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30Nov14

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Certificate pursuant to uses and customs of the lawful Guarani authorities of the Department of Tarija

The Assembly of the Guaraní People (APG), the parent organization of the Guaraní Nation of Bolivia and the Indigenous Confederation of the Eastern Chaco and the Bolivian Amazon [Confederación Indígena del Oriente Chaco y Amazonía de Bolivia (CIDOB)] the parent organization of the indigenous people of the Bolivian lowlands, hereby advise all local, regional, departmental and national authorities as well as the people of Bolivia, of the following:

1. The indigenous peoples of the Bolivian Lowlands, recognised in the Political Constitution of the State (hereafter the CPE) as a people who pre-existed the creation of the Republic, are governed by their uses and customs, have their own system for the election of their authorities, have a defined organic structure, statutes, and legal capacity; in other words, they exist in law.

2. The indigenous peoples of the Bolivian Lowlands, specifically the Guarani people exercise their own jurisdiction, referred to in the CPE as "Original Indigenous and Campesino Jurisdiction", which is furthermore regulated pursuant to Law Nš 073 on Jurisdictional Demarcation; as a result, they can make decisions and issue sanctions within the framework of those constitutional powers and the powers set out in Law Nš 073.

3. The Guarani people of Bolivia, who occupy lands within the Departments of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and Tarija have their own autonomous organic structure. They are made up of the APGs and the Departmental Councils of Captains. As organisations with their own structure and their own governing statutes, fully recognised by the Plurinational State of Bolivia, these structures cannot be violated or harmed by any institution, whether public or private.

4. As the maximum authorities within the organizational structure of the Guarani people (APG) and of the indigenous peoples of the Lowlands (CIDOB), in application of the powers conferred on us by our governing statutes, the Political Constitution of the Plurinational State and national and international laws which protect indigenous peoples, we hereby issue the following:

CERTIFICATE pursuant to uses and customs of the lawful authorities of the APGs and Departmental Councils of the Plurinational State of Bolivia:

Council of Guarani Captains of Tarija
- Tomas Araray, President
- Mariana Seoane Taborga, Head of Communications and Education

5. The APG and the CIDOB, the maximum authorities representing the indigenous people of the Bolivian lowlands are concerned that in the Department of Tarija certain governmental and non-governmental institutions and individuals acting alone and/or collectively have sought to claim for themselves the representation of the Guarani people and to interfere with the determination as to who represents the Guarani people, thereby attempting to set up a parallel indigenous representation. In order to end once and for all this interference and infringement of the rights of the indigenous Guarani people of Tarija and further, in order to clarify the identity of the legitimate Guarani authorities who have been appointed pursuant to uses and customs in the Department of Tarija, we hereby CERTIFY that the Boards composed of the following persons:

    Jorge Mendoza Valdez, Grand Captain Zone Yaku-Igua
    Sandra Romero, Second Mburuvicha Zone Yaku-Igua
    Aquilina Pereira, Head of Health Zone Yaku-Igua
    Yessica Melgar, Head of Education Zone Yaku-Igua
    Franz Velasquez, Head of Sport Zone Yaku-Igua

    Hilario Trigo Bonillas, Grand Captain ZoneVilla Montes
    Modesto Burgos, Second Grand Captain
    Silvia Robles, Head of Gender Issues
    Freddy Diaz, Head of Production
    Santo Soto, Co-Head of Infrastructure
    Claudina ChávezAireyu, Co-Head of Infrastructure
    Cristina Villarroel, Head of Health
    Eduardo Martinez, Head of Lands and Territory
    Luis Alberto Aba, Head of Natural Resources and Environment
    Rita Alvarez, Head of Communications

    Amilkar Indaraz León, Grand Captain Zone Karapari
    Justina Suarez, Second Captain
    Pastor Cuellar, P
    Jesus Catari, I
    Ema Aré, S
    Yexenia Saldaña, E
    Victor Barrios, T
    Martin Mancilla, Natural Resources
    Katerin Secon, Gender Issues
    Ema Torres, Communications

    Never Barrientos, Grand Captain Zone Itika Guasu

    Felicidad López R, Grand Captain Zone Bermejo
    Ruth Chumasero, Secretary of Minutes
    Cristina Mareca, Head of Communications
    Aurelio Segundo, Head of Lands and Territory
    Luis Miguel López, Head of Education
    Cristina Romero, Head of Gender Issues
    Ramon Segundo, Head of Health
    Carolina Soria, Head of Infrastructure
    Alejandro Pérez, Head of Environment

are the SOLE LEGAL representatives and that the said persons are the lawful Mburuvichas in the Department of Tarija and their respective areas of authority as Captains.

6. Furthermore, in view of the persistent harassment committed systematically throughout the Department of Tarija against the legitimate Guarani authorities, in particular against the members of the Board of the Assembly of the Guarani People of Itika Guasu, presided over by the Mburuvicha Guasu Never Barrientos and composed of Florentino Zeballos Orquera (Vice President); Zacarías Cuellar Oanda (Secretary Finances); Benildo Vaca (Spokesperson for Projects); Ángela Tague Manuel (Spokesperson for Health); Gregorio Barrientos Camacho (Spokesperson for Education); Fernando Cuellar Oanda (Spokesperson for Production), we note the minutes of the General Assembly of Mburuvichas of the APG IG dated 26th September 2014 and the repeated ratification of the above-mentioned Board by the said Assembly, duly convened and with an ample quorum, pursuant to current uses and customs and of the Statutes of the APG IG in force and effect which were in their turn approved unanimously by the 36 communities of Itika Guasu on 7th September 2013.

We further certify that all the above-mentioned Mburuvichas have been elected pursuant to the laws and proceedings of our Organization and, as provided in the CPE and the Law of Jurisdictional Demarcation, their legitimate authority cannot be questioned by public officials, whether Sectional Executives, Members of the Assembly, Departmental Secretaries, Prosecutors, Ministries, state enterprises or any other persons, who should in fact offer all possible cooperation to ensure the proper exercise of the powers of the above mentioned indigenous authorities and to punish those who seek to disturb the peace, tranquillity and integrity of the territories and organization of the indigenous Guarani peoples in the Department of Tarija and the rest of Bolivia.

In accordance with all of the foregoing, we hereby issue the present certificate for the sake of the Zones and TCOs of the Guarani Nation of Bolivia.

Issued in Guaye (Entre Ríos) 30th November 2014

Domingo Julián Torrico, President National APG
Melva Hurtado Añez, President CIDOB

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