Indigenous People In Modern Costa Rica

Today you won't see much evidence of native traditions in Costa Rica. Only about 1% of the country's population is of aboriginal extraction , and the dispersion of the various groups ensures that they frequently do not share the same concerns and agendas. Contact between them, apart from through bodies such as CONAI - the national indigenous affairs organization is minimal.

Although a system of indigenous reserves was set up by the Costa Rican administration in 1977, giving aboriginal people the right to remain in self-governing communities, titles to the reserve lands were withheld, so that while the communities may live on the land, they do not actually own it. This has led to government contracts being handed out to mining operations in the Talamanca area, leading to infringements on the communities themselves, which are further hampered by the presence of missionaries in settlements like Amubri and San Jose Cabecar. The twelve "Indian reserves" scattered around the country are viewed by their inhabitants with some ambivalence. As in North America, establishing a reservation system has led in many cases to a banishing of indigenous people to poor quality land where enclaves of poverty soon develop.

Although the persecution of native people in Costa Rica is nothing like as bad as in Guatemala, in recent years there have been a number of disturbing indigenous rights violations, many of them documented. At the same time there is growing recognition of the importance of preserving indigenous culture and of providing reserves with increased services and self-sufficiency. In addition, indigenous groups from around the country, realizing that they need a cohesive voice and common agenda, have banded together to rent a Costa Rica real estate housing or building San Jose to be used as the headquarters for a united movement.