This article, along with dozens if not hundreds of others, documents the plight of the Chiquitano people of Bolivia. They have lived in the Bolivian Amazon for thousands of years, but in the past decades have faced much of the land being opened up for oil exploration and extraction.
Despite Bolivian laws create a conundrum: one law says that Indigenous people have rights to their land, another law says that right does not include potential hydrocarbon resources.
As the Chiquitano organize to fight for their land, they face many divisive issues. Some communities have agreed to allow exploration at the price of increased development projects while others absolutely refuse to work with conservationist groups for fear they will lose control of their land. The discussion in Bolivia as a whole frames the Chiqutano as being selfish by refusing to allow oil exploration that would be taxed and used for public spending under the Morales administration.
Like groups in Peru, the Chiquitano have protested and organized. However, oil exploration and exploitation continues.