✊🏾🇧🇴 Afro-Bolivian History Lesson 📖 P2 Afro-Bolivian 👑 King Julio I with his wife, Queen, Angélica Larrea. In 1992 Julio Pinedo was officially recognized and crowned King of Afro-Bolivians by the governor of La Paz. His great-grandfather, Prince Uchicho, was brought to 🇧🇴 as an enslaved African in the 16th century forced to work the silver mines of Potosí while being in fact Congo 🇨🇬 royalty. Like most enslaved Africans who survived the harsh working conditions of the silver mines, the Prince was later traded to estate owners in the coca plantations of Los Yungas. To protect the identity of the Prince and his royal lineage it was kept a secret within the Afro-Bolivian community. That is until a secret crowning of Julio’s grandfather, don Bonifacio Pinedo, in 1932. Years passed and with the death of King Bonifacio I and the passing of Julio’s own father he was next in line to be crowned king. Today in the small village of Mururata, King Julio I, who never wanted to be king, continues to live a modest life tending to his farm and running a small grocery store in Los Yungas. In 2016 he and his family traveled to Africa to reconnect with their roots. King Julio hope’s for change and recognition of all Afro-Bolivian people and culture. “There is still a long way to go. There are people here in Bolivia who have no idea that there are Afros in this country. There are others who do not want to believe we exist.” Photographer: Susana Giron