the Ucumaris, the Calchas, the Chaquies, the Yuras Lipes, and the Tirinas. Most of the Highlands Indians are living in the cities and employ themselves in informal and non-mainstream economic activities, while the remaining live in rural areas labouring in small scale farming (GC119 = 4)

The distinction between Indian and non-Indian in Bolivian society is reinforced through language, education, and positions in public office and the military. Although Quechua and Aymara are officially recognized languages, they are rarely taught in the school systems (CULGR04-05 = 1), though this situation is changing due to the fact of the implementation of a new Constitution (CULPO204-06 = 0). Also, while access to primary education is now nearly universal, they have fewer years of schooling and are less likely to enjoy basic services (ECDIS04-06 = 1). Public offices, such as the courts, jails, and government institutions have been reported to discriminate against indigenous people and force them to wait in long lines or to keep them in jail for longer time periods. Indians are barred from swimming pools at some clubs, from walking in certain parts of the streets, they are still ‘peones’ (POLDIS04-06 = 1).

After the Spaniards defeated the Incas in the 16th century, Bolivia's predominantly Indian population was reduced to slavery (AUTLOST = 1).During the first half of the 20th century, there were scattered cases of uprisings against estate owners which held lands claimed by Indians as traditional communal land (in 1950 the haciendados owned over 92 percent of all land). Indians were forced to work the land, were not allowed to vote, and lacked many political rights. Their culture, language, and traditions were socially unaccepted by the European-descended social class. In 1953, the Agrarian Reform Laws were implemented by the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR), which had come to power in a revolution the previous year. The goal of the MNR was to assimilate the Indians through the elimination of their autonomous culture and living patterns; the reforms focused on integrating lowland Indians with particular focus on decreasing their agricultural land. While Indians were given citizenship and the right to vote in 1952 (which they were previously denied as well as the entrance to the main square of La Paz), they were still discriminated against and denied political rights that were given to non-Indian people.

In the 1960s, a primarily Aymaran indigenous movement began to develop in response to forced participation in state-founded political parties that claimed to represent indigenous interests. The movement identified with the former Aymara leader, Tupac Katari, who led the 1781 anti-colonial uprising. The CSUTCB (Unitary Union Confederation of Bolivian Workers and Peasants) eventually arose from this Katarista movement, aligning with other leftist movements. It separated itself from the state-based institutions for indigenous people in 1979. For the next years, the CSUTCB formed local and regional organizations to represent the demands of various highlands groups (GOJPA03 = 2). Under the 1985 MNR government, economic policies were implemented that dissolved much of the communal land upon which Indians lived and worked and ended many social programs that had supported indigenous people. Indigenous groups again began mobilizing to demand social and economic programs that met their needs. By the late-1980s, the CSUTCB had lost support due to its lack of representation across all highland indigenous groups, although it has regained much of its strength in recent years. In recent years, CIDOB (Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia) has been active in representing 34 indigenous groups from seven of the country’s nine departments. Also, the political party MAS (Movement towards Socialism) supports the indigenous cause (GOJPA04-06 = 2), and because of it, the Highland Indians have been able to gain legislative and executive representation through the past years (LEGISREP04-06 = 1; EXECREP05-06 = 1).

The 1980s also saw the emergence of violence in the Chapare (a transition zone between the departments of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz) due to its rising importance to illicit cocaine production. The majority of coca growers are highland Indians and mestizos, displaced by a lack of economic opportunity in the upland valleys. The issue is complicated by the importance of coca to traditional cultures, including religious practices, though most coca produced for these purposes is grown in the Chapare, in the department of La Paz. The US-sponsored eradication program has spurred sometimes violent resistance throughout the region. Occasionally, protests in the capital cities (primarily La Paz) will frame the conflict as one of national and cultural sovereignty. In 1999, the government accused the legislative representative from the Chapare of treason, though charges were later dropped. Violent farmer protests broke out the following year, with widespread roadblocks leading to food shortages in major cities. The government eventually agreed to end plans to construct three military bases in the Chapare (US-funded), but refused to back off of eradication efforts. Between 2001 and 2003, the government continued to eradicate coca farms, use unrestrained force against protesting coca farmers, and arresting thousands . As a result, there has been an increase in support for both conventional and militant organizations representing the highlands cocaleros.

The 2000 resurgence of ethnic violence between Laime and Oaqachacan communities in Oruro resulted in dozens of deaths and the destruction of scores of homes (INTRACON00 = 1). The violence only ended after military occupation and government promises of further economic development in the region. However, the biggest story of the year was the "water war" in the city of Cochabamba. In an effort to improve service and guarantee supplies, the national government had given the rights to develop a local water system to an Italian corporation, promising to privatize water rights and increase prices for many users. Cochabamba residents and area farmers reacted with dramatic street protests; the Banzer government reacted with a show of military force, in which scores were injured and one person was killed. The protests soon spread to other cities, with police officers in La Paz and Santa Cruz walking off their jobs as a show of solidarity. Soon after, the government declared a state of siege, seizing local Cochabamba radio stations. Only after Church-mediated negotiations and a government commitment to revoke the water contract did protests end (PROT00 = 4). Also, protests and blockades (PROT2004 = 3; PROT2003 = 3) that seek reaching the renationalization of other Bolivian natural resources like hydrocarbons and gas started taking place in the Andean cities of Bolivia, what lead to clashes with security forces (PROT2005 = 4).

In 2002, indigenous parties won a quarter of the seats in the legislature. In that same election, opposition leader Evo Morales (leader of the coca farmers and main representative of MAS) became the first indigenous person to reach the final round of a Bolivian presidential election, losing by just a point to former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada from the centrist Nationalist Revolutionary Movement. In 2003, the indigenous led an uprising against the Lozada government over gas policy (ECGR04-06 = 2). The conflict started when congressional deputy Felipe Quispe, an Aymara leader, led road bloack protests near Lake Titicaca, which trapped about 800 tourists in the town of Sorata. Security forces attempted to rescue the tourists but were ambushed by demonstrators, resulting in injury and death of both civilians and soldiers. The conflict sparked the formation of a loose oppositional coalition of indigenous people, unionists, coca farmers, students, NGOs, and peasants, and more violent confrontations ensued as these groups blockaded access roads to La Paz. On October 17, Lozada and his cabinet resigned. During the years of the Gas War, masses of poor indigenous people rose up enraged that the government planned to export gas to the United States through Chile (REB2004-05 = 1). Product of this grievance, battles started taking place between the indigenous protesters and soldiers, leaving several people dead and other ones have been arrested. (REPVIOL2004 = 5; REPVIOL2005 = 4) However, everything seemed to have settled down with the election of the formal coca leader Evo Morales as President of Bolivia on December 18, 2005 (REPVIOL2006 = 0; REB2006 = 0). Moreover, now the indigenous group also counts with the political support of Venezuela’s populist president, Hugo Chavez, as well as from International Organizations like the Organization of American States (OAS), which has been helping legitimate Bolivians authorities and has given support to establish a dialogue within the Bolivian society in order to overcome the social crisis (STAPOLSUP2004-06 = 1).

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