2 12 26 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/dd96f7bfbe260a60cb810cc515bdd62e 6a03ca81bbf8e4631dacdd9721752e37 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (17-19).pdf PDF Text Text I N D I A N C I T Y • I I @I @I I I @I I Mexico city-perhaps the largest and fastest growing city in the world-began its tormented existance as an indigenous city in 1325 on the shores of the lake of Texcoco. Invaded and set ablaze by Hernan Cortez in 1521, Mexico City nevertheless remained the center of commerce for central Mexico. By 1950, it had become Mexico's most industrial city and center of economic, political, and cultural life. The industrialization of the 1950s combined with land reform in the campo prompted a large-scale migration from the nearby cities and rural areas. As the economic conditions of rural areas deteriorated, and the demand for labor increased as industries grew, people were "pushed" from their rural existence and "pulled" into Mexico City Today, the Distrito Federal swarms with a human mass unparralled anywhere on Earth. Many are Indigenous, and conditions of poverty persist. La Jornada, Sep. 15, exico city and its surrounding urban areas, known as the Indigenous capital of the country, is home to one out of every twenty Indians in Mexico, most of them living in conditions of extreme poverty Known as "phantoms of misery" by some, approximately half a million Indigenous migrants of various ethnicities walk the streets of the capital seeking scraps of food, a chance to earn a few pesos, or sit huddled in a corner, unseen and ignored. These unseen do have faces though, they are the faces of the Mixtecos and Zapotecos who may find work in the civil service; they are the fortunate of the Triquis who may find work in the military, and they are those of lesser means who sell regional products from mobile stands. They are the Mazahuas, working as laborers and freight handlers, and the Mixtecos telling fortunes, the panhandlers, the Otomies selling Chicles, the Indian women working as servants in the residential zones. Born of malnourished and anemic parents in the poorest states of health, the poor Indigenous of Mexico City "are abused since conception" say anthropologists Carlos Avila and Alicia Vargas of the Interdisciplinary Center for Social Development. (CIDES). Their poverty is so extreme that "a child of three years is ready to begin supporting the family" Together they are 446,243 Indians trying to eek out a living under these harsh circumstances, working for pennies in the Metropolitan heart of Mexico City to stave off starvation. And together they make up 5.32 percent of the total Indigenous population of Mexico. For survival, the Indigenous people have divided the metropolitan area into five municipalities or delegations; -Iztapalapa, the largest delegation, contains 22,242 Indigenous, mainly Nahuas from the state of Mexico and Otomies from Queretaro, -the municipality of Naucalpan, numbering 18,890, mostly Triquis from Chicahuaxtla in Oaxaca. -the third largest municipality, Nezahualc6yotl, numbering some 17,582 Mixtecos and Zapotecos from Oaxaca. -Ecatepec, with 16,112 Indigenous people. -La Gustavo A. Madero with 13,743 Indigenous people representing 1.25 percent of the entire population within this demarcation. The Indigenous colonies in the Metropolitan Zone are "basically formed through an information network assisting in the occupation or purchase of urban lots," says Teresa Mora, investigator at the National Institute of Anthropology and History Researchers Marjorie Thacker and Silvia Bazua are studying the plight of the Indigenous people in Mexico city and explain some of the difficuties they face. "Life for the Indigenous person is characterized by the daily struggle for money, Continue on page 18 Vol. 10 No.3 17 �INDIAN C I T Y up to perhaps a hundred pesos a day, but food and transportation costs consume all this money These people are living in poor areas but with high costs of living." "Tension, aggression, and domestic violence are common and a majority of the people are undocumented in their own country (lacking civil registration, credentials, licences, etc.) which makes it even more difficult to gain access to institutional programs. Jobs that require identification, education, and fluency in Spanish remain unaccessible to them." Despite the difficult conditions that the capital offers, data from INEGI indicates that the Metropolitan Zone is the epicenter of Indigenous migrations at the national level. The last report of INEGI established that 1.36 percent of the Indigenous population lived in Mexico City in 1930 and by 1990 the percentage had risen to 1.5. "One can earn more begging in this city than working in the countryside" explains Marjorie Thacker, director of the Metropolitan Zone branch of the National Indigenous Institute. Nonetheless, leaving one's home for the city creates difficult strains on a per- . son. "I don't know why, but when I am here (in the city), my home town seems more and more beautiful, but when I go i home I miss the city," is a common refrain expressing the dicotomy and contradictions in their lives says Thacker. Anthropologist Teresa Mora completed a study of the Association of Indigenous Migrants, an organization established by Indigenous peoples to form a network and help