Indigenous Peoples In Bolivia Research Articles

Five Hundred Years of Political Struggle: New Research on Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia and Mexico

Five Hundred Years of Political Struggle: New Research on Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia and Mexico

The Andean Catch-22: ethnicity, class and resource governance in Bolivia and Ecuador

ABSTRACTThis study deals with the tensions and contradictions between resource governance, welfare policies, and the constitutionally recognized rights of nature and the indigenous peoples in Bolivia and Ecuador. We have identified a certain reductionism in current debates on these issues and propose a more systematic analytical focus on class and the class-ethnicity duality, as expressed in historical and contemporary indigenous struggles, and also confirmed via our ethnographic material. Drawing on the double bind as expressed in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 wherein the protagonists face situations in which they do not have any choice to achieve a net gain, this article centres on how national governments have to choose between the protections of rights – in this case ethnic and environmental rights – and welfare provision financed by extractive revenues. From the perspective of ecologically concerned indigenous actors, the Catch-22 is articulated in the choice or compromise between universal welfarism on the one hand, and ethno-environmental concerns on the other hand. The article draws primarily on ecosocialist arguments and on indigenous-culturalist perspectives on Good Life (Sumak Kawsay or Vivir Bien). A central finding is the existence of awareness among involved actors – oppositional movements and government authorities – that the Catch-22 quandary and joint class-ethnic concerns are unavoidable ingredients in their discourses, struggles, and understandings of Good Life.

Rights of Nature and the Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia and Ecuador: A Straitjacket for Progressive Development Politics?

Is it possible to justify resource extractivism to provide progressive welfare politics and still respect the constitutional rights of nature? The Indigenous concept of Sumak Kawsay on human beings living in harmony with each other and the environment is the fundamental framing of the new constitutions of Ecuador and Bolivia. These constitutional reforms embrace strengthened proper rights of nature and similarly of ethnic rights. However, the same constitutions grant the State the right to exploit and commercialize natural resources and extractivism has increased. This study revises the tensions between welfare politics, extractivism and the rights of nature and the Indigenous peoples in the new constitutional settings of Bolivia and, particularly, Ecuador. The article argues that Sumak Kawsay challenges dominating understandings of the concepts of welfare, common good and development, and likewise that a pragmatic approach is applied by national governments towards the constitutional rights of nature amidst other human values.

Rights of nature and the indigenous peoples in Bolivia and Ecuador: A Straitjacket for Progressive Development Politics?

Is it possible to justify resource extractivism to provide progressive welfare politics and still respect the constitutional rights of nature? The Indigenous concept of Sumak Kawsay on human beings living in harmony with each other and the environment is the fundamental framing of the new constitutions of Ecuador and Bolivia. These constitutional reforms embrace strengthened proper rights of nature and similarly of ethnic rights. However, the same constitutions grant the State the right to exploit and commercialize natural resources and extractivism has increased. This study revises the tensions between welfare politics, extractivism and the rights of nature and the Indigenous peoples in the new constitutional settings of Bolivia and, particularly, Ecuador. The article argues that Sumak Kawsay challenges dominating understandings of the concepts of welfare, common good and development, and likewise that a pragmatic approach is applied by national governments towards the constitutional rights of nature amidst other human values.

Acts of indigenship: historical struggles for equality and colonial difference in Bolivia

This article argues that, historically, indigenous peoples in Bolivia have been aware of the limits of citizenship and western politics in countering the exclusion of their lifeworld from modernity. However, notwithstanding this, they have not discarded the concept of citizenship entirely but have supplemented it in novel ways in order to reinstate a place for their own lifeworld. Two key concepts guide the discussion. This first is the concept of equality inspired by Jacques Rancière's emphasis on a presupposition of equality by the excluded, those who are not counted, and the literature on ‘acts of citizenship’. The second concept is that of colonial difference invoked to modify the world that has excluded indigenous peoples and to reinstate a place for their own lifeworld. The article suggests that the concept of ‘acts of indigenship’ is a productive way to apprehend and analyze the transformative potential of combining concepts of indigeneity and citizenship.

