Elmer S. Miller

Clearly the struggle for human rights, involving self-determination by way
of access to natural resources that include land, is an ongoing dynamic real-
ity for indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco. It is a contention they share
with natives not only in the Americas, but all over the world. While nation-
states such as Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay are to be commended for
their efforts to develop political and legal strategies that might redress justi-
fied concerns, it is far from clear that much can or will be done to restore the
equilibrium with nature the people themselves desire and expect.

Certainly the United States provides no model for indigenous people seek-
ing justice, since its record has been generally one to be deplored rather than
followed. However, the voices of indigenous North Americans may have
something to offer our friends in the Chaco. In the book entitled American
Indian Policy in the Twentieth Century ( Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1985), editor Vine Deloria Jr., and other contributors call attention to
issues of policy making and indigenous leadership involving both federal
and state agencies that address many of the topics currently under discussion
and debate in the Chaco.

These issues include leadership legitimated by community consensus
rather than a simple majority based upon elections; how legitimate authority
is perceived, where it is vested, and how it is exercised; techniques of co-
optation used by both state and federal agencies to control Indian popula-
tions; the spiritual and physical well-being of the indigenous community at
large; and strategies for engaging NGOs that aim to be of assistance. Cer-
tainly local traditions and ecology structure indigenous concerns in particu-
lar ways, but a forum for sharing common problems in the Americas has

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