their communities. Mora says that the political parties, especially the PRI, take advantage of these groups to amass votes among the electorate. The parties "insert themselves into the Popular Urban Movement" says Thacker, "only to exploit the poverty of the Indigenous people to augment their own wealth." Night falls on a shantytown, darkening row upon row of houses made from remnants; carboard boxes, old carpets. Buried in a trilogy of misery, death, and hopelessness, the urban Indigenous are chained by misfortune in the struggle to survive among an alien and agressive world surrounded by a people who despise them. The Otomles and Band-Aid Politics Caught between the laughter and tears of their memories the Indians speak il I s the urban tentacles of Mexico City steadily expand outward and overtake surrounding areas, towns and communities of Indigenous origin get pushed out of the way. The wealthy classes escape to recreational and industrial park settlements to get away from the jungled "D.E" (Federal District). But these vast playgrounds threaten the last shred of integrity of the ancient communities surrounding the city which hope to retain what traditional customs, values, and lifestyles remain after over half a millennium of suppression. Xochimilco, one of those threatened towns, is in the unfortunate position of being swallowed up by perhaps the most populous and mo~t rapidly expanding city 18 in the world. Xochimilco was settled in 1327. A canal system supplied the people with both clean water and inspired a unique method of agriculture: the chinampas. * Xochimilco used to supply Tenochtitlan (prehispanic Mexico City) with food from its chinampas. During the Porfiriato, the long rule of dictator Porfirio Dfaz (1876-1911), the canals were covered up and the government began pumping treated water in from surrounding towns. Now, most of the canals and the fields are dried up, the water has been sent to Mexico City, and the residents of Xochimilco depend upon others for food and water. As the government seeks solutions to Mexico City's appalling con- of their new lives and of death. Telesforo Arroyo Mora died thirty minutes after arriving at the Red Cross of Polanco while his more fortunate friend Juan Gabriel Dominguez lost only a leg. A cement wall fell on them. It was 4 7 days since they moved to the new home. On June 7, 1995, they finally listened to their fears and abandoned the traffic island on avenida Chapultepec and snuck into their new home: an uninhabited plot, hidden from pedestrians by a facade. It was there that the wall caved in on them. The late Telesforo and Juan Gabriel belong to a group of twenty-six Otomi families who now live in a vacant lot behind an old gate marked 346 Chapultepec Avenue. The rest of this Indigenous community shares two rooms to sleep, some pit toilets, and showers belonging to the Tabasco State sports facility This death and misfortune attracted the attention and intervention of the authorities of the Delegacion of Cuauhtemoc. Juan Sabines Guerrero, District Subdirector of the Educational and Social Developement Services, arrived promising to provide "a place with services for basic living" and brought them to a basketball court. "We ditions, it uses the surrounding areas as "steam valves," relocating problems there. In the case of Xochimilco, the massive increase in population has put enormous pressure on what used to be a peaceful outlying town. Concessions were given to large corporations to help relocate industry out of the city region. The state even built a prison on expropriated farmlands in the mountainous region. Essentially, Xochimilco, one of the last vestiges of common land in the Valley of Mexico, is now being converted into government and corporate facilities or wealthy peoples' retreats. In order to halt the increasing of Xochimilco, deterioration Secundino Beceril of FIPI (The Independent Front of Indigenous Peoples) and member of the Xochimilco Delegation has taken action to "defend the earth and water, and with it the indigenous cultural identity, " he said in an interview with SAIIC. FIPI confronts the Abya Yala News �INDIAN CITY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ·-------------------- couldn't even put down cardboard boxes to sleep in," laments one Otomi member, because according to sports administrator Peiioles an "they're eyesore." The sixty-eight Otomies bounced from athletic facilities to gymnasiums, from homeless shelters to psychiatric wards. At the Salvation IT," IT'S Army shelter they were THE forced to wake up at six A.M. to take cold showers. The and infants elderly took A SECOND sick and so they left the TIVE: "RETURN shelter. Nonetheless, the orders of Sabines were plain: "they must be housed somewhere." authorities by organ1z1ng in small groups representing each town. One is called the Permanent Commission of the Mountain Peoples. When a town is threatened with unwanted development, the delegations join together to face the developers and the government A recent example of the strength of these citizens groups occurred in December 1995 when hundreds of citizens in Tepoztlim, Morelos, closed off their city and protested against a golf course, residential zone, and corporate park project inside the Tepozteco National Park. The area of the golf course is home to