Autonomía Indígena Originaria Campesina in Bolivia: Realizing the Indigenous Autonomy?

In the last five years, Bolivia has been experiencing legal and institutional changes. A new legal scenario is dawning for indigenous peoples, at least in theory. The participation of indigenous people in the constituent assembly was extremely high. Because of this participation, as well as the lobbying of their organizations (e.g., CIDOB, CONAMAQ, CSUTCB), their agenda was (partially) included in the Magna Charta. In particular, a new complex system of autonomies, including the Autonomía Indígena Originaria Campesina (AIOC), has been introduced in the Bolivian constitutional order. Despite the initial enthusiasm after the creation of the first 11 municipality-based AIOCs in December 2009 and the enactment of the dense Autonomy Law in July 2010 (Ley Marco de Autonomías y Descentralización, Ley No. 031), there are still many pending issues, especially vis-à-vis formal requisites (e.g., the statutes). Hence, this article, after introducing some theoretical issues concerning the indigenous autonomies, analyses the development of the first municipality-based AIOCs, shedding some light on their complex legal framework.