ABSTRACT
It might be assumed that Bolivia is a nation with a homogeneous national culture, solidly based on a common historical heritage, in which there are no serious national or ethnic contradictions. However, in Bolivia some 70 per cent of the population is Indian, a term which embraces many different linguistic and cultural groups, of which the largest are the Quechua, the Aymara, and the Guarani. All the Indians have suffered colonial oppression since the arrival of the Europeans, but in spite of this, Bolivia is presented by our oppressors as a free nation, whose citizens are ‘free and equal’, and in which civil liberties exist.
