Blood, Land and Sovereignty: The Status of Indigenous Rights in the Americas

DEVELOPMENTS

The indigenous rights movements of the Americas are experiencing a renaissance. Indigenous peoples of the Americas are increasingly reasserting their claims to sovereign rights of self determination and resource governance.  

All over Latin America the effects of the indigenous rights movement can be felt.  In Ecuador, the Shuar have begun to defend their hunting grounds and traditional territory.  In Chile, the Mapuche are occupying ranches in a effort to gain necessary human resources.  In Bolivia, a new constitution gives the country's thirty-six indigenous peoples the right to self-rule.  All over Latin America a political awakening is emboldening Indians who have been regulated to second-class citizens in their own countries since the Spanish invasion.

This awakening is not limited to Latin America but extends into the United States as well.  President Barack Obama recently announced November as American Indian Heritage Month and gave a speech to 564 Tribal Representatives reaffirming the U.S.'s commitment to maintaining tribal sovereignty and the United States' unique trust relationship with the tribes of the United States of America.  The National Congress of American Indians has even recently opened an Embassy on Washington, DC to provide a bridge for American Indian Tribes to national levers of power.    

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