many medicinal plants and is still used by the elders. The "development" of this land signifies a clear disregard of Indigenous peoples, their customs, and their values. Their actions were successful, resulting in the expulsion of corrupt city officials and a strengthening of their voice in the local politics. Vol. 10 No.3 Social worker Rocio Lopez brought a delegation of the group to what was to be their next home, the so-called "promise land" where all 26 families could be together. The destination was a psychiatric hospital. The psychiatric center houses 380 patients categorized by four levels of insanity: the helpless, the psychotic, the senile, and the self-sufficient. They are then separated into six rooms, each with 80 hospital beds, depending on their degree of illness. joel Hernandez, the subdirector of the Social Home for Indigent Adults, was going to have to meet the 68 Otomies in order to distribute the large group "without classification" throughout the facility. The day of the visit, Rocio Lopez gave an ultimatum to the leader of the Otomie group, juan Ventura: "Take it or Leave it", it's the only option that they have to all be together. He aslo gave them a second alternative: "Return to your village." The following morning, on September ?,juan Ventura directed a letter to the then delegate of the Cuauhtemoc, jesus Davila Narro, "to inform him that the 26 Otomie families are not satisfied with the Social Home for Indigent Adults to which we have been assigned and that we do not consider the characteristics and conduct of the people committed there to be similar to that of ours. "Yesterday, some of us reviewed the installations of the ward that we were assigned to and the very thought that our children would have to live there, sharing space with people who are mental insane, frightens us; we hope that we can rely on your valuable help and reconsideration" of the situation. Responding to the request for relocation, joel Hernandez, subdirector of the psychiactric ward known as The Cascade, claimed that "I, only for the children, will say that it is not suitable for these families to enter this institution." He also maintained that "the indigents without mental problems that arrive here should leave right away; normal people are not detained here, they are in their houses," although he had previously denied that The Cascades was a facility for the mentally ill. "The 28 of july 1996 we went with juan Sabines to tell him that a full year had past and that we still did not have a place as he had promised us and he told us that he was not going to be able to do anything more for us."~ Xochimilco, although not as radical as Tepoztlan, is headed for a similar fate. As an Indigenous region undergoing urbanization, it must engage in the continuous debate on the differences between indigenous peoples' and criollo ideas of development. The traditional criollo belief is that indigenous peoples are behind the times and are enemies to the progress of the country. On the contrary, Beceril states that the natural development of indigenous peoples has been broken since the Spanish conquest He emphasizes that for indigenous cultures to develop, they must attain respect and space very soon. Xochimilco is not alone in its battle to preserve its natural treasures. The international community has recognized the importance of conserving the human ecology of this region. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) wants to declare Xochimilco a "Historical and Cultural Patrimony of Humanity" and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has promised to help rescue the traditional canal ecosystem. With continued support, the people of Xochimilco will restore their canal system and gain due rights to their traditional lands. * rectangular raised-beds anchored with planted fences of willows, filled in and periodically fertilised with piles of marshy vegetation and mud. Information from an interview with Secundino Beceril (January 30, 1997), FIPI (Frente lndependiente de los Pueblos Indios), La Jomada (4112/95), and Jose Augustin Ortiz Pinchetti For more information, contact FIPI, Apdo. Postal 28-145 Col. Centro Deleg. Cuauhtemoc 0680, Mexico City, Mexico; phone: 783-80-02 19 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Unseen and Forgotten in Mexico City: indigenous migrants face extreme hardships in the world's most populous city Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Unseen and Forgotten in Mexico City: indigenous migrants face extreme hardships in the world's most populous city Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (17-19).