Extraction, Protest and Indigeneity in Bolivia: The TIPNIS Effect

In September 2011 Bolivian police raided an encampment of several hundred indigenous people gathered to protest the government’s plan to build a road through their lands. The violence of this event broadened awareness of the TIPNIS protest in Bolivia and abroad, and sparked both a national political crisis and debate about the validity of the government’s credentials as a progressive government that supports indigenous rights. While sustaining that existing analysis has used the TIPNIS controversy to raise important questions about the government, this article questions whether current characterizations of the political dynamics and the interests of the actors involved have been overly simplified. The article demonstrates that the TIPNIS controversy reveals anew the complex and often contradictory dynamics of indigeneity in Bolivia, and argues – in contrast to most recent analysis and media coverage – that indigenous peoples in Bolivia have an intimate relationship with resource extraction. Attention to this intimate relationship and its history is important in order to grasp the claims and aspirations of these communities in the present day.

Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells From Patients with Chronic Mountain Sickness Lack the JAK2V617F Mutation, Show Hypersensitivity to Erythropoietin and Are Inhibited by Statins.

Abstract 1894Poster Board I-917 BackgroundChronic Mountain Sickness (CMS) is a clinical entity that occurs in native or long-life residents above 2500 meters of altitude. The disease is characterized by massive erythrocytosis, hyperviscosity syndrome (headache, dyspnea and cyanosis) severe hypoxemia and cardiopulmonary symptoms. The etiology is unknown and no association has been found with Erythropoietin (EPO), Epo receptor (EpoR), Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1a (HIF-1a), von Hippel Lindau (VHL), as well as PHD1, PHD2, PHD3 or PTEN genes. Therapy relies on phlebotomy and oxygen support. Acetazolamide, Medroxyprogesterone and Enalapril have also been tested, but their use has not been largely implemented. Since HMG-CoA inhibitors such as farnesyltransferase inhibitors (Larghero, Blood 2005) may inhibit the in vitro autonomous erythropoiesis of polycythemia vera patients, we studied in CMS the therapeutic potential of statins that have similar pharmacologic activity. Patients and MethodsNormal controls (NC, n= 10) and patients were native Bolivians from the city of La Paz, Bolivia (3600–4000 mt altitude). The diagnosis of CMS (n=15) was made according to the consensus statement on this disease (Leon-Velarde, 2005). The diagnosis of Polycythemia Vera (PV, n= 5) or secondary erythrocytosis (SE, n= 10) was done according to WHO criteria or established clinical guidelines. Serum Erythropoietin (sEpo) was assessed by chemiluminescent assay. Burst forming units-erythroid (BFU-E) assay was performed by plating 105 BM mononuclear cells in methylcellulose with or without recombinant human rhEpo (2IU/ml) and Simvastatin (20 mM). Evaluation of apoptosis by Annexin V/7-AAD and JAK2V617F mutational analyses were performed as described (Guerini et al, Leukemia 2008). ResultsCMS patients (median age 48 years, range 29–58) had median values of hemoglobin and hematocrit (Hb 20.3 gr/dl, range: 19.1–22 and Hct, 62%) significantly higher than observed in NC (Hb 16.2 gr/dl, range 14.8–16.5 and Htc 52%), respectively (p< 0.001) and significantly lower than SE patients (Hb: 22.8 gr/dl, range 20.2–25 and Htc: 71%), (p<0.001). Hb and Hct were not different in CMS and PV patients (p= 0.875). In CMS sEpo values (median 22 mIU/mL, range: 16.1–45.1) were significantly higher compared to NC (median 10.7 mIU/mL, range 7–18.8) (p<0.001) and lower compared to SE patients (median 82.9 mIU/mL, range 44.8–135) (p<0.001); as expected, PV patients showed very low sEpo levels (median 3 mIU/ml, range 2.5–5.2). The JAK2V617F mutation analysis proved negative in all NC, CMS and SE patients and positive in PV. In the absence of exogenous rhEpo, a median of 0, 10, 0, 45 BFU-E colonies were obtained from NC, CMS, SE and PV patients. When rhEpo was added, 21, 40, 47 and 130 BFU-E were counted, respectively; this difference was significant when comparing NC and PV to CMS (p<0.001; p< 0.001 respectively), but not in the case of SE vs. CMS (p= 0.227). Interestingly, in PV and CMS patients, BFU-E colonies remain remarkably viable between day 14–21 while viability declined rapidly in NC and SE colonies after day 14. The prolonged viability and higher sensitivity to rhEpo of BFU-E obtained from CMS and PV erythroid progenitors was also confirmed by plating BM mononuclear cells with suboptimal doses of rhEpo (0.03 to 1 IU/ml). Moreover, when simvastatin (20 μM) was added in vitro to rhEpo driven BFU-E colonies, it induced a median inhibition of 29% in NC as compared to 37, 56 and 44 in CMS, SE and PV (p <0.013: p<0.001; p<0.001, respectively). Finally, 11 CMS patients who had a concomitant hypercholesterolemia (median cholesterol level 238 mg/dl, range 206– 310) had the opportunity to be treated with statins (atorvastatin, 20–40 mg/day). Before starting treatment with atorvastatin, all patients, who had median Hb and Htc values of 19.9 gr/dl and 63 % respectively, performed phlebotomy. After a median follow up of 18 months with atorvastatin, the median Hb and Htc values were 17.1 gr/dl and 54.6 %, respectively. The need of phlebotomy was apparently reduced, from 4–6 sessions/year to 1. ConclusionsOur results underline that a) hematopoietic progenitor cells from CMS patients may promote an autonomous erythroid colony growth and show hypersensitivity to hrEpo b) statins may induce in vitro a significant inhibition of this accelerated erythropoiesis so that they could play a therapeutic role in the treatment of this and other chronic myeloproliferative disorders. Disclosures:No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Transnational Normative Struggles and Globalization: The Case of Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia and Ecuador

