What is the status of indigenous people in present-day Bolivia?
In our country, indigenous people still live extremely out of balance with the rest of society. They are excluded not just from political life, but also from the benefits of development and society as a whole. This situation of exclusion we call internal colonialism. While it began as external colonialism under Spain, after the founding of the republic, it became internal. The challenge facing our democracy today is to overcome the conditions of internal colonialism. IDBAmerica: Indigenous people and their cultures have survived in the face of what you describe as internal colonialism. How about influences from without, the forces of globalization? We are seeing an enormously unequal invasion, in which the international communications media are setting cultural and social norms. But we cannot ignore it; we must incorporate these outside influences into our own identity. There are some things we can and must do. Indigenous peoples themselves must have access to communications media. Rad
