Bolivians Against Land-Grab

Article 2 of the Bolivian constitution recognises indigenous peoples and their territories. The constitution, approved in 2009, declares Bolivia a “plurinational” and recognises the country’s indigenous peoples as nations – one of the promises made by President Evo Morales. But today the constitution and plurinationalism itself are in serious danger with regard to the rights of indigenous peoples, who make up a majority of the population of just over 11 million people. This ethnically diverse landlocked South American country is home to 36 recognised native peoples, the largest of which are the Quechua, Aymara and Guaraní.

Nevertheless, men and women from the Qhara Qhara indigenous people marched nearly 700 km over the space of 41 days, between the official capital, Sucre, and La Paz, the country’s political hub, to protest that the fragmentation of their ancestral lands threatens their culture. During the march, intellectuals, academics and international organisations signed a letter of support “for the native nations and indigenous peoples of Bolivia and the different countries of South America, for their struggle for land and for their right to self-determination, autonomy and restitution of their political authorities and ways of life.”

Martha Cabrera, a “kuraca” or traditional authority of the Qhara Qhara nation, said a law should be created that recognises indigenous peoples’ right to their ancestral lands. The Qhara Qhara – which in the ancient Qaqina language means two hills – people have been fighting for recognition of their culture since 2002, together with the Pikachuri and Qaqina peoples

To illustrate, Cabrera cited a recent land conflict which she said exemplifies the situations experienced by her people. Staff from the state-run National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA), responsible for legalising land titles to rural properties, made an unwelcome visit to the town of Quila Quila on Feb. 27, with police backup.

“Forty police officers and 150 other people ambushed the local inhabitants” to facilitate land measurements requested by ‘third parties’ [people outside the community],” Cabrera complained, referring to an incident that occurred while the march reached the city of Oruro, historically a hub of Bolivia’s social struggles. Quila Quila is located southwest of Sucre, which is the capital of the department of Chuquisaca, one of the nine into which Bolivia is divided. “We don’t want confrontations and the townspeople don’t want the land to be handed over,” said Cabrera. After turning to the justice system in vain for an explanation for the police presence at the scene of the conflict, the lack of answers indicated to Cabrera and other leaders of the march that the order came from high up in the government. In response to the accusations, the national director of INRA, Juan Carlos León, said that 90 percent of Quila Quila’s residents want individual titles to their land, and only 10 percent are demanding the recognition of collective ownership.

Sociologist Arturo Villanueva, an expert on indigenous nations and land agrarian issues, told IPS that what happened in Quila Quila is part of “a setback” in the enforcement of constitutional articles and respect for the collective rights of indigenous peoples. As a precursor to the Qhara Qhara march, he cited an August 1990 march by indigenous peoples from the tropical rainforest in the department of Beni, when they trekked 600 km to protest “the structural bases of the colonial institutionality represented by the monocultural, discriminatory and exclusionary neoliberal and republican State.”

Former “kuraca” Samuel Flores told IPS that in 2012, the “markas” and “ayllus” (enlarged community) that make up the Qhara Qhara nation began to struggle against domination by peasant unions that have the backing of the government and observe with interest the acquisition of portions of land in their territory.

Cabrera and Flores said the Qhara Qhara people produce food, conserve thermal and fresh water sources, and have abundant minerals under their land, such as gold, iron, zinc and tin.

Cabrera said the “outsiders” are city dwellers and, in other cases, are children of the “Yanaconas,” people in the service of landowners prior to the agrarian reform, who are trying to dispossess indigenous peoples of their lands with the help of INRA. The aim, she said, is to obtain rural property with individual titles in order to commercialise the land and not use it for crops.

Villanueva says that underlying the land grab in indigenous communities is an interest in destroying nature and “imposing unbridled extractivism” of natural resources that will result in the displacement of local populations, threatening the very survival of native communities and cultures. He described the struggle of the Qhara Qhara nation as the “final opportunity to preserve hope” and the harmonious relationship between human beings and their natural environment.