Accounts of massacres, rumors of slavery, reports of exploitation and the fashionable preoccupation with ecology have all combined to create a conscience about the Amerindian peoples of South America. There now seems to be generalized feelings in Western Europe and elsewhere that something ought to be done about these peoples. The purpose of this report is to give a brief summary of the conditions of the various peoples, to sketch out what policies--if any--the governments of their various republics are adopting towards them, and to suggest ways in which their lot might be improved. The situation of the Indians in the Altiplano of Ecuador, Peru and Boliva, and of the Mapuches in Chile and Argentina differs in character from that of South America's other autochthonous people. This report is concerned with the jungle and plain dwellers of the Amazon basin and adjacent lowlands, excluding the Guyanas and Argentina in detail. It covers the dimensions of the problem; church, army, and state attitudes toward native peoples; and future policy. A select bibliography and The 1971 Declaration of Barbados for the Liberation of the Indians (see RC007427) end the document. (FF)