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Author Karina Aviles Pages 17-19 Abstract Note As indigenous migration to Mexico City increases, it seems that the Mexican government is unable to provide suitable living conditions for the incoming native peoples. https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/4af3b4c31086d6d15a85970d48783800 2c20ad8303e37a5d6d5cefa2bb4c0647 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (18-19).pdf PDF Text Text INDIAN C I T Y up to perhaps a hundred pesos a day, but food and transportation costs consume all this money These people are living in poor areas but with high costs of living." "Tension, aggression, and domestic violence are common and a majority of the people are undocumented in their own country (lacking civil registration, credentials, licences, etc.) which makes it even more difficult to gain access to institutional programs. Jobs that require identification, education, and fluency in Spanish remain unaccessible to them." Despite the difficult conditions that the capital offers, data from INEGI indicates that the Metropolitan Zone is the epicenter of Indigenous migrations at the national level. The last report of INEGI established that 1.36 percent of the Indigenous population lived in Mexico City in 1930 and by 1990 the percentage had risen to 1.5. "One can earn more begging in this city than working in the countryside" explains Marjorie Thacker, director of the Metropolitan Zone branch of the National Indigenous Institute. Nonetheless, leaving one's home for the city creates difficult strains on a per- . son. "I don't know why, but when I am here (in the city), my home town seems more and more beautiful, but when I go i home I miss the city," is a common refrain expressing the dicotomy and contradictions in their lives says Thacker. Anthropologist Teresa Mora completed a study of the Association of Indigenous Migrants, an organization established by Indigenous peoples to form a network and help their communities. Mora says that the political parties, especially the PRI, take advantage of these groups to amass votes among the electorate. The parties "insert themselves into the Popular Urban Movement" says Thacker, "only to exploit the poverty of the Indigenous people to augment their own wealth." Night falls on a shantytown, darkening row upon row of houses made from remnants; carboard boxes, old carpets. Buried in a trilogy of misery, death, and hopelessness, the urban Indigenous are chained by misfortune in the struggle to survive among an alien and agressive world surrounded by a people who despise them. The Otomles and Band-Aid Politics Caught between the laughter and tears of their memories the Indians speak il I s the urban tentacles of Mexico City steadily expand outward and overtake surrounding areas, towns and communities of Indigenous origin get pushed out of the way. The wealthy classes escape to recreational and industrial park settlements to get away from the jungled "D.E" (Federal District). But these vast playgrounds threaten the last shred of integrity of the ancient communities surrounding the city which hope to retain what traditional customs, values, and lifestyles remain after over half a millennium of suppression. Xochimilco, one of those threatened towns, is in the unfortunate position of being swallowed up by perhaps the most populous and mo~t rapidly expanding city 18 in the world. Xochimilco was settled in 1327. A canal system supplied the people with both clean water and inspired a unique method of agriculture: the chinampas. * Xochimilco used to supply Tenochtitlan (prehispanic Mexico City) with food from its chinampas. During the Porfiriato, the long rule of dictator Porfirio Dfaz (1876-1911), the canals were covered up and the government began pumping treated water in from surrounding towns. Now, most of the canals and the fields are dried up, the water has been sent to Mexico City, and the residents of Xochimilco depend upon others for food and water. As the government seeks solutions to Mexico City's appalling con- of their new lives and of death. Telesforo Arroyo Mora died thirty minutes after arriving at the Red Cross of Polanco while his more fortunate friend Juan Gabriel Dominguez lost only a leg. A cement wall fell on them. It was 4 7 days since they moved to the new home. On June 7, 1995, they finally listened to their fears and abandoned the traffic island on avenida Chapultepec and snuck into their new home: an uninhabited plot, hidden from pedestrians by a facade. It was there that the wall caved in on them. The late Telesforo and Juan Gabriel belong to a group of twenty-six Otomi families who now live in a vacant lot behind an old gate marked 346 Chapultepec Avenue. The rest of this Indigenous community shares two rooms to sleep, some pit toilets, and showers belonging to the Tabasco State sports facility This death and misfortune attracted the attention and intervention of the authorities of the Delegacion of Cuauhtemoc. Juan Sabines Guerrero, District Subdirector of the Educational and Social Developement Services, arrived promising to provide "a place with services for basic living" and brought them to a basketball court. "We ditions, it uses the surrounding areas as "steam valves," relocating problems there. In the case of Xochimilco, the massive increase in population has put enormous pressure on what used to be a peaceful outlying town. Concessions were given to large corporations to help relocate industry out of the city region. The state even built a prison on expropriated farmlands in the mountainous region. Essentially, Xochimilco, one of the last vestiges of common land in the Valley of Mexico, is now being converted into government and corporate facilities or wealthy peoples' retreats. In order to halt the increasing of Xochimilco, deterioration Secundino Beceril of FIPI (The Independent Front of Indigenous Peoples) and member of the Xochimilco Delegation has taken action to "defend the earth and water, and with it the