The article focuses on tribal minorities (American Indians) of the Peruvian tropical forest from the point of view of the political circumstances and the general administrative conditions of the country. In 1968 the revolutionary military government initiated a series of structural reforms which aimed at transforming Peru. This article poses and attempts to answer certain questions which anthropology has generally dealt with on the basis of an analysis of inter-ethnic relations, emphasizing in its methods the aspects of crosscultural contact, but neglecting the national context and its political factors. It is assumed that the answers to these questions must also be derived from an analysis which recognizes that inter-ethnic relations are also class relations. Therefore, such factors as the socio-economic situation of the native society within the national framework, and its differential access or lack of access to the means of control of political and decision-making power, necessarily enter into the analysis. It is in this perspective that the subject is examined, since an analysis of the micro-situation attains its full significance only insofar as it is linked to the total context. Contents include (1) historical notes; (2) outline of the present situation; (3) geographic distribution of the tribal groups; (4) a tentative diagnosis; and (4) present measures. (FF)