1. Indigenous Peoples’ constitutional recognition in two
multiethnic states: a cross-national exploration of Bolivia and
Peru
Miguel Morillas
Theoretical framework, methodology and justification
There are two types of paradigms that have been used for understanding liberal democracies
understanding them as visions of social justice: redistribution and recognition. According to
Nancy Fraser, members of the first camp hope to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor,
from the North to the South and from the owners to the workers. Members of the second, in
contrast, seek recognition of the distinctive perspective of ethnic, racial and sexual minorities,
as well as of gender difference and adds that the first paradigm has led to theorizing about
social justice whereas the paradigm orientation is relatively recent and has lately attracted
1
political philosophers. Among ethnic minorities it can be found endless examples of a possible
application of both paradigms can be found, since they can be at the same time less favoured in
redistributive terms and also misrecognized. One of these ethnic minorities are indigenous
peoples (IPs) whom are defined by Kymlicka and Norman as a national minority in their
typology of minority groups. For them IP meet the criteria of minority nationhood and exist in all
the continents. Typically their traditional land were overrun by settlers and then forcibly, or
through treaties, incorporated into states run by outsiders. IPs usually seek for the ability to
maintain certain traditional ways of life and beliefs while nevertheless participating on their own
terms in the modern world. In addition to the autonomy needed to work out this sort of project,
IP also typically require of the larger society long-overdue expressions of respect and
recognition to begin to make amends for indignities they suffered for decades or centuries as
23
second-class citizens or even non-citizens or slaves. A similar definition is given by the
International Labour Organization but introducing the concept of “Tribal peoples” whom are
members of independent countries whose social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish
them from other sections of the national community, and whose status is regulated wholly or
partially by their own customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations; peoples in
independent countries who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the
populations which inhabited the country, or a geographical region to which the country belongs,
at the time of conquest or colonisation or the establishment of present state boundaries and
who, irrespective of their legal status, retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural
and political institutions (ILO Convention, 1989).
1
Fraser, Nancy. 2001: 21.
2
Kymlicka and Norman, 2000: 20.
3
Kymlicka, Will and Norman, Wayne (2000). Citizenship in Culturally Diverse. Societies: Issues,
Contexts, Concepts: 20.
1

2. If we take these paradigms and apply them to IPs in a myriad of countries around the world it
could lead us to think that both redistribution and recognition could be present. That is, some
indigenous communities would be willing to be recognized in order to have the rights of their
ancestral territories, cultural practices and traditions as part of the national demos on equal
footing with the other communities but also it can be the case that indigenous peoples as
traditionally being part of the less favoured groups of a given society, regardless of being a
numerical minority or not, claim for social justice in terms of a fairer way redistribution of
resources.
For the case of Latin American IPs, if we try to fit their vindications in what Fraser -trying to
conciliate redistribution and the identity model of recognition- defines as the status model of
recognition, we should take into account that we will be attempting to transcend the mere
cultural recognition of their specificities and the traditional economical disadvantage that they
4
have gone through the establishment of the republics in the continent. They way to attain a
type of recognition that would tend to equate its status is defined as constitutional recognition,
since constitution is the mean to set fundamental principles to rule society in the terms that the
society itself consider the fairest.
Constitutional recognition is, thus, not a mere theoretical statement of compliance but it is
translated in specific binding norms that aim to rule society since. From a structuralist
standpoint, states constitutions could set the patterns of a new more inclusive citizenship
through the moulding of people’s behaviour. Constitutional recognition aims to proceed in this
way towards an ethos characterized by participatory parity. That is –in the case of Latin
American IP- the deontological component of recognition in Fraser’s status model.
This effort is oriented towards tackling what could be call misrecognition which is a matter of
externally manifest and publicly verifiable impediments to some people’s standing as full
members of society (Fraser, 2001: 27). In our case, to find an objective criterion to measure a
subjective concept such as misrecognition we choose the lack of constitutional specification of
the status of IPs and its disappearance as a differentiated cultural entity susceptible to be
subsumed in “peasants” or “poor”. There is ample historical evidence of discrimination against
indigenous populations which led to their objective inferior status in terms of access to
education, health and inclusion in national projects in general. If we are prone to accept this as
an injustice, from a moral point of view positive action has to be implemented to make possible
for the less-favoured to interact with other members of society as peers (See Annex: Table 1).
As José Bengoa pointed out, by proposing a multiethnic and multicultural society not only have
IPs questioned their own poverty and marginalization, but they have questioned the relations of
domination of Latin American society based in racial discrimination, ethnic intolerance and
4
According to Fraser, to view recognition as a matter of status is to examine institutionalized patterns of
cultural value for their effects on the relative standing of social actors. If and when such patterns
constitute actors as peers, capable of participating on a par with one another in social life, then we can
speak of reciprocal recognition and status equality (Fraser, 2001: 24).
2

3. domination of one culture on the other. The IPs have questioned the bases of the Republican
State in Latin America, built on the idea of "one people, one nation, a single state (Bengoa,
5
2004).
ILO clearly states that in the article No 169 of legally binding Convention that they seek for the
recognition of the cultural and other specificities of indigenous and tribal peoples making clear
that Indigenous and tribal peoples’ cultures and identities form an integral part of their lives.
Their ways of life, customs and traditions, institutions, customary laws, forms of land use and
forms of social organization are usually different from those of the dominant population. The
Convention recognizes these differences, and aims to ensure that they are protected and taken
into account when any measures are being undertaken that are likely to have an impact on
these peoples (ILO, 1989). If the constitutions of those states that posses indigenous population
have to comply with international law then they have accept these terms in the way it has been
specified in the Convention.
At the international level we could see that the ILO resolution on IPs fits with Fraser’s idea of the
use of recognition in a deontological way oriented to find a parity of participation. In this regards,
the principles of consultation and participation are specified requiring that indigenous and tribal
peoples are consulted on issues that affect them. It also requires that these peoples are able to
engage in free, prior and informed participation in policy and development processes that affect
them related not only to specific development projects, but also to broader questions of
governance, and the participation of indigenous and tribal peoples in public life (ILO, 1989).
Thus, recognition is not only done for the mere sake of cultural diversity but it implies
participation.
As we said, in the case of Latin America we could state that there is a clear correspondence
between the notion of differentiated indigenous population and economic and social
disadvantage. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of
the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people until 2008, stated that one of
the biggest changes that have occurred in the last half century in Latin America concerning
indigenous peoples is precisely its emergence as new political recognized actors. They have
become organized, they take part in elections, they have their militant organizations, and they
6
are placing their demands in the public agenda .
The first problem when it comes to talk about IPs in Latin America is the problem in political
terms is who is defined as indigenous. This inaccuracy in the demographic measurement,
hence, the difficulty that we find when it come to state an exact –or approximate- figure of how
many indigenous peoples inhabit each country. Five states are considered bearing significant
indigenous population in the continent in the whole: Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Bolivia and
5
In: Aguilar, Gonzalo; Lafosse, Sandra; Rojas, Hugo; Steward, Rébecca: 57.
6
HemiScope special Edition, Interview by Peter H. Smith with Prof. Rodolfo Stavenhagen Series:
HemiScope [6/2008] [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 14667].
3

