Amazon Cocoa Piaroa Tribe

The Piaroa Cocoa

The Piaroa indigenous community has a production system based on the use of different ecological spaces; forests, rivers and canals, and areas of agricultural use.

Piaroa Tribe

The Piaroa tribe is one of the most important indigenous peoples in Venezuela, and its extensive territory covers the states of Amazonas and Bolívar. The Piaroa live in different territorial spaces, especially humid tropical forests.

The Piaroa have also been settled for decades along the northern and southern highways of Puerto Ayacucho, Amazonas state, on the right bank of the Orinoco, between the mouth of the Ventuari and Samariapo, and in the Alto Orinoco, in the area by Tama-Tama.

There are also Piaroas in Colombian territory, in the department of Vichada, specifically in the Zama, Inírida, Matavén and Guaviare rivers.

The Piaroa currently number about 15,000 people, living mainly in the states of Amazonas and Bolívar.

Its territory in Venezuela occupies an area of around 30 thousand km², which covers the basins of the Sipapo, Autana, Cuao, Guayapo, Samariapo, Cataniapo, Paria, Parguaza, Ventuari and Manapiare rivers, in addition to the highway axes that connect Puerto Ayacucho. , capital of the Amazonas state, with the port of Samariapo, to the south, the middle Cataniapo basin, to the east, and the Bolívar state, to the north.

The Piaroa generally live in small communities of less than one hundred people, separated from each other by a distance of approximately one day’s walk.

Traditionally, the Piaroa lived in a communal house, where the different families were related. Currently, although the communal house continues to exist, the villages are made up of mainly single-family houses. This trend has reinforced the role of the nuclear family as an autonomous economic unit.

The Piaroa are more gatherers than farmers. Hunting and fishing are the basis of their diet, especially river fishing. They weave natural cotton and make baskets.

The Warime or mask dance is the most important dance for the Piaroa people. Piaroa Shamans (Meñerúa) from different communities participate in it, covered in a costume made from moriche palm and a mask that covers their faces, celebrating the good harvest, marriage unions and the harmonious reunion of families who live far away.

The Autana hill represents the tree of life, which gave rise to all the fruits that provide sustenance to men and animals. For the Piaroa it is a sacred mountain that they do not enter.

The Piaroas speak the Sáliba language, which until recent times was transmitted orally. Currently, they have developed a writing system for their language.