Afro-Bolivians push for political recognition

"For most Americans," Annie Murphy writes in the San Francisco Chronicle article "Afro-Bolivians push for political recognition," "Bolivia conjures up images of Andean Indians tending to their vast herds of llamas. In a nation where the majority of its 9 million inhabitants are Aymara or Quechua Indians, Black activists say they are a forgotten minority.

"Afro-Bolivians don't exist on any census survey. During the last official census in 2001, Bolivians had only six choices regarding race: white, mestizo, Aymara, Quechua, Guarani (the three leading indigenous groups), or other. As a result, estimates of the Black population range wildly between 6,000 and 158,000 people. A 1997 poll financed by the Inter-American Development Bank estimated the population at 20,000.

"Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, 'talks about us, visits our villages sometimes. But we're still not recognized by the state,' said Marfa Inofuentes, president of the Afro-Bolivian Cultural Movement in La Paz. 'How are we supposed to organize and take advantage of our rights, if we don't even know our number.' "