4. Peru. Within these states, if we focus on the percentage of IP compared with non-indigenous
population. According to Mesa Gisbert, only two states will have more than the half of the total
7
population conformed by IPs: Guatemala and Bolivia. Thus, in this sense IPs internally
represent a numerical majority.
This paper will focus on three countries from the Andean region of South America: Ecuador,
Bolivia and Peru. The reason for this selection lies on the fact that they are the countries with
the largest indigenous populations in South America and are often deemed to have similar
political reality and ethnic composition, as previously mentioned. In extension, it is not
delusional to see indigenous populations in these countries as political actors, since they would
represent an important part of the total population, can modify the existing political institutions
and integrate more inclusive patterns within the existing democratic context, e.g. in regards to
social policies and participation. Thus, it comes to mind that the implications will certainly have a
greater impact in those countries with a large indigenous population rather than in those that
have not. It can be the case that in some countries the IP are acknowledged as part of a
“historical minority” (e.g. Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica) given its more reduced number,
whereas in other countries IP could be considered more vivid and influencing political actors
8
(e.g. Ecuador, Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru).
In this regards, IP in the last decades they have become legally recognized in a large number of
Latin American countries, being implemented legal and constitutional reforms wherefore first
time they are recognized as actors in their own society and subjects of the law and bearers of
human rights (Stavenhagen, 2008). Nevertheless, the kind of recognition conferred may vary
not only between those countries that have been considered to have la significant indigenous
population and those that have less but also among countries those with a significant
population.
In order to set clearly the methodological ground of this work there are three important remarks
to take into account:
First, for some political observers and scholars, there are characteristics that could tie up the
political scene: their condition of peripheral countries (Faletto and Cardoso), the evolution of
their political party system (Tanaka), the ethnic composition of their population and the
geographic fact of sharing both the Andean mountains and the Amazon basin with its social and
9
cultural implications as well as being bordering countries with its political outcomes. Even
though these factors play certainly an important role in setting a culture and moulding the
7
Mesa Gisbert, Carlos. Bolivia, la concepción indigenista. Seminary at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in
Barcelona (Spain), on February 21, 2011.
8
Even though Guatemala counts with an important indigenous population it is discarded for
understanding that it belongs to a certain point to a difference geographical area and to a certain point
experiencing different political influences.
9
Some external observers tend to put these countries together as subject of political and economical
analyses.
4

5. political cultures, the aim of this paper is to understand precisely a social fact that seems to be a
schism within this apparent congeniality. That is, the constitutional treatment in terms of
recognition of the indigenous peoples.
To achieve this goal the way to proceed is through cross-national comparison using the
comparative method. The advantage is that many variables are somehow “parametrized”: at a
similar degree of economic development, similar culture and belonging to the same
geographical area, we can consider these characteristics as constant and check for the
influence of other factors (Dogan and Pelassy, 1990: 134) In this approach, as part of the field
of political science, the political factors are highlighted.
Secondly, the way to undertake the investigation of the chosen topic will be the historiographic
method seeking to explore which were the social and historic facts that influenced the current
10
state of the constitutions. As consequence, it is desired to use historical data -as far as the
limited resources permit- to formulate a tentative explanation although trying to be humble with
the scope of our results and the possibility of extrapolations specially taking into account that
the use of a comparative method has the disadvantage that the findings cannot go beyond so-
called middle-range theories –theories that apply only in a restricted area. Moreover, it is
believed from a Weberian approach that there are manifold factors that could intervene in the
conformation of our current institutions, understanding institutions from a sociological way as
what we take for granted in our social lives. Thus, it is preferred that this matter is approached
with a qualitative assessment -since the logic underlying recognition of difference is less
universally binding than the norms of redistribution- as we attempt to study cultural practices,
traits and identities which depend on historically specific horizon of value as Fraser pointed out.
Lastly, it should not be forgotten is the definition of IPs used, we have basically equated them
as ethnic minorities. Nevertheless, in the selected countries to be compared in this essay IP
make up a substantial share of the population and is rather an open question and not the aim of
this paper whether to fit them in the conventional definition of a minority, which normally adds to
the fact of having certain qualitative characteristics, the condition of being also numerically
11
inferior. Here we pick a term coined in sociolinguistics by Tove Skutnabb-Kangas preferring to
12
define IP in Bolivia and Peru as minorized-majorities which embrace a wide range of scattered
communities.
Understanding the current state of recognition in Bolivia and Peru
10
By historiography I refer to the Weberian conception of the study society and social change. For
Weber, society is not structure, an existing thing, but interrelated actions. His historical data stretched into
areas of religion East and West. Also historical evidence can come from logic, mathematics, empathy,
emotion and artistic-receptive leading towards different categories of rationality and social action (Green,
Troup, 1999, 113).
11
The case of the South Africa ruled by the apartheid system is perhaps one of the most illustrative.
12
In: Phillipson, Robert (ed.) (2000). Rights to Language: equity, power, and education: 85.
5

6. There is an international consensus reached by the international community on indigenous
peoples` rights. For instance, the Convention No. 169 concerning indigenous and Tribal
Peoples in Independent Countries adopted by the International Labour Organization (1989), the
United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), and the Convention on
the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005) adopted by the
United Nations Economic, Social, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as well as other
international instruments that seek to inform and guide domestic legal order. In effect, non-
discrimination, self-determination, cultural integrity, property use, control and access to lands,
territories, and resources, development and social well-being, and participation are the essential
13
elements of the international standard for IP’ rights. It is therefore believed that constitutional
recognition of both states should account on these matters.
Despite the model of Kymlicka and Norman that defines IPs as a “national minority”, the
concept of minority implies the application of a legal statute completely different from the status
of “people” such as the right of self-determination. Therefore, it is important to pay special
attention in how the nomenclature is chosen in the constitutional text since the terms that be
used could also be ethnic group, community, etc. These terms may lack the legal capacity to
generate the application of a special statute, which stand at the heart of indigenous claims
(Aguilar, La Fosse, Rojas, Steward, 2010).
In this regards the Bolivian Constitution make an explicit reference to the rights of the IPs:
“Bolivia is a unitary state Multinational Law Social Community, free, independent, sovereign,
democratic, intercultural, decentralized and autonomous. Bolivia is based on plurality and political,
economic, legal, cultural and linguistic pluralism within the integration process of the country”. (art.1)14
“They recognize, respect and protect on the mark of the Law, the social, economic, and cultural rights of
indigenous peoples that inhabit the national territory, especially those relating to their original communal
lands, guaranteeing the use and improvement of sustainable natural resources, their identity, values,
15
languages, customs and institutions (art. 171)”.
Moreover, one of the particularities of the Bolivian Constitution is the recognition of autonomy
and self-governance and to the recognition of their institutions (art. 2) but within the boundaries
of a State which is considered “Unitarian” (art. 1). This is, for instance, made specific in the
16
Ecuadorian constitution which tries to safeguard the integrity of the state .
13
Aguilar, Gonzalo; Lafosse, Sandra; Rojas, Hugo; Steward, Rébecca. The Constitutional Recognition of
Indigenous Peoples in Latin America: 46.
15
Constitución del 2009 [Constitution] Feb. 7, 2009, art. 171 § I (Bol.).
16
Constitución del 2008 [C.P.] [Constitution] Sept. 2008, art. 56 (Ecuador).
6