Since the 1990s, the indigenous rights movement has catapulted from resource-poor, local activists to global activists. The rise of transnational indigenous rights movements has paralleled and interfaced with significant structural developments at the international and state-systemic level, raising questions about the interplay between global and local politics as arenas of social change. To trace these transnational networks to the articulation of norms supportive of indigenous claims, we examine two cases of transnational indigenous activism and domestic responses in the Andean region of South America. We find that the additional dimension of domestic and transnational mobilization that first contests existing international norms, such as neoliberalism and individual rights, and then seeks to diffuse normative changes at both the domestic and international levels provides new insight about norm formation, transformation, and diffusion in international politics in favor of anti-globalization and community equality norms on local, national, and global levels.

Mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis of native Bolivians population

Haplotypes of 111 individuals from La Paz have been studied by the analysis of the polymorphisms in mtDNA control region, HV1 and HV2 regions, in order to intend the genetic diversity. The aim was to created a population database, assess genetic interpopulation variability and classify haplogroups. We had identify 99 haplotypes with 125 polymorphic nucleotide positions, 93 haplotypes are unique. Nucleotide and sequence diversity are estimated in 0.016068 ± 0.008186 and 0.9988, respectively. Haplogroup distribution is as follows: 47.75% B; 14.41% C; 6.31% A; 4.5% D; 6.31% A, C, or D; 23.42% undetermined or compound haplogroups. Rate of heteroplasmy is 37.8% in HV1 and 53.2% in HV2.

Epidemiology of hepatitis B, C, E, and G virus infections and molecular analysis of hepatitis G virus isolates in Bolivia.

Prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis G virus (HGV), and hepatitis E virus (HEV) was investigated among 574 healthy blood donors in Bolivia. HCV RNA and HGV RNA in the serum were identified by a nested reverse transcription-PCR using primers derived from the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR). We also tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and for the antibody to HEV. The results revealed that HGV RNA was present in 84 of 574 (14.6%) tested blood donors, whereas HBsAg was detected in only 2 (0.3%) donors, and no individuals positive for HCV RNA were found. Anti-HEV immunoglobulin G (IgG) was detected in 93 (16.2%) individuals and anti-HEV IgM was found in 10 (1.7%) individuals among the same population. Phylogenetic analysis of 44 HGV isolates in the 5' UTR showed that 27 (61%) isolates were genotype 3 (Asian type) and the remaining 17 (39%) isolates were genotype 2 (United States and European type). Moreover, we obtained a full-length nucleotide sequence of the HGV genome (designated HGV-BL230) recovered from a Bolivian blood donor. The BL230 was composed of 9,227 nucleotides and had a single open reading frame, encoding 2,842 amino acid residues. Interestingly, the BL230 belonged to genotype 2 of HGV at the level of a full-length sequence, although this was classified as genotype 3 by a phylogenetic analysis based on the 5' UTR sequence. The BL230 differed from previously reported HGV/hepatitis GB virus type C isolates by 12 to 13% of the nucleotide sequence and 4% of the amino acid sequence. Our data indicate a high prevalence of HGV in native Bolivians, and the major genotype of HGV was type 3.

Hepatitis B virus markers in Japanese immigrants and their descendants in Bolivia and native Bolivians

A survey of hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers of Japanese immigrants, their descendants and native Bolivians was performed in two agricultural settlements in Bolivia. The prevalence of HBV markers in sera, either hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) or its antibody (HBsAb), was higher in the Japanese (46.4%) than in the native Bolivian (12.9%) adult generations of both colonies. There was no significant difference between Japanese (4.3%) and Bolivian (0.9%) school children in one colony, but a high percentage (32.6%) was recognized among Japanese children in the other colony. The numbers of adw subtypes were unexpectedly high among these HBsAg positive Japanese children, compared to those in Japan. Antibody to hepatitis delta virus (HDV) was detected in one case. These data suggested that although horizontal transmission of adw HBV had occurred within the Japanese population, HBV and HDV were not endemic to this geographic area.

Infectious states of human T lymphotropic virus type I and hepatitis B virus among Japanese immigrants in the Republic of Bolivia.

Serologic tests for human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) and hepatitis B virus infections were conducted in 1986 in two Japanese immigrant colonies located in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. A total of 322 adults (283 Japanese and 39 Bolivians) over age 35 years and 305 children (166 Japanese, 124 Bolivians, and 15 of mixed blood) aged 8-17 years were sampled at the time of a routine health checkup. The prevalence of antibody to HTLV-I was 17% in first-generation Japanese immigrants and 6% in second- or third-generation Japanese children. Prevalences among native Bolivians were 3% and 5% in adults and children, respectively. Seropositive Japanese immigrants and mothers showed clustering according to birthplace in endemic areas of Japan. The prevalence of either hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) or antibody to HBsAg was 48% in Japanese adults, 21% in Japanese children, 13% in Bolivian adults, and 1% in Bolivian children. Seropositive adults did not show clustering according to birthplace, but children in one colony showed clustering and a narrow age range. A correlation of seropositivity between husbands and wives was found only for HTLV-I. The seropositivity was independent of whether an HTLV-I or a hepatitis B virus infection marker was present.

Sternohold activity during utterances containing three classes of voiceless stops

Meaningful Bolivian Quechua utterances, each containing one of three classes of voiceless stops (unaspirated, aspirated, and glottalized), were spoken by a phonetician who attempted to imitate the productions of the same utterances by a native Bolivian. Electromyographic recordings from the sternohyoid muscle (SH) reveal that three relatively independent factors influence the height of peaks in SH activity: vowel stress, vowel identity, and stop manner category. A peak in SH activity is associated with voice onset for the vowel following release of oral stop closure. (Consequently, for a vowel following an unaspirated stop, the peak is nearly coincident with oral release; the peak is delayed relative to release of aspirated and glottalized stops.) Ceteris paribus, SH activity peaks higher for stressed than for unstressed vowels. For equally stressed vowels, the peak at voice onset is higher for /u/ than for /i/ than for /a/. Given the constant vocalic environment /ay_'u/, the SH activity peak at voice onset following the stop of interest is highest following aspirated stops, next highest following glottalized stops, and lowest following unaspirated stops. [Work supported in part by NINCDS and NIDR.]