No abstract

This article explores the development of a transport market which moves passengers and goods over the road system currently connecting Bolivia and Chile. An elite of aymara transport entrepreneurs has emerged in both Colchane and Pisiga to provide these services. This elite has currently been put under pressure by the appearance of new national and international actors. In a context of rural depopulation, migration between cities in both Chile and Bolivia and deterioration of the farming economy, we will see how participation in this transportation market has implied an important source of economic accrual in which indigenous actors have found a place. This process has reconfigured pre-existing political structures and generated new forms of social mobility and economic and political leadership.Key words: Colchane, Pisiga, aymara, transportation, economy. Este artículo se propone caracterizar algunas de las transformaciones sociales, políticas y económicas al interior del mundo aymara -en tanto grupo étnico predominante en la zona-de las localidades colindantes a la frontera nacional en torno al complejo fronterizo en Colchane-Pisiga, que conecta los territorios de la región de Tarapacá en el norte chileno y el departamento de Oruro en el occidente boliviano, las cuales han sido dinamizadas por el importante auge y desarrollo de la economía del transporte de mercancías y personas en las últimas décadas. Este proceso reconfigura las estructuras políticas preexistentes y genera nuevas formas de movilidad social-económica y liderazgo político.