Today, their few remaining descendants live primarily in the provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero, with smaller numbers in the Rosario and Buenos Aires urban areas.

Similarly to the Lules, the Vilelas had a culture intermediate between those of the indigenous peoples of the Andes, the Pampas, and the Cuyo region.

After the Spanish conquest of the Tucumán region, the Vilelas moved eastward, into the eastern and southeastern parts of the Gran Chaco.

At that time, they were made up of the following subgroups: chunupí, pazaine, atalala, omoampa, yeconoampa, vacaa, chole, ipa, and yooc (or guamalca).

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Guaycuru peoples successfully domesticated the horse, which they used for hunting, transportation, and waging war.