This essay focuses on the Bolivian indigenous justice system and on the functions
performed by the Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal related to the
autochthonous sphere with the aim to test the effectivity of the constitutional
design. After a brief introduction, section II outlines the meaning of the so called
etnodesarrollo in the Latin American debate in order to better understand,
in section III, the decolonial ideology that underpins the new constitutional
order. The consolidation of the Bolivian Plurinational and Intercultural State
implies the recognition of a set of rights to the indigenous groups, as well as the
equivalence between indigenous justice and ordinary justice, and the elaboration
of new interpretative methods by the constitutional judges, as it is explained
in sections IV, V, VI. The final section is devoted to some reflections on the
distance between the Western legal categories that permeate Latin America and
the chthonic law, notwithstanding the significant role played by the Bolivian
Constitutional Tribunal to strengthen the indigenous values in this country.
