The Rio Arauca Guajibo of Colombia

The Rio Arauca Guajibo of Colombia, numbering approximately 150 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a very small Indigenous subgroup of the larger Guahibo (Sikuani/Hiwi/Jiwi) people who live along the Arauca River on the Colombia–Venezuela border, especially in Venezuela’s Apure region and adjacent parts of Colombia and can also be known as Playero, Guahibo, Sikuani. They are an Indigenous people, with Guajibo (Guahibo) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the South American Indigenous people cluster of the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion. They primarily speak Playero.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Rio Arauca Guajibo

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Colombia
People Cluster: South American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Playero (gob)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 150
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG016276
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Pray for the Rio Arauca Guajibo of Colombia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Playero
Language Family: Guahiboan

76%
%
Playero Speakers

Media Resources in Playero:

Films:

No entries found for: Playero(gob). Help build some!

Bible Resources in Playero:

Or check out the Playero bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Rio Arauca Guajibo:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Rio Arauca Guajibo are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Rio Arauca Guajibo:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Rio Arauca Guajibo are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Rio Arauca Guajibo:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Rio Arauca Guajibo of Colombia

Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
readLuke 12:7

Pray that those who don't yet know how to trust in Jesus will not be consumed by worry and anxiety, but will trust in the Father's care and provision for their daily needs and for their eternal salvation

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
readDeuteronomy 6:6-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will hide God's Word in their hearts, let it shape their conversations and daily lives, and pass on their faith to the next generation.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
readJohn 3:16

Pray that God will send and sustain believers to cross cultures and share the gospel with the lost. Ask that He will give them His heart for the lost and that many will believe in Him and not perish but have eternal life.

Guajibo, Rio Arauca Across Countries (ROP3 - 108380) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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