According to Pagina Siete, “communities that live in national parks constantly send notes that do not receive a response from the National Service of Protected Areas.” The new administrators of the National Service of Protected Areas (Sernap) made appointments and dismissals of the directors of these reserves illegally and without consultation. They point out that in the midst of the pandemic, the park rangers were dismissed and rotated.
“In Pilón Lajas a director was appointed who did not have consensus. Our TCO (Community Land of Origin) is 90% indigenous territory of Mosetenes and T'simanes and the rest is a biosphere reserve. That is why it was always managed” in a collaborative way between the indigenous peoples and Sernap. “But this time they have bypassed the communities, they have run us over with an interim director hand-picked, failing to comply with the merit contest. We have filed a complaint but to date we have no response ”, said the representative of the Central of Indigenous Peoples of La Paz (Cpilap) Gonzalo Oliver.”
Also, in Madidi National Park, Otuquis, Kaa-Iya and in the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve, “the indigenous communities that inhabit the territory were left aside in decision-making. Those affected affirm that their management committees were unknown or declared illegal, leaving them out of any type of control.”
Their hand-delivered letter was rejected because “we had a mistake of a letter in the second surname of the director…We inquired about the appointment but we were told that it comes with an external budget.”
Indigeneous communities in other areas of the country (e.g., communities of Quetena Chico and Quetena Grande in the Eduardo Avaroa Reserve) have experienced similar treatment.
“These complaints and many others were made known through a letter sent by various management committees to Sernap with a copy to the Ministry of the Environment.” But, there has been no response.