Three officers started to shoot at the Araona leader’s feet, pulled him by his hair, tied him and hung him from his legs face down in the water until one o’clock in the morning, evidently intending to drown him...

Source: 26-03-2003 - Central Natives of the Amazon Region of Bolivia - CIRABO

Name of the Group: Araona Linguistic Famiy: Tacana Location: Departament of La Paz, Iturralde province, Ixiamas municipality. Main settlement, Puerto Araona. Araona idiophones, made from toucan beaks

Social Organization: First contact with the Araona people was made by missionaries Mancini and Codenach, in 1867. From them, only those taken to Ixiamas and Tumupasa were kept under the mission’s jurisdiction. All others were enslaved when the rubber tree exploitation began, which led to their near extinction. Those who survive descend from two families that managed to escape and live as nomads, in hiding, up to 1960. In 1964, the ILV organized them in two clans, Caviña and Araona, of which only the Araona subsist today. They are monogamous with a tendency to endogamic marriages. No fixed pattern of residence exists. Heritage is patrilineal.

Political Organization: They do not acknowledge power from a sole individual, and thus have no chief. Elders do wield a certain amount of influence. Today a degree of authority prevails regarding the New Tribes missionaries.
Charismatic or natural leaders stand out in economic activities, particularly trade. Also considered natural leaders are good hunters, shamans, animal imitators and those who show solidarity. According to some researchers, they may recognize one such leader as a “captain”. The Araona are affiliated to the Central Natives of the Amazon Region of Bolivia (CIRABO), the Central Indigenous Peoples of La Paz (CPILAP) and to the Confederation of Eastern, Amazonic and Chaco Bolivian Indigenous Communities and Peoples (CIDOB).

Economy: Araona agricultural activities are geared to self-sustenance, not to market-scale production. The main crops are yucca, plantain, sweet potatoes, walusa (an edible root of high protein content), and corn. Their main link to trade is the recollection and sales of Amazonian almonds which they take, in their own boats, from Riberalta (Beni Department), all along the Madre de Dios river. Each box of almonds -  30 cm. high by 50 cm. long and 26cm. wide- was sold in situ, in 1992, for Bs. 20., or was traded for sugar (4 kg. per box) or rice (4kg. per box), etc. They also hunt, fish and collect wild fruits.

Symbolism: The Araona believe in spirits. Their society is animist, attuned to the natural environment. Some members of the New Tribes Missions are of the opinion that "it’s very had for them to have faith. They control spirits and they also want to control God. They are a bit difficult”. The "yanacona" – or shaman – is the one in charge of communicating with spirits. These missionaries say shamans “do not exist anymore” but the Araona affirm the opposite. They celebrate rituals in which women do not participate as cult practice is reserved for men.

Source: Ethnic Atlas of Anthropological Research, UNAN – Viceministry of Culture, José Teijeiro - Teófilo Laime - Sotero Ajacopa - Freddy Santalla