Franklin Gutiérrez

On Thursday, 15 August, the Plurinational Legislative Assembly presented and officially signed the draft Intercultural and Afro-Bolivian Indigenous Native Peasant Communication Act, in its final version, to the members of the Commission on Indigenous Peoples and legislators representing the country’s indigenous and aboriginal peasant organizations and peoples; this act initiated the formal legislative treatment of the bill, which was drafted and presented by the Unity Pact.

The Bill for an Intercultural and Afro-Bolivian Indigenous Originating Peasant Communication Act is a legislative initiative of the Unity Pact (CSUTCB, CNMCIOB-BS, CIDOB, CONAMAQ and CSCIOB), which was worked on jointly with the indigenous original peasant communicators gathered in the CAIB, the technical communication arm of the organizations, for more than two years and supported by the entity CEFREC, within the framework of the Plurinational System of Intercultural Indigenous Originating Peasant Communication.

This bill seeks to give effect to the recognition, promotion and full exercise of the right to communication and information of Afro-Bolivian indigenous and aboriginal peasant peoples and nations, an aspect recognized in the Political Constitution of the State in articles 30 and 107, among others. It also responds to the historical foundation of construction of Plurinationality established by the Constitution, but from its own forms of communication, differentiated from conventional mercantilist communicational models, individualistic and aligned with Western culture.

In addition to national leaders of the Unity Pact, indigenous CAIB communicators, the event was attended by Assembly members, deputies and a senator, who endorsed the bill, declaring it a priority and signing it for formal entry into the Chamber of Deputies and its immediate treatment. They also declared their commitment to have it approved in the present legislature.

The legislators present at the event, along with technical staff, were as follows: Inés López Quispe, Alicia Natte Rosendi, Avilio Vaca, Oscar Avellano Pizarro, Savino Arroyo Gonzales, Martiriano Mamani Cari, Julián Castedo, Jesús Antonio Soria Echazú, Ignacio Escalante, Antonio Villar Condori, and Senator Plácida Espinoza Mamani.