ABSTRACT
Bolivia is a unitary, independent, free, sovereign, multiethnic, and multicultural republic in Latin America. A new Constitution was established in 2009 by President Morales, changing the country’s name to the Plurinational State of Bolivia, in recognition of its multiethnicity and to enhance the position of its indigenous peoples. In particular, the rights of the original indigenous peasant communities (naciones y pueblos indigenas orginariocampesinos) were recognized to administer justice in any civil or criminal dispute and apply their own principles, cultural values, norms, and procedures (Faundez, 2011). That is, the Constitution placed indigenous community justice at the same level as state courts, while including the right to life, the right to legal defense, and other constitutional rights and guarantees. More specifically, the criminal law excludes from indigenous community justice the crimes of murder, rape, violence against children and adolescents, against state security, war crimes, against humanity, drug offenses, corruption, and infringement of customs regulations.