7. “Given the pre-colonial existence of nations and original indigenous peoples and their ancestral control
over their territories, one guarantees their self-determination in the setting of State unity, that consists of
their right to autonomy, to self-governance, to their culture, to the recognition of their institutions and the
consolidation of their territorial identities, which conform to this Constitution and to the Law (art. 2)”.17
Self-governance of the IPs is feasible in the light of international law, specifically the mentioned
in the article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIPs):
“Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine
their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”18
Another important remark has to be done about the concept of nation in the art.2 in the sense
that any analysis has to be conducted taking into account how the concept of nation is regarded
in the actual political and social context meaning what type of implications this involves.
We have defined at the beginning Bolivia and Peru as multiethnic countries characterized by
cultural diversity, that is, the coexistence of a variety of ethnic communities within the state. The
19
Bolivian ethnic landscape is compound with 15% European descent people, 30% mestizo ,
20
30% Quechua and 25% aymara , there are also other small communities being particularly
remarkable the presence of afro-descendant and Asians. In the last census, in 2001, the
indigenous population amounted to 5.064.992 being composed of these main groups Quechua
21 22
1.555.641, Aymara 1.277.881, Guarani 78.359, Chiquitano 112.216, Mojeño 43.303. (See
Annex: Map 1.1). Peru, in turn, has Amerindian 45%, mestizo 37%, European descent 15%,
Afro descent, Japanese, Chinese, and other 3%. The indigenous population is put at about
3.000.000 Quechua and Aymara in the Andean Region and 200.000-250.000 Amazonians from
40-50 ethnic groups. In the Andes there are 5.000 indigenous communities but few densely
populated settlements (See Annex: Map 2). For both cases, the figures are a tentative estimate.
With regards to cultural diversity, it is clearly stated in the article 1 but it is also extended and
23
detailed and described its promotion as desirable because it represents a way of pluralism.
17
Constitución del 2009 [Constitution] Feb. 7, 2009, art. 2 (Bol.).
18
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Art.3.
19
Some may be particularly critical about the purity of the concepts such as “white” or “mestizo” so they
rather have to be linked in the complex history of ethnic relations in Latin America which is characterized
by the porosity of these “ethnic frontiers”.
20
CIA Fact Book 2011.
21
Instituto Nacional de Estadística: Bolivia: autoidentificación con pueblos originarios o indígenas de la
población de 15 años o más de edad según sexo, área geográfica y grupo de edad, Censo 2001.
http://www.ine.gob.bo/indice/visualizador.aspx?ah=PC20113.HTM
22
In addition, other indigenous minorities exist: araona, baure, bésiro, canichana, cavineño, cayubaba,
chácobo, chimán, ese ejja, guaraní, guarasu’we, guarayu, itonama, leco, machajuyai-kallawaya,
machineri, maropa, moré, mosetén, movima, pacawara, puquina, sirionó, tacana, tapiete, toromona, uru-
chipaya, weenhayek, yaminawa, yuki, yuracaré y zamuco. Information obtained from: Constitución del
2009 [Constitution] Feb. 7, 2009, art. 5 (Bol.).
23
Constitución del 2009 [Constitution] Feb. 7, 2009, art. 2 (Bol.). The Bolivian State is plural-national
and intercultural, id. art. 1; the State should foment the intracultural, intercultural, and plural-lingual
7

8. The Peruvian constitution acknowledges and protects ethnic and cultural pluralism but it does
not make any specific reference to promotion.
“Every individual has the righ to his ethnic and cultural identity. The government recognizes and protects
the ethnic and cultural plurality of the nation”.24
25
Political participation, which according to Fraser would be the aim of recognition , is included in
the case of Bolivia expressly guaranteeing the right “to participation in the benefits from the
exploitation of natural resources in their territories and the right to participation in State bodies”.26
Moreover, from the perspective of voters‘ rights, the new Bolivian Constitution incorporates the
right for “the direct election of representatives from nations and indigenous peoples, in accords with their
norms and own procedures”.27 28
Both self-determination and political participation are of crucial importance when it comes to
discuss about natural resources for a two fold reason. First, and fundamentally it resides in the
special relationship that indigenous people shared with the spaces that they have traditionally
possessed, occupied or utilized considering themselves historically and spiritually united to the
29
land and they envision a holistic view of life, earth and environment. Secondly, this
relationship often confronts with other interests being, for example, the extractive industries the
motor of these countries’ economies and often in conflict with indigenous claims for ancestral
territories both in the Andean Region and the Amazon basin which is a shared territory between
30
these two countries.
In this regards, the section dedicated to “environment and natural resources” of the Peruvian
31
Constitution does not make any reference to the right of use of natural resources by IPs :
“Natural resources, renewable and non-renewable, are patrimony of the Nation. The State is sovereign in
dialogue (art. 9.2, in relation to art. 100.I), id. 9.2; see id. 100.I; and preserve the plural-national diversity,
id. art. 9.3; it recognizes the right to cultural identity for nations and indigenous peoples, id. art. 30.II.2;
moreover, it mentions that cultural diversity ―constitutes the essential base of the Plural-National
Communitarian State, id. art. 100.I; the inter-culturality being ―the instrument for the cohesion and the
harmonic and balanced coexistence between all of the peoples and nations, id.
24
Constitución Política del Perú [Constitution] Dec. 29, 1993, art. 2. 19.
25
Fraser says about the status model that it “claims for recognition to establish the subordinated party as a
full partner in social life, able to interact with others as peers. They aim, that is, to de-instituionalize
patterns of cultural value that impede parity of participation and replace them with patterns that foster it”.
(Fraser, 2001: 25).
26
Constitución del 2009 [Constitution] Feb. 7, 2009, arts. 30. II.16, 30.II.18 (Bol.).
27
Constitución del 2009 [Constitution] Feb. 7, 2009, arts. 26II.4 (Bol.).
28
Aguilar, Gonzalo; Lafosse, Sandra; Rojas, Hugo; Steward, Rébecca. The Constitutional Recognition of
Indigenous Peoples in Latin America: 67.
29
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Art.25.
30
Examples that can be given are the “Gas War” in Bolivia:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3196926.stm and the “Baguazo” in Peru:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8093729.stm
31
The concepto f natural resources involve both renewable and non-renewable resources that are found in
the ground (including, for example, waters an forests), in the subsoil and within traditional territories.
8

9. their utilization. The Act determines the conditions of their use and granting to private individuals. Such
concession grants the title-holders a real right subject to those legal regulations”.32
Although the specification of natural resources is absent, the Peruvian constitution does refer to
land and territories: The State supports preferably the agricultural development and guarantees the right
to ownership of the land, whether private, community or any other form of partnership. The law may
define boundaries and land area based on the features of each zone. According to legal provision, the
abandoned lands revert to State ownership, for their putting up for sale.33 And continues: The rural and
native communities have legal existence and are artificial persons. They are autonomous in their
organization, community work, and usage and free disposal of their lands, as well as in the economic and
administrative aspects within the framework as provided by law. The ownership of their lands is
imprescriptible, except in the case of abandonment described in the preceding article. The State respects
the cultural identity of the rural and native communities. 34
It should be noted first that the collective aspect is recognized but the terms used are “agrarian”
and “native” communities instead of “indigenous”. In fact, in the whole Constitution the term
“indigenous” is used only once when referring to “indigenous communities” in their relation to
35
the Regional Governments within the State structure.
In terms of indigenous languages, the Peruvian Constitution seems to respect and preserve
their existence. However, besides Quechua and Aymara it does not name any other languages,
leaving this recognition somewhat vague: “Official languages of the State are Spanish and,
wherever they are predominant, Quechua, Aymara and other native tongues in accordance with
36
the law”.
The Bolivian constitution specifies that each of each of the thirty-six indigenous languages
should be recognized as official languages of the State together withSpanish. With regards to
national and local governance, the Bolivian Constitution mentions the utilization of at least two
official languages, assuming that one of these languages is indigenous. This step constitutes a
new development in Latin American constitutionalism. Furthermore, the Bolivian State
compromises itself to respect and promote indigenous languages.
Among the countries it has been mentioned that the ones that posses substantial indigenous
population in Latin America, Mexico, Ecuador and Bolivia have the broadest constitutional
32
Constitución Política del Perú [Constitution] Dec. 29, 1993, art. 66.
33
Constitución Política del Perú [Constitution] Dec. 29, 1993, art. 88.
34
Constitución Política del Perú [Constitution] Dec. 29, 1993, art. 89.
35
Constitución Política del Perú [Constitution] Dec. 29, 1993, art. 191. (Amended in 2005). “The
President is elected, together with a Vice-President, by means of direct elections for a four-year term, and
may be reelected. The members of the Regional Council are elected likewise, and for the same term. The
mandate of such authorities is revocable but non-renounceable,, according to law.
The law determines the minimum percentage to facilitate representation of women, rural and indigenous
communities, and aboriginal peoples, in regional councils. The same applies for municipal councils.”
36
Constitución Política del Perú [Constitution] Dec. 29, 1993, art. 48.
9

