Yuracaré

The Yuracaré are an Indigenous people of the forested piedmont where the Andes meet central Bolivian Amazonia, living along the Chapare, Ichilo, Isiboro and Sécure rivers in Cochabamba and Beni departments. Their language is a genuine isolate, unrelated to any known family; a first full dictionary and grammar were published only in the 2020s as part of revitalization efforts, since Spanish is advancing rapidly among the young.

Traditionally dispersed along riverbanks in extended-family settlements, the Yuracaré cultivate cassava, plantain, maize and rice, and are noted forest managers who hunt, fish and tend fruiting trees that attract game. They obtained one of Bolivia's early Indigenous forestry concessions in the 1990s and hold collective titles including the Yuracaré communal land along the Chapare.

A large part of the people lives inside the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS), which they share with Mojeño and Tsimané communities, placing them at the heart of Bolivia's most publicized conflict between road building, coca-frontier expansion and Indigenous territorial rights. Community leaders balance defense of the forest with growing needs for schooling, health care and cash income.