ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an examination of prior consultation in the context of highly mobilized, politically powerful indigenous groups, all of whom benefited from the consultation procedure. The majority of these prior consultations were carried out with indigenous communities belonging to the Guarani ethnic group. In areas in which NGOs concentrate their activities, international supporters focus on pressuring the government to respect indigenous rights, redress past harms caused to the environment and halt the expansion of the extractive industry. Politically powerful Guarani communities have used prior consultation procedures as spaces to negotiate the terms of gas extraction with the state, obtaining remarkable economic outcomes. It is politically organized through its local Assembly of the Guaraní People of Takovo Mora and subordinated to the national APG. Through prior consultation, powerful Yaqui communities were able to advance political goals as well as economic demands.
