Hundreds of indigenous Bolivians kick off a six-week march against plans to build a highway through the middle of the Amazon region.<br/> <br />They will walk the 360 miles from Trinidad to the capital of La Paz to demand the government scrap the road project across the ancestral indigenous lands of the Isiboro-Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park known as TIPNIS.<br/> <br />Organisers say they have already been on 8 such marches before this one against the 420 million dollar highway which the government says is crucial to economic development.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CECILIO GUAYO, PROTESTER FROM SANTIAGO DEL ISIBORO COMMUNITY, SAYING:<br/> <br />"I am marching again. Last year, I also marched. We are asking the government to respect our home. That's why I march."<br/> <br />Bolivian President Evo Morales has been the target of anti-government protests since last September, when the contract was given to a Brazilian firm.<br/> <br />In response to fierce opposition, some construction was halted, but protesters say this is not enough.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BERTHA BEJARANO CONGO, PRESIDENT OF TIPNIS MARCH COMMISSION, SAYING:<br/> <br />"The national government still hasn't fulfilled it and has infringed on the rights of our indigenous peoples, trampling the political constitution of the state."<br/> <br />TIPNIS is home to some 50,000 native people from different groups who fear that other native groups may take over their land as a result of the new highway.<br/> <br />These different groups have sided with the government road plan and set off on similar protest marches in support of the highway.<br/> <br />The project has bitterly divided inhabitants of TIPNIS and of the Beni and Cochabamba district, which would be linked by the proposed road.<br/> <br />But organisers hope to mobilise all indigenous people against the government's policies which they say flouts Bolivia's constitution.<br/> <br />Jessica Gray, Reuters