indigenous cultural identity, " he said in an interview with SAIIC. FIPI confronts the Abya Yala News �INDIAN CITY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ·-------------------- couldn't even put down cardboard boxes to sleep in," laments one Otomi member, because according to sports administrator Peiioles an "they're eyesore." The sixty-eight Otomies bounced from athletic facilities to gymnasiums, from homeless shelters to psychiatric wards. At the Salvation IT," IT'S Army shelter they were THE forced to wake up at six A.M. to take cold showers. The and infants elderly took A SECOND sick and so they left the TIVE: "RETURN shelter. Nonetheless, the orders of Sabines were plain: "they must be housed somewhere." authorities by organ1z1ng in small groups representing each town. One is called the Permanent Commission of the Mountain Peoples. When a town is threatened with unwanted development, the delegations join together to face the developers and the government A recent example of the strength of these citizens groups occurred in December 1995 when hundreds of citizens in Tepoztlim, Morelos, closed off their city and protested against a golf course, residential zone, and corporate park project inside the Tepozteco National Park. The area of the golf course is home to many medicinal plants and is still used by the elders. The "development" of this land signifies a clear disregard of Indigenous peoples, their customs, and their values. Their actions were successful, resulting in the expulsion of corrupt city officials and a strengthening of their voice in the local politics. Vol. 10 No.3 Social worker Rocio Lopez brought a delegation of the group to what was to be their next home, the so-called "promise land" where all 26 families could be together. The destination was a psychiatric hospital. The psychiatric center houses 380 patients categorized by four levels of insanity: the helpless, the psychotic, the senile, and the self-sufficient. They are then separated into six rooms, each with 80 hospital beds, depending on their degree of illness. joel Hernandez, the subdirector of the Social Home for Indigent Adults, was going to have to meet the 68 Otomies in order to distribute the large group "without classification" throughout the facility. The day of the visit, Rocio Lopez gave an ultimatum to the leader of the Otomie group, juan Ventura: "Take it or Leave it", it's the only option that they have to all be together. He aslo gave them a second alternative: "Return to your village." The following morning, on September ?,juan Ventura directed a letter to the then delegate of the Cuauhtemoc, jesus Davila Narro, "to inform him that the 26 Otomie families are not satisfied with the Social Home for Indigent Adults to which we have been assigned and that we do not consider the characteristics and conduct of the people committed there to be similar to that of ours. "Yesterday, some of us reviewed the installations of the ward that we were assigned to and the very thought that our children would have to live there, sharing space with people who are mental insane, frightens us; we hope that we can rely on your valuable help and reconsideration" of the situation. Responding to the request for relocation, joel Hernandez, subdirector of the psychiactric ward known as The Cascade, claimed that "I, only for the children, will say that it is not suitable for these families to enter this institution." He also maintained that "the indigents without mental problems that arrive here should leave right away; normal people are not detained here, they are in their houses," although he had previously denied that The Cascades was a facility for the mentally ill. "The 28 of july 1996 we went with juan Sabines to tell him that a full year had past and that we still did not have a place as he had promised us and he told us that he was not going to be able to do anything more for us."~ Xochimilco, although not as radical as Tepoztlan, is headed for a similar fate. As an Indigenous region undergoing urbanization, it must engage in the continuous debate on the differences between indigenous peoples' and criollo ideas of development. The traditional criollo belief is that indigenous peoples are behind the times and are enemies to the progress of the country. On the contrary, Beceril states that the natural development of indigenous peoples has been broken since the Spanish conquest He emphasizes that for indigenous cultures to develop, they must attain respect and space very soon. Xochimilco is not alone in its battle to preserve its natural treasures. The international community has recognized the importance of conserving the human ecology of this region. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) wants to declare Xochimilco a "Historical and Cultural Patrimony of Humanity" and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has promised to help rescue the traditional canal ecosystem. With continued support, the people of Xochimilco will restore their canal system and gain due rights to their traditional lands. * rectangular raised-beds anchored with planted fences of willows, filled in and periodically fertilised with piles of marshy vegetation and mud. Information from an interview with Secundino Beceril (January 30, 1997), FIPI (Frente lndependiente de los Pueblos