The New Constitution

On February 7, 2009, a new constitution took effect in Bolivia. The document declared Bolivia to be a pluri-national state, acknowledging the existence of indigenous groups as part of the fabric of the nation, and lists Aymara and 35 other Indigenous languages as official languages of Bolivia. This was a watershed moment for Aymaran language rights, as it guaranteed the Aymara people the right to use their language, to receive multi-language education (in Spanish and Aymara), and to receive government services in their language in certain regions (depending on population of Aymara speakers in that department). The document also guaranteed new indigenous representation in the national legislative body [Vaca, 2009; Constitute Project, 2009].  

This constitution was the first that allowed Bolivians to approve its contents by popular vote, passing with 61.4% approval in a referendum on January 25, 2009 [Vaca, 2009]. In addition to officially enshrining many socialist reforms that were gaining momentum under Evo Morales’s leadership, the document was meant to empower the indigenous groups in Bolivia who had been oppressed in Bolivia since its creation.  While the Aymara in Bolivia lauded the new constitution, some were concerned that the document's language was too vague in explaining how the promised rights would be enshrined. There was, however, general agreement that for an indigenous group as large as the Aymara, the new constitution would translate into tangible language rights [Romero, 2009].