Indigenous territory (Costa Rica) explained

According to Costa Rica’s 1977 Indigenous Law, the Indigenous Territories are the traditional lands of the legally recognized indigenous peoples of Costa Rica.[1] The Republic of Costa Rica recognizes eight native ethnicities; Bribris, Chorotegas, Malekus, Ngöbe, Huetars, Cabecars, Borucas and Terrabas.[2]

The Law also provides the territories of self-government and autonomy according to the traditional organization of the tribes, yet this is hardly applied.[1] According to the Law all non-indigenous residents with properties in the areas acquired before the promulgation of the Law should be relocated and/or indemnified, and all posterior acquisition of lands is illegal and should be expropriated with no compensation,[1] but this hasn’t been endorsed by Costa Rica’s government.[1] Tension between indigenous and white residents of the areas of Salitre and Cabagra has become violent to the point of mutual aggressions.[3]

Territories

Currently there are 24 officially recognized indigenous territories:

TerritoryEthnicityCantonProvinceLanguageYear of creation
TérrabaTeribe peopleBuenos AiresSpanish and Teribe1956
GuatusoGuatuso peopleGuatuso and San CarlosAlajuela ProvinceSpanish and Maléku1977
KéköldiBribri peopleTalamancaBribri and Spanish1977
QuitirrisíHuetar peopleMoraSan José ProvinceSpanish1979
MatambúChorotega peopleGuanacaste ProvinceSpanish1980
Abrojos MontezumaNgabe peopleNgäbere1980
Coto BrusNgabe peopleNgäbere1981
Conte BuricaNgabe peopleNgäbere1982
UjarrásCabécar people1982
SalitreBribri peopleBribri and Spanish1982
CabagraBribri peopleBribri and Spanish1982
TayníCabécar peopleCabécar1984
TelireCabécar peopleCabécar1985
Cabecar TalamancaCabécar peopleCabécar1985
Bribri TalamancaBribri peopleBribri and Spanish1985
ZapatónHuetar peopleSan José ProvinceSpanish1986
Ngobe-BugleNgabe peopleNgäbere1990
Nairi-AwariCabécar peopleTurrialba, Matina and SiquirresCartago Province
Limón Province
1991
Bajo ChirripóCabécar peopleTurrialba and LimónCartago Province
Limón Province
1992
Alto ChirripóCabécar peopleTurrialba and MatinaCartago Province
Limón Province
1993
CurréBrunca peopleBoruca1993
BorucaBrunca peopleBoruca1993
China KicháCabécar peopleCabécar2001
Altos de San AntonioNgabe peopleNgäbere2001

Notes and References

  1. Schliemann. Christian. La autonomía de los pueblos indígenas de Costa Rica una contrastación del estándar internacional con la legislación nacional y su implementación. Revista Latinoamericana de Derechos Humanos. n 23 (1). I Semestre 2012. 23 145. es. 1659-4304.
  2. http://www.iwgia.org/regions/latin-america/costa-rica "Indigenous peoples in Costa Rica."
  3. News: United Nations. Naciones Unidas llama a detener violencia en Salitre y a asegurar derechos para habitantes de territorios indigenas. 18 April 2016. 14 July 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140714191204/http://www.cr.undp.org/content/costarica/es/home/presscenter/articles/2014/07/07/naciones-unidas-llama-a-detener-violencia-en-salitre-y-a-asegurar-derechos-para-habitantes-de-territorios-ind-genas/. dead.