10. recognition in terms of intercultural bilingual education. The Bolivian constitution establishes that
“Education is unitary, public, universal, democratic, participatory, community, aims to
37 38
decolonization and of quality” and is “intercultural, intracultural, and multi-lingual education in
39
all of the educational system” . Moreover, in the field of public universities, the new Bolivians
Constitution establishes the creation of intercultural training centers for human resources and
programs designed to “recuperate, preserve the development, apprenticeship, and the
40
dissemination of different cultural languages”. The Bolivian Constitution seems to be by far the
most progressive in Latin America concerning the intercultural education.
On the other hand, the Peruvian Constitution only mentions intercultural bilingual education in
the article 17: “The State guarantees the eradication of illiteracy. It also promotes bilingual and
intercultural education, according to the characteristics of each area. Preserves the diverse cultural and
linguistic manifestations of the country. It promotes national integration.”41
It has to be added that in Peru in April 2005, the Peruvian Congress enacted a law that founded
the Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo de Pueblos Andinos, Amazónicos y Afroperuano (INDEPA),
42
as part of the Ministry of Women and Social Development , which mission is to promote,
43
advocate, research and affirm the rights and identity development of indigenous peoples in
the main following areas: cultural heritage of the nation, whether tangible or intangible;
contemporary culture and living art; cultural management and cultural industries; ethnic and
cultural diversity of the nation.
Some of the most important characteristics of the current state of recognition between these
countries has been reviewed. Nevertheless, to have a broader picture and to sharpen our
comparison it would be a non-sense not to locate it into the Latin American context regarding
IPs recognition taking into account that cross-national comparison are permeated by the fact
that the composition of each country varies given their ethnic and cultural heterogeneity, this
may –or may not- affect the current state of recognition (See Annex: Table 2).
Up to the present, there are clear differences in the state of recognition between these
countries. But is yet to be defined which factors have been determinant or influenced on these
constitutional outputs. We may come to think that in the Latin American context we could say
that whereas Bolivia could claim the most progressive constitution in regards to indigenous
37
The term chosen in the Bolivian Constitution in Spanish is descolonizadora.
38
Constitución del 2009 [Constitution] Feb. 7, 2009, arts. 78.1 (Bol.).
39
Constitución del 2009 [Constitution] Feb. 7, 2009, arts. 78.2 (Bol.).
40
Constitución del 2009 [Constitution] Feb. 7, 2009, arts. 96.1 (Bol.).
41
Constitución Política del Perú [Constitution] Dec. 29, 1993, art. 17.
42
In September 2010 was incorporated into the newly established Ministry of Culture by the Supreme
Decree 001-2010-MC.
http://culturaperu.org/sites/default/files/usuarios/7/DECRETO%20SUPREMO%20N°%20001-2010-
MC%20-%2025SEP.pdf
43
Ley nº 28495 del Congreso de la República del Perú, April 15th 2005.
http://docs.peru.justia.com/federales/leyes/28495-apr-6-2005.pdf
10

11. rights (See: Table 2) Peru lacks of some important aspects in regards of recognition such as the
acceptance of Indigenous as peoples, rights over natural resources, capacity of self-
determination and political participation.
In conclusion, it could be argued that the legislation concerning indigenous rights is a
consequence of indigenous peoples’ level of political participation, which can be promoted -as it
is the case of Bolivia- or restrained -as Peruvian experience shows- by the political and social
structure. At his point, it is important to make a historical analysis in order to explain the current
different situations that Bolivia and Peru are experiencing, which means going further back to
the new Bolivian Constitution created by indigenous President Evo Morales in 2009 and the
1993 Peruvian Constitution.
A historical approach of indigenous empowerment
Precisely after the fall of the Berlin wall with the subsequent establishment of new differentiated
Republics in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a process of rethinking the understanding of the
big social and political processes in terms of identity takes place in Europe affecting other
realities. In addition it has been outlined that among the series of factors that had moved
minority rights and ethnicity to the forefront of political theory we can also find the resurgence
and political mobilization of IPs resulting in the Draft declaration of the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples at the United Nations (Kymlicka and Norman, 2000: 3) in this period. Due to the uneasy
transitions to democracy that took place in many Latin American countries during the 1980s, as
well as the influence of world wide economic and cultural global trends, states throughout Latin
America have been increasingly concerned with the reformulation of nations as multiethnic or
multicultural spaces. Because of their appeals for ethnic, cultural and political autonomy and
recognition, indigenous groups throughout the region are now prominent actors in discussions
about national identity and citizenship in Latin America. In the1990s particularly, the region saw
a surge of indigenous political and cultural activity. However, this phenomenon has been
experienced differently in each country and some historical references have to be highlighted in
each country in order to better grasp the latest events.
Bolivia
44
When addressed in an interview in 2008, to give his opinion about the recent election of an
indigenous president as Evo Morales in Bolivia as an explicit example of empowerment in the
public scene and the reasons why was this was happening there and not in Peru, Rodolfo
Stanvehagen affirmed that the histories of both countries during the post-colonial, Republican
44
Bolivia and Peru used to be part of the same colony.
11

