 The Maleku reserve is actually limited to 15% of the territory granted to them by the Costa Rican government with the foundation of the reservation in 1976.Thus, of 11.5 square miles legally considered reserve lands, the Maleku own less than 2 square miles.While the land legally belongs to the Maleku, this is not enforced; the majority remains unreturned, having been sold or traded to non-indigenous people before this time in the uneven exchanges typical in the dispossession of indigenous lands.