Jíbaro

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Jíbaro is also commonly used to denote the Shuar, groups of Indians living in the upper Amazon regions of Ecuador and Peru, but it is considered an insult

Jíbaro is the word used in Puerto Rico to refer to peasants, but it also has a broader cultural meaning. When Spanish control ended in 1898, "jíbaros" who were generally working-class agricultural land tenants, sharecroppers, and hired fieldworkers-came to represent the authentic Puerto Rican people in all their ethnic and cultural complexity, the soul of "la gran familia puertorriqueña." The expression in English that best describes jíbaros is probably "salt of the earth." Certain kinds of music (such as seis and aguinaldo) have also become associated with jíbaro traditions.

When Luis Muñoz Marín founded the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) in 1938, the party adopted the jíbaro hat, the pava, as its symbol. The PDP seal shows the pava with the words "Pan, Tierra, y Libertad", which translates to "Bread, Land, and Freedom" in English.

In modern times, The word jíbaro has become a pejorative, somewhat similar to the American english word, hillbilly. It is used to denote a resident of the countryside or the mountains who lives away from major towns or cities,is ignorant towards modern society and usually maintains an aggresively conservative point of view. In Cuba there exists a similar word, Guajiro.

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