The rubber boom in the mid-20th century brought diseases and displacement to the Witotos, causing their numbers to plummet to 7,000–10,000.

[1] The rubber boom also increased outside interest in the caucho extraction due to the surge in production and demand.

[6] The company relied on indigenous, including Witoto, labor, and he kept his workers in unending servitude through constant debt and physical torture.

[1] In 2023, four children, one less than a year old, managed to survive 40 days in the jungle after their plane had crashed, killing all adults, including their mother.

Their diets consist mainly of Casabe, arepas made with yuca brava flour, and protein from hunting and fishing.

In their maloca, men have a specific place where they can consume an ancestral green powder called mambe, or jiibie.

Traditionally, when Witoto men consume mambe they play drums called Maguare, which can be heard kilometers away.