Abstract.International pressure upon Latin American governments to protect the rights of indigenous peoples has increased since the late 1960s. The reports submitted under the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela are reviewed. They tend to emphasise policies for national integration and the preservation of indigenous cultures, and to neglect the effects of urbanisation. Political elites are coming slowly to appreciate the nature of the claims advanced by indigenous peoples.