‘Flexible’ legal framework Madidi, Cotapata and Apolobamba are home to dozens of Indigenous communities, where thousands of residents depend on the natural environment for their lives and livelihoods.He rejected criticisms that the deal would open up three of the country’s national parks to exploitation, telling reporters: “Regarding the environmental issue, the care of our protected areas, we are going to demand that [mining cooperatives] comply with the current regulations.” Under existing regulations, he said, miners are allowed to work in protected areas, provided they were already operating in those locations before they became protected.“The legal framework for mining in Bolivia is very flexible and has become increasingly so,” Gonzalo Mondaca, a researcher with Bolivia’s non-profit Documentation and Information Centre, told Al Jazeera.So how do they have these rights?” Alipaz also rejected the notion of pre-existing miners’ rights, noting: “We [Indigenous communities] existed here and had these territories long before Bolivia was Bolivia.Alex Villca Limaco, an Indigenous activist from the San Jose de Uchupiamonas community, says miners have been “intensifying” their activities inside Madidi National Park since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he is concerned this will escalate further in the days ahead: “[Miners] have achieved another gain with the signing of the [November 7 deal], because … they are granted the opportunity of entering the territories of Indigenous people and protected areas, subject to compliance with regulations,” he said."