12. periods and specially the XX century have been quite different specially regarding two events in
45
the history of Bolivia: the Chaco War (1932-35) and the Revolution of 1952.
46
According to Carlos Mesa, Since the times of Tupac Katari , indigenous uprisings have been
recurrent in the history of Bolivia until 1952. These revolutions have been based on claims over
the control of land fundamentally. The 1952 revolution led by the MNR political party,
transformed Bolivia from a semi-feudal oligarchy to a multiparty democracy by
introducing universal suffrage, nationalizing the mines of the three Tin Barons, and carrying out
a sweeping agrarian reform. Constitutionally speaking, it was a democratic watershed,
advancing the recognition of indigenous peoples as fellow citizens (though not as “indigenous”
but as campesinos, or small-scale agriculturalists) and asserting right to vote, to education, and
47
to land, as well as other individual civil and political rights. The use of the land was
recognized, nevertheless, in an individual way and not collective. Thus, indigenous would
access it in that way and not as they used to in pre-Hispanic times.
Moreover, the nation-building process of the period, like other countries in Latin America,
brought together the different class, ethnic and regional distinctions into the umbrella
integrationist term of mestizo which vindicated the allegedly essence of the nation. The ideology
of mestizaje was paired then with the extension of individual citizenship rights to newly
designated campesinos who would set their collective cultural investments in keeping the
expectations of modernity Paralallely, the 1952 state deprived people of their originario identity
(Albro, 2010: 74, 75) taking a clear assimilationist stand. According to the authors reviewed,
while there was an extension of citizenship, it has been seen as a partial revolution as a
dictatorship would take over and also because it was not capable of transcend what has been
called “Internal colonialism” defined as the ongoing struggle between two views: a liberal one
45
In particular Stavenhagen referred to one of the has played a role in the awareness of indigenous
identity has been the Chaco war (1932-1935) between Bolivia and Paraguay which began creating a
nationalist conscious among a lot of member of the population, specially when indigenous peoples were
conscripted in the military service, taken out of their communities, forced to fight the petroleum company
war that they did not know anything about. Consequently, this created certain kind of awareness and
enabled some of them to become active militants in social organizations later on. The second major issue
was the revolution of 1952, by the Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario (MNR) which opened up
Bolivia for more democratic participation. He added, that carried out some policies like the land reform
which enabled indigenous populations who had been tied to the large state as serfs and peons particularly
in the Highlands to become owners of their own pieces of Land that of course did not give them political
power but it gave them greater space for democratic participation. Secondly, there was an educational
effort carried out by the Government and there was an organization of the indigenous that worked in the
mines. All of that helped to create a social, cultural and political movement of indigenous peoples which,
finally, after many ups and downs resulted in the election of Morales an Aymara Indian. HemiScope
special Edition, Interview by Peter H. Smith with Prof. Rodolfo Stavenhagen
(Season 2004: Episode 607). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTYrgJI5OTg
46
Aymara leader in the rebellion of indigenous peoples of Bolivia against the Spanish Empire in the early
1781.
47
After the revolution, the Agrarian Reform was carried out in 1953 which had as its main objectives, the
elimination of latifundios (extensive rural property belonging to one person) and their reversion to the
State, the abolition of peasant servitude, the delivery of land to peasants that did not have it (through
colonization policies), the increase of production through the development of an agricultural industry, the
enlargement of the domestic market and the viabilization of industrialization in the country (Urquidi
1976).
12

13. and an cultural indigenous with its correspondent political arrangements. Overall, the equalizing
character of these measures did not imply the appearance of social mobility for IPs.
During the 60s and 70s in Bolivia the struggles of the highland populations were thought in
terms of social class and organized in union-like organizational structures within a corporative
state. In this context is when CSUTCB (Sole Confederation of Rural Workers of Bolivia)
emerges in the Highlands. It is by the moment when a great debate among highland
organizations was over how to harmonize class and ethnic identities, how to “see with both
eyes”, as the Aymara leader and later Bolivian Vice-president Victor Hugo Cárdenas put it. Over
time both external political events (like the mentioned fall of the Berlin Wall and the crisis of the
International left) and internal ones (like the intellectual influence of radical Indianista national
writers like Fausto Reinaga) indianized class identities and struggles (Lucero, 2006: 4).
According to Lucero and García, the incorporation of the indigenous movement in Bolivia, as
48
opposed to Ecuador , has been done “from above” as ruling elites have set the terms of
49
political participation to a greater extent and it has been rather fragmented, as lowland
50
groups had less room to manoeuvre largely due to the central place of the lowland Santa Cruz
51
in the distribution of the power in the country. So while in the Highland, which concentrates
52
98% of the total indigenous population, indigenous organization emerged in the 1970s after
the land reform, their counterparts from the lowland would not be able to do it after arrived the
1980s, according to Kevin Healy due to the fact that these groups were surrounded by powerful
white and mestizo cattle ranchers, large commercial farmers, agrobusiness and timber
53
enterprises whose holdings had been bolstered by government and international aid. In
consequence, a lowland indigenous elite did not emerge until the 1980s with the appearance
into scene of CIDOB (Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia).
Since 1985, the application of neoliberal democracy has been described as a negotiation
between technocrats, managers and government officials” on the one hand and “distinct social
48
As for the participation of indigenous people in the political scenee, they affirm that in Ecuador the
ywas rather forced in mobilization “from below”. Other factors that Lucero and García identify as
different in Ecuador are the relative unity of the movement and its higher level of radicalism.
49
For example, the ascendancy of Aymara leader Victor Hugo Cárdenas to the vice presidency was made
possible by the selection of a dominant party (MNR) candidate and former planning minister, Gonzalo
Sánchez de Lozada. This administration (1993-1997), however, led to further multicultural openings most
notably in the Law of Popular Participation (LPP) and Agrarian Reform Law (Ley INRA). President
Sánchez de Lozada made many enemies when the LPP transferred state funds from regional development
“corporations” to local municipalities. Additionally, the legislation recognized the legal right of
indigenous people (as indigenous people) to participate in local governance. Local electoral contests
became meaningful in unprecedented ways as municipalities, for the first time in republican history,
actually had significant resources to administer. (Lucero and García, 2006: 9).
50
The indigenous population in the lowlands in composed mainly by Guarani, Quechua and Aymara and
35 other groups making the 2% of the total indigenous population.
51
See Annex: Map 1.2
52
Being the main groups Quechua and Aymara.
53
Healy, Kevin. 2001. Llamas, Weaving, and Organic Chocolate. Notre Dame: University of Notre
Dame Press.
13

14. sectors trying to find a niche on the other (Gamarra, 1994: 10-11) precisely in this last one an
active indigenous movement started to evolve but we could state that even though political
pushes can be identified in regards of incorporation of IPs into the economical and social life it
is not until 1993 when Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada again ran for president, this time in alliance
with the MBL, a leftist party, and the Tupac Katari Revolutionary Liberation Movement (MRTKL),
an indigenous party formed in 1985 whose leader Víctor Hugo Cárdenas was the candidate for
vice-president. The state, inspired by the ILO Convention 169, the 1994 constitution described
the state as “multicultural and pluriethnic” amending the old assimilationist undertone of past
54
constitutions. For the first time, the social, economic and cultural rights of the IPS were
recognized including the legal recognition of the traditional authorities of indigenous and
peasant communities.
Under the mandate period of MNR and MRTKL several constitutional reforms were decided
upon that had implications for the participation of formerly excluded groups. These were
primarily the Law of Popular Participation (municipalisation, popular vigilance and a legal
recognition of territorially based organisations) and the Educational Reform, which introduced
bilingual and intercultural education. The LPP formally recognized the wide variety of traditional
local and grassroots associations, including neighbourhoods and committees, agrarian unions
55
and indigenous ayllus, while identifying and equating them all as “territorial base
organizations”. Indigenous and popular representatives of these organizations could, further,
serve as members of a committee overseeing the work of the municipal government or local
office themselves (Albro, 2010: 75). The municipalisation process consisted in the drawing of
new boundaries and destination of 20% of the state budget exclusively the municipalities.
Approximately out of these 340 municipalities, 120 were composed almost purely by IPs.
These constitutional and legislative reforms also set the scene for identity politics to emerge in
diverse social and institutional contexts.
As we can see the indigenous movements have come to play such an important role in the
Bolivian politics and is inserted in it within the “from above” approach of Lucero. The indigenous
recognition that the government of Morales has implemented is based in the elements of the
revolution of 1952 and the constitutional reform of 1993.
Peru
Left-leaning politician and former Congressman Javier Diez-Canseco considered the reason for
the lack of an indigenous movement in the Highlands was due to the historical fact of Peru
being the center of the Viceroyalty, and with a clear policy directed to destroyed and thwarted
54
The article 171 can be read in the footnote 13. The article was modified by the Law Nº 1585 in August
12th, 1994) and herewith replacing the article 171 of the Constitution of 1967: “the State recognizes
and guarantees the existence of peasant unions”.
55
Ayllu refers to a pre-Columbian communal form of characteristically Andean social and political
organization that continues to be present in different parts of Bolivia and Peru.
14

