Indigenous Peoples of Latin America Wield Growing Political Power, says Latin American Scholar
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2004 – As indigenous peoples of Latin America reclaim a voice in national politics, their long-dormant political demands are challenging the existing legal and economic order in their home countries, Marc Chernick, a scholar at Georgetown University and SAIS, told IRP Fellows.
Chernick said the hemisphere's 40 million citizens of native descent were suppressed for 500 years after Columbus reached the New World to begin the European conquest of the region.
In recent years, however, indigenous political activists have brought down governments in Ecuador and Bolivia, Chernick said. They have also become key players in nations like Colombia, where economic-development projects may threaten their communities.
The rise of indigenous political power in Latin America in recent years has been remarkable, Chernick said. For most of the 20th century, the ideologies of economic modernization and Marxism encouraged Latin Americans to shed their indigenous identities. But as Bolivia and other countries change their constitutions to grant special rights to native groups such as the Aymara and Quechua, more citizens now have an incentive to identify themselves as indigenous.
Chernick noted that many Latin Americans now call themselves indigenous even though they are actually mestizo, a mix of indigenous and European ancestry.
Much indigenous activism has been rooted in frustration with Latin American leaders pushing pro-U.S. agendas such as privatization, free trade and the eradication of coca cultivation – which are seen as coming at the expense of indigenous communities, said Chernick, who also has served as a consultant with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In Bolivia and Ecuador, indigenous groups took to the streets with occasionally violent protests and blockades. But Chernick said he is optimistic that indigenous leaders will use democratic means to push their demands. About a third of the members of Congress in Bolivia are now of indigenous descent, Chernick said. “They'll continue to mobilize in the streets but they are getting a lot out of the democratic system. They have a lot to gain.”
Chernick said he expects indigenous power to grow. “They are a voice because they have the numbers.” They are also changing the face of Latin America. “The [new] 21st century identity (of Latin America) is not Spanish-speaking Catholic, which it was for 500 years. It is pluri-ethnic and multicultural,” he said.
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