On methodology

When legislation doesn't exist, Indigenous institutions become the protection framework.

Venezuela has no legal recognition of PIACI communities. There has been no demarcation of Indigenous territories in 25 years and the state has not yet formally acknowledged the existence of peoples in voluntary isolation. ORPIA emphasizes the importance of building from Indigenous institutional structures rather than waiting for state frameworks. They have developed a set of interlocking protection mechanisms grounded in Indigenous law: self-demarcation of territories, free prior and informed consultation protocols, Special Indigenous Jurisdiction, territorial guardians, and community mapping of sacred sites. These are institutions that belong to Indigenous peoples themselves, rooted in Venezuela's constitution and the Organic Law of Indigenous Peoples, and applied at the grassroots level through ORPIA's network across the Amazon.

Elders play a critical role in documenting and understanding the presence of peoples in voluntary isolation.

The work of confirming PIACI presence has followed a parallel track. Through dialogue with elders, who are the only people with the spiritual authority and relational access to communicate across those boundaries, ORPIA has been building a report to present to the Venezuelan government, documenting the existence of communities living deep in the rainforest. The goal is to get Venezuela onto the PIACI map and create the legislative foundation that currently doesn't exist.

On barriers

Without territorial demarcation or legal recognition, protection depends on organizational capacity, and that capacity is under-resourced.

The most direct constraint ORPIA faces is funding. Reaching the deep rainforest communities where evidence of PIACI presence must be gathered requires resources the organization doesn't have. Transportation, by land or river, is a persistent limitation. Beyond funding, technical assistance is critical. ORPIA is learning from more experienced organizations, including AIDESEP in Peru, and peer exchange through GTI-PIACI has been one of the primary ways the organization has oriented its work. Mining is also advancing into Venezuelan Amazon territories, displacing isolated communities and compounding the urgency of protections that don't yet formally exist.

On the intersection of climate and PIACI rights

Indigenous knowledge and climate action are the same agenda, and the bioeconomy is one concrete expression of that.

ORPIA situates its PIACI protection work within a broader climate and biodiversity framework, drawing on ancestral knowledge to advocate within COICA and across Amazon-wide climate processes. Eligio describes a bioeconomy school ORPIA is launching — an effort to develop non-extractive economic alternatives that protect nature, communities, and territory simultaneously. For Eligio, PIACI communities are not a separate issue from climate action: they are the primary protectors of the Amazon, and their territories are the foundation of everything that climate commitments depend on.

On consolidating PIACI as a global category

The momentum is there, and Venezuela wants to be part of it.

Eligio is optimistic about the trajectory toward global recognition. Recent legislative advances in Colombia and Brazil, sustained GTI-PIACI advocacy across international forums, and growing coordination among Amazon basin countries all point in the same direction. ORPIA has signed agreements with counterpart organizations in Colombia and Brazil, joined the network of networks alongside GTI-PIACI, and is moving toward a planned expedition to gather additional documentation from PIACI territories. Venezuela is working towards its PIACI communities being formally recognized in national legislation, and the international momentum is the lever ORPIA is using to make that happen domestically.