15. 56
the indigenous identity in a very systematic way. Especially strong after the Rebellion of Tupac
57
Amaru as well giving the more advanced process of miscegenation and cultural domination.
Peru –where indigenous people constitute approximately 40 percent of the national population,
but which claims no representative national indigenous confederation- has been considered an
exception at best, a failure at worst in what concerns to indigenous empowerment. Scholars and
activist have pondered the “absence” of indigenous organizing the country, and they have
lamented the lack of ethnic identification among Quechua and Aymara peasants. Compared to
indigenous organizing in other Latin American countries, where indigenous federations are
actively promoting the revival off indigenous language and culture, demanding collective rights,
and forcing issues of sovereignty and self-determination into discussion about citizenship and
nationalism, Peru remains a question mark in the literature (Lucero and Garcia, 2003: 158).
From this assertion it could be extracted that an anthropological explanation such as a deeper
penetration of mestizaje, not only referred to blood mixing but mainly in culturally speaking
setting a different cosmovision. In fact, the percentage of IPs in Peru is lower than Ecuador and
Bolivia and the number of mestizos higher. So to the evidence that indigenous groups have
been classified in a subordinate social and moral level it can be add the assumption that they
have assumed such a position without contesting it. In this respect, De la Cadena argues that
such a line of thought reduces contestation to the sphere of politics proper, leaving out the
important cultural politics of everyday life, through which – as she has demonstrated for the
58
case of Cuzco – hybrid indigenous-mestizo identities are constituted. Thus, In Peru, ethnic
collective action has been played out less in the sphere of politics proper, and more in the
sphere of culture, where individuals and collectivities have been involved in a cultural politics of
59 60
everyday life.
56
A historical explanation that could make a difference with Bolivia is also that in Peru the colonial
reorganisation destroyed a large part of the cooperative world of the Andean peasants while colonial Peru
remained firmly ethnically divided, -and this division has become one of the country’s main
characteristics.
57
Agencia Chaski. Interview to Javier Diez-Canseco. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRN5GrHvgEE
58
The configuration of such identities is highly performative and implies a double move: a strategy of
resistance, where cultural features (language, dress, religiosity, music and dance) were kept in the
domestic sphere and lived as intimate experiences; and a strategy of accommodation, where particular
cultural features were publicly expressed in a way that challenges hegemonic ethnic classification and
hierarchies, and disputes the meanings attributed to indigenous and mestizo cultural features such as
backwardness, illiteracy, rural life, etc. In this sense, the tactics of everyday life (education, migration,
music, the celebration of fiestas, etc…) imply not simply a process of acculturation and “whitening”, but
rather the understanding of ethnicity in fluid terms, where contestation is not oppositional. (Canepa 2008:
14).
59
This assertion can be complemented by the following statement of Ivan Degregori when he justifies the
relevance of the “ethnic factor” in both countries: “Observing Peru and Bolivia we have found that
movements that define themselves in ethnic terms have not arisen everywhere, and where they do not
arise in the same way or have the same characteristics nor the same evolution. So while there are such
movements in Bolivia, in Peru there are none. However, including the Peruvian case will help us to see
how the ethnic factor influences politics even without the existence of ethnic movements, and also allows
us to see sharper other forms of action by indigenous peoples”. (Degregori, 1993: 5).
60
Arguably mestizaje itself cannot be a determinant factor to define a countries identity: “While in
Mexico, the paradigm of national integration and assimilation through mestizaje was consolidated in most
15

16. A crucial moment in the evolution of the indigenous identity in Peru are the policies of the
Spanish crown right after the death of Tupac Amaru in 1870 in which the indigenous groups lost
many of their privileges, such as the right to learn to read and write (Montoya 1998). Illiteracy as
a feature of indigenous identity and culture was the result of state politics that actually shaped
the illiterate Indian subject, as an inferior “other”. Also, the use of Quechua was prohibited, as
well as the performance of any other practice or the use of any symbol that made explicit any
identification with the Inca past. These cultural policies were crucial to the elimination of an
indigenous elite, while the criollo constituted themselves into the only legitimate agents to
represent the Inca past. In words of Alberto Flores Galindo, the colonial administration attacked
everything that could be considered part of the Andean culture prohibited Indigenous theater
61
and painting, reading the Comentarios Reales , the use of Quechua, traditional dress.
Ethnocide? The truth is that the Indians began to be so despised and feared by those who were
not indians. Andean culture left public spaces and became illegal (Flores-Galindo, 1986: 6).
Unprovided with an indigenous elite, the curacas, the capacity of self-representation was
seriously undermined. The power in the Andean rural hinterland would be replaced by the
62
power of the Gamonalismo , a semi-feudal system that will create a progressive nexus
between the elite groups in the capital and Gamonal, with the consequence of the shift of power
relations and the evanescence and blurring of indigeinity.
During the XIX century and until the beginnings of the XX, the concept of indio has been
associated with cultural backwardness, ruralness and moral inferiority and equated to the terms
poor peasant or serf (Canepa, 2008: 16). At the same time the dominant associations of the
indigenous and the provincial with were being contested. During this process indigeneity came
to be ramed in the language of class, which was central to the way in which social movements
and their political agendas would be arranged, namely as the struggle for the land that was lost
during the expansion of the hacienda, and the right to education. Following this logic, the formal
recognition that has been done under the rule of Velasco Alvarado (1967-1974) whom -in order
to avoid the negative connotation of the concept- changed the concept of indio into campesino.
63
Nevertheless, the change was in terms of class contributing on the process of de-ethnification.
parts of the territory to the extent that indigenous movements were motivated to organise their claims as
ethnic minorities, in Peru the process of mestizaje, associated with the same integrationist project, failed
not only because of the weakness of state efforts, but because of the diverse forms of indigenous
resistance”. (Paredes, 2008: 19). Nevertheless, this cannot explain why Peruvians still defining
themselves primarily in class terms than ethnic terms.
61
The Comentarios Reales de los Incas is a book written by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, the first mestizo
writer of colonial Andean South America, is considered by most to be the unquestionable masterpiece of
Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and arguably the best prose of the colonial period in Peru.
62
Gamonalismo: a term meaning “bossism,” used in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. It is derived
from gamonal, a word meaning a “large landowner,” and it refers to the exploitation of the Indian
population, mainly by landowners of European descent (Britannica Online Enyclopedia).
63
This vindication of indigeneity was soon followed by other laws legally strengthening the position of
the Quechua language. The National Policy of Bilingual Education of 1972 called for bilingual education
16

