The Infrastructure Projects of IIRSA and the Rights Violation of Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

The Initiative for South American Regional Infrastructure Integration was an initiative of the Brazilian government, under the celebrations of 500 years (five hundred) the discovery of Brazil, through the initiative of Ex-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to invite the 12 (twelve) representatives of the South American countries to participate in the 1st Meeting of Presidents of South America, which took place between August 31 and September 01, 2000, in Brasilia. In this event, the representatives of the South American countries discussed a pluralistic agenda that was given particular attention to the issue of regional infrastructure integration. For the development of regional infrastructure, as will be noted in the course of this work, IIRSA has established an extensive project portfolio that were distributed in 10 (Ten) Integration and Development Axis. It turns out that many of the IIRSA infrastructure projects are located in regions that contain high biodiversity and affect local populations, including indigenous lands. In this context, it is relevant to analyze to what extent the IIRSA infrastructure projects affecting indigenous peoples. To this end, the method used is the deductive through literature and documentary whose main sources of data were extracted from the IIRSA web site, the legislation, and specialized publications on this theme.