Bolivia warns that half of its indigenous peoples are at risk of disappearing

MADRID, 4 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government of Bolivia has warned this Sunday that 18 of the 36 indigenous peoples that are recognized in the country are in a situation of high vulnerability and risk of disappearing, the majority in the east of the country.

Among the indigenous peoples at risk are the Uru Murato, Yaracares, Esse Ejja, Chacobo, Toromona, Tacanas, Whenayek, Yukis and Maropa, as well as up to 18 of the 36 indigenous peoples recognized by the State Political Constitution.

The Vice Minister of Decolonization, Pelagio Condori, has explained that the objective once the diagnosis is made is the recovery, promotion and revaluation of the ancestral knowledge and knowledge of the original peasant indigenous peoples. For this, projects will be considered that strengthen their culture, reports the Bolivian news agency ABI.

Condori has referred in particular to the Uru Murato who have lost their livelihoods when Lake Poopó was reduced due to climate change and environmental impact. However, the vice minister has highlighted that the Uru Murato nation is culturally strengthened because many of its practices are in force, such as their clothing, ancestral wisdom and knowledge, ritual ceremonies or traditional medicine.

In the east, the Yuracaré people of the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS) are at risk because their culture and language are being lost. Young people and adults practically do not use their language and cultural and ancestral knowledge is in disuse.

In the case of the esse ejja, their way of life, the waters of the rivers, are contaminated, which leaves them in a critical situation for their health and existence.

Faced with this situation, the Government has created the General Directorate for the Protection of Original Indigenous Nations and Peoples (Digepio), "which works with highly vulnerable peoples and those in danger of extinction," Condori said.