17. The effects of Velasco’s regime policies ended up with the fragmentation imposing a class-
based organisation in the countryside, but also intensified intra- and extracommunal divisions.
Cooperatives with different design and policies were to be implemented for peasants in the
modern plantations of the coast and peasants in the traditional and poor estates of the Sierra
divided indigenous peasants’ interests and motives across these regions (Paredes, 2008: 14).
Between the 1960s and 1970s, several organisations and unions were created in the
countryside at regional and national level. Peasant federations in the Sierra and in the Coast
joined the Confederación Campesina del Peru (CCP) and other unions such as mining unions
with indigenous membership also acquired great importance. With the support of all this
organisations, the combined left won almost a third of the national vote in the Constitutional
Assembly in 1978. It seemed that when groups that could “imagine communities” among the
elites from the Quechua and Aymara peoples emerged; they preferred to make it on a class
64
basis (Degregori, 1995: 8).
Another landmark that has played an important role is the political violence that shaked the
country between 1980 and 1995 from two terrorist groups Partido Comunista del Perú Sendero
Luminoso (PCP-SL) or Shining Path and Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA).
The first was specially pointed for terrorizing the peasants and indigenous communities both of
the Andes and the Amazon. As part of their maoist-leninist ideology, PCP-SL saw ethnic identity
as “false consciousness” and, thus, susceptible to be combated and literally eliminated.
Moreover, the disastrous impact of PCP-SL was determinant to subvert indigenous
opportunities to build organisations outside their local boundaries. The war hit the incipient
transcommunal organisations and unions that had been established and closed off political
65
associational spaces at all levels in the country (Paredes, 2008: 15).
During the internal war Indigenous groups without leadership found impossible to be integrated
in a political block as the case of Bolivia and Ecuador. By the second half of the 1980s, political
parties were meeting serious difficulties in continuing to work through social organisations or
through ideological support. This was particularly a problem for those parties that depended
strongly on the organised support of the mass of the population, such as the Izquierda Unida
66
(IU – United Left) and APRA. All this was even more patent giving the disconnection between
the countryside were the war was particularly bloody and the urban spaces. Furthermore, in the
in all areas of the country where languages other than Spanish were spoken, and in 1975 a law was passed
making the Quechua language officially co-equal with Spanish on a national level (Brisson, 2009: 13).63
64
Degregori adds: “market expansion, media, multiplication of peasant organizations, long-scale
migrations made the Andeans societies to become more complex and differentiate again” (Degregori,
1995: 8).
65
The Comisión de la Verdad y la Reconciliación (CVR) estimates that 2,267 officials were assassinated
during the conflict and 1,680 were direct victims of Sendero. The elimination of such a number of local
leaders – the majority of them members of the political parties that sustained the democracy inaugurated
in 1980 – constituted a severe breakdown in the mechanisms of intermediation in the system. (CVR,
2004).
66
The Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA) is traditionally a center-left party.
17

18. 90s with the rise of Alberto Fujimori, the collapse of the party system and the new electoral
model together with the deeply fractionalised political division of the country (195 provincial and
1,833 district municipalities) made politics in Peru extremely fragmented, particularly in those
areas where IPs live.
Final remarks
It has been said that social justice today requires both redistribution and recognition, neither
alone is sufficient (Fraser, 2001). For the case of IPs in the countries reviewed the struggle for
redistribution has the particularity that may cause absorption of the singularity of IPs as the case
of Peru in which they were embedded into class terms such as “poor” or “peasant”, not being
able to escape these conditions, hence their recognition would aim to solve their problems as
the less benefited from the economic sphere but not as different falling in the wide category of
“Peruvians” originated in the Unitarian character of the Republic. In Bolivia the latest recognition
is done primarily on ethnic terms but also includes specific policies aiming to supply of political
powers to the indigenous communities as such, that is, participation is thought to bring with it a
translation into a fairer redistributive system. Making one’s voice heard might make us reflect on
the possibility of real attainment of economic justice. Still, this kind of assumptions have to be
contrasted with the real conditions in which they take place, i.e., dependency on foreign
67
investment, especially on extractive industries, “disjunctive democracy” , social and ethnic
fragmentation, etc.
The lack of recognition will cause difference-blind rules and institutions. Thus, we may think that
Constitutional specification is the necessary condition for avoiding this. According to Kymlicka
and Norman they see that minority rights defender have been successful in their purposes as in
Western liberal democracies few people continue to think that social justice can simply be
defined on a difference-blind basis. Instead, it is now widely recognized that difference blind
rules and institutions can cause disadvantages for particular groups (Kymlicka and Norman,
2000: 4). In the case of countries with large indigenous populations such as Peru and Bolivia it
has been underscored the necessity of institutionalizing a more differentiated set of citizenship
regimes that can accommodate the claims of the individual alongside the claims of the collective
(Yashar, 2005: 285). In the reviewed cases, the protests and the current reasons that triggered
the indigenous movements in Bolivia were many times the fight over natural resources. In Peru
does not exist specific legislation about the right of the indigenous people over the resources
found in their ancestral territories, instead the Peruvian constitution states that the resources
67
Term coined by Holston and Caldeira (1998) in (Albro, 2006: 389). These authors undertook an
ethnography, in Brazil, of a growing disjunction between political democracy, which is intact, and a
declining civil component of democratic citizenship. The result is the delegitimation of institutions of law
and the growth of extra-legal violence— police violence, and the privatization of justice. In a disjunctive
democracy the actual content of citizenship is uneven, fragile, and arrhythmic in its relation to an
otherwise healthy political democracy.
18

19. 68
“belong to all Peruvians”. Recent Latin American history suggests that to legislate over this
particular issue is key in order to avoid possible future conflicts attempting to tackle them in a
reasonable way. As opposed to Peru, we can state that Bolivia has made huge steps toward the
acquiescence of cultural citizenship” which is defines as the invention or creation of new rights
from the struggles and identity politics of social movements and ethnic minorities as these are
expressly connected to the recognition of cultural difference and a call for cultural rights (Albro,
2010: 73).
In Peru therehas never existed a social movement that expressed a discourse based on ethnic,
cultural, class such as the coalition with overlapping political interests that ended up with the
victory of MAS. In words of José María Arguedas, a political movement with ethnic base that
encompassed todas las sangres and not only mere different political programs. From a different
perspective, the recognition of IPs in Bolivia is a step forward to face historical ethnic
classification and discrimination while in Peru the lack of ethnic movements leaves this matters
rather unproblematised.
In Bolivia, according to Mesa Gisbert the indigenous have always been subjects and not objects
of history. Other individuals, non-indigenous, have been their political voice and, even though
the constitutional reforms implemented by the government of Morales considered de-colonizer
69
were based in other past reforms, it is with him that the IPs became agents of history. That is
they traditional were under what the Ecuadorian sociologist Andres Guerrero has called
70
ventrilocuismo indígena. It seems like overall the historical processes that took place in both
countries throughout their Republican history have worked inversely in the creation of a political
oriented indigenous consciousness.
Certain comments have to be stressed in regard to an all-embracing attempt at fairness of the
constitutions. That is, although its progressive character and singularity, the current Bolivian
constitution has received not little criticism of being aymara-centric, exhibiting a “paradox of new
71
exclusions” in which it left some people out of the mix, unrecognized and thus unrepresented.
72
This to be born in mind as the pre-eminence of mestizo population in many areas in the
country is undeniable, especially on urban municipalities. In Peru, this population is bigger than
68
The President of Peru, Alan García, wrote three articles called “El syndrome del perro del hortelano”
exposing that indigenous peoples claims for ancestral territories were retardant for the development of the
country. http://elcomercio.pe/edicionimpresa/html/2007-10-28/el_sindrome_del_perro_del_hort.html
69
Mesa Gisbert, Carlos. Bolivia, la concepción indigenista. Seminary at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in
Barcelona (Spain), on February 21, 2011.
70
Ventriloquist is a social intermediary who knows the semantics to be put into the mouth of the natives,
who know the content, range and tone of what the liberal state is willing and able to grasp. The
ventriloquist knows the circuits of power in the bureaucracy and drive 'the meaning of the game '
(Bourdieu) in the political field transescene both the regional and the central power "(Guerrero, 1994)
71
Albro, Robert (2010). Confounding Cultural Citizenship and Constitutional Reform in Bolivia: 72.
72
“The Bolivian constitution of 2009 establishes a different category of citizenship following a certain
origin or language. If the indigenous have certain benefits such as the use of renewable natural resources
as they are the only beneficiaries whereas the rest of the country has right to benefit from the non-
renewable natural resources” (Mesa Gisbert, 2011).
19

20. Bolivia both in an objective way, being of mixed heritage and in a subjective one, as identifying
themselves as mestizo, before the indigenous autonomy was proclaimed by the 2009
73
constitution. This can also be the case of urban indigenous population, the so called cholos,
which may be an example of adaptation of the individualistic costumes and uses of urban areas
in many cases in which collective moral loosened.
To conclude, the enigma that represents the lack of importance within the political scenery in
Peru, which will is a strong indicator of the lack of constitutional recognition, remains an enigma
that is susceptible to be approached by further research. Tentative responses lie in
undercovering how indigenous movements had the capacity to organize themselves and work
together and preserve a common “organizational identity” not only in Bolivia but also in Ecuador
whereas in Peru they remained rather fragmented. In this respect, Albro points out in his case
study about a cholo population in the urban town of Quillacollo that it represented the reality of
the cultural diversification of mestizaje en Bolivia. But, at the same time, this does not precluded
Quechua and Aymara ethnicity and can include indigenista discourse (Albro, 2010: 82). Thus,
every attempt to accommodate indigenous population within the constitutional frame in
multiethnic realities such as the Latin American countries should bear in mind the social and
cultural dynamics of countries in which mestizaje is and has been the cornerstone of its nation
building.
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Century History and Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 110-120.
Della Porta, Donatella and Michael Keating, (eds.) (2008). Approaches and Methodologies in
the Social Sciences. A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lucero, Jose Antonio and Garcia, María Elena (2003). Un País Sin Indígenas: Repensando la
Política Indígena en el Perú. Presented at the Seminario Internacional: Movimientos Indígenas
y Estado en América Latina, Cochabamba, Bolivia, May 2003.
Healy, Kevin (2001). Llamas, Weaving, and Organic Chocolate: Multicultural Grassroots
Development in the Andes and Amazon of Bolivia. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame
Press.
Phillipson, Robert (ed.) (2000). Rights to Language: equity, power, and education: Celebrating
the 60th Birthday of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Kymlicka, Will and Wayne Norman (2000). Citizenship in culturally diverse societies: Issues,
contexts, concepts. In Citizenship in diverse societies, ed. Will Kymlicka and Wayne
Norman.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1-41.
Adelaar, Willem F. H.; & Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge
language surveys. Cambridge University Press.
73
In the same way, indigenous political expression is not simply identifiable in varieties of postcolonial
impositions but inseparable from the local forms of political association and post popular participation
base organizations in which both indigenous and non-indigenous people are active. Thus, indigenous
“purity” is not a condition for indigenous political consciousness.
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21. Yashar, Deborah (2005). Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Rise of Indigenous
Movements and the Postliberal Challenge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gamarra, Eduardo (1994). Market-Oriented Reforms and Democratization in Latin America:
Challenges of the 1990s, in W.C. Smith, C.H. Acuña and E.A. Gamarra (eds) Latin American
Political Economy in the Age of Neoliberal Reform, pp. 1–15. Miami, FL: North-South Center.
Guerrero, Andrés (1994). Una imagen ventrílocua: el discurso liberal de la "desgraciada raza
indígena afines del siglo XIX. Quito: Facultad latinoamericana de ciencias sociales. FLACSO-
Sede Ecuador.
Urquidi, A. (1976). Temas de Reforma Agraria. La Paz: Ed. Juventud.
Flores-Galindo, Alberto (1986). República sin Ciudadanos en Buscando un Inca: identidad y
utopía en los Andes. Lima: Sur.
Degregori, Carlos Iván (1995). Movimientos étnicos, democracia y nación en Perú y Bolivia..
Democracia, etnicidad y violencia política en los países andinos. Lima: Instituto de estudios
peruanos (IEP).
Fraser, Nancy (2001). Recognition without ethics. Theory, Culture and Society. Vol. 18 2-3, 21-
41.
Aguilar, Gonzalo; Lafosse, Sandra; Rojas, Hugo; Steward, Rébecca. The Constitutional
Recognition of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America. Pace Int`L. Rev. Online Companion, Sept.
2010, at 44.
Albro, Robert (2010). Confounding Cultural Citizenship and Constitutional Reform in Bolivia.
Latin American Perspectives, Issue 172, Vol. 37 No. 3, 71-90
Albro, Robert (2006). The Culture of Democracy and Bolivia's Indigenous Movements. Critique
of Anthropology 2006 26: 387
Constitución de la República Plurinacional de Bolivia 2009
Constitución de la República del Perú 1993
Constitución Política del Ecuador 2008
Audiovisual material:
HemiScope special Edition, Interview by Peter H. Smith with Prof. Rodolfo Stavenhagen.
Series: HemiScope [6/2008] [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 14667].
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTYrgJI5OTg
Agencia Chaski. Interview to Javier Diez-Canseco.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRN5GrHvgEE
Mesa Gisbert, Carlos. Bolivia, la concepción indigenista. Seminary at Universitat Pompeu
Fabra, in Barcelona (Spain), on February 21, 2011.
Databases:
CIA World Factbook
Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Bolivia: http://www.ine.gob.bo/
Political Database of the Americas: http://pdba.georgetown.edu/
Others
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22. Stavenhagen, Rodolfo (2004). Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Diversity: outlines and
proposals. http://www.ibcperu.org/doc/isis/8763.pdf
C169 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989
Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo de Pueblos Andinos, Amazónicos y Afroperuano (INDEPA)
Newspaper El Comercio (Perú)
22

23. Annex:
Map 1.1: Ethnolinguistic map of the Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia
Source: Adelaar, 2000.
Map 1.2: Geographic map of Bolivia (Highlands and lowlands)
Source: Travel Bolivia, 2010.
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24. Map 2: Ethnolinguistic map of the Indigenous Peoples of Peru
Source: Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo de Pueblos Amazónicos, Andinos y Afroperuano (INDEPA). 2010
24

25. Source: Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo de Pueblos Amazónicos, Andinos y Afroperuano (INDEPA). 2010
25

26. Table 1: Being indigenous increases the probability of being poor, even controlling for
the common predictors of poverty
Source: Hall and Patrinos (2004).
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27. 74
Table 2: Matrix of the current state of recognition of IPs in Latin America
Source: Aguilar, Gonzalo; Lafosse, Sandra; Rojas, Hugo; Steward, Rébecca., 2010.
74
* New Bolivian Political Constitution, ratified by referendum in January, 2009.
** New Ecuadorian Political Constitution, ratified by referendum in September,
2008.
X(A) Constitutions that specifically mention indigenous peoples‘ right to autonomy.
X(B) The Constitution of Panama utilized the term bilingual literacy.
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