Young Cuna Indian girl from the San Blas archipelago wearing a small gold ring on her nose. These indigenous people form an ethnic group of about twenty-five thousand people. They are a very homogeneous group whose representatives are extremely proud of their culture, whether it be language, customs or beliefs. This does not prevent the Cuna, who are highly intelligent, from being attentive to everything that is happening in the world. Many of them work outside as teachers, doctors, lawyers or artists. Each Cuna community is headed by a chief, who reports to one of the three main caciques of the region. The responsibilities of the latter extend to all the representatives of the ethnic group. A daily meeting of the members of the community allows everyone to speak and express their opinions and judgements on the most diverse problems that the natives have to face. A more democratic system of government could not be imagined!
