BOLIVIA: CHIMAN TRIBE FIGHT OFF ENCROACHING 20TH CENTURY

(29 Sep 1997) Spanish/Nat

A Chiman tribal community, deep in the Amazonian jungle of Bolivia is fighting to out the 20th century.

Its culture survived a Spanish conquest but now the encroachment of loggers and hunters threatens its lifeblood, Mother Nature.

Access to Chiman territory is heavily restricted to safeguard the future of one of Bolivia's most isolated people.

Few outsiders have ever seen the Chimanes.

The indigenous people live in 213 square kilometers of Amazonian jungle, close to Bolivia's border with Brazil.

There are some seven thousand in total, whose traditions and methods of survival live on - for food, they spear fish from hollowed out boats.

Their children are taught how to play a part in the community from an early age - doing chores their predecessors did for centuries.

But the modern world is close to hand.

And the Chimanes, who have virtually autonomous control of their reserve, view it with caution.

Many of their Chiman-speaking children are now taught Spanish, Bolivia's mother tongue.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"We always maintain our customs, those are what we do not wish to lose, more than anything the language that we speak. Most Chimanes are mono linguistic, they do not speak Spanish, few do. But now, with education, many more do, especially the younger ones."
SUPER CAPTION: Jorge Anez Tacuare, Chiman council president

There is pressure from logging and hunting organisations to enter the reserve.

But timber and wildlife are the lifeblood to these isolated inhabitants who run the reserve with virtually autonomous powers wielded by the Grand Chiman Council.

New presidents are elected in charge of the system every four years.

Today's Chiman children rely, like generations before them, on nature to sustain them.

The future of Chimanes lies in their tomorrow's.

It's up to them to ensure the outside world does not destroy this natural lifeblood.

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