Cavineño

The Cavineños

Cavineño is an indigenous language native of the Cavineños, which is a Bolivian indigenous group from the area of the Amazon. The population of this group is estimated to be around 2,000 people. The people live mainly in the northern side of the Beni Department and in the south of the city of Riberalta. Even though this group has been exposed to many different cultures over time, it has preserved its indigenous identity.

History

In 1764 the “Franciscana de Esmeralda” Mission was founded by members of Cavineño decent. This was done with the purpose to avoid interethnic conflicts, especially with their neighbors, the group Ese Ejja. The mission was previously called  “Puerto Cavinas”  and the responsibility was later transferred to the missioners Marynoll, they were able to obtain 72,000 hectares of land for agriculture.

Previously, those lands were considered property of the priests, resulting in the commercialization of a portion of it during 1970. However, before the group of Maryknoll left in 1973 the land got reverted the to the state. The Cavineño people later claimed their right to these lands, but the Consejo Nacional de Reforma Agraria gave 30,000 of the best portions of the land to the Fuerza Naval Boliviana (Bolivian military).

During the 70’s, the Instituto Lingüístico de Verano (Summer Language Institute) arrives to the Cavineño communities. The institute was an evangelic organization that focused primarily in developing support programs to prepare bilingual indigenous teachers and also assist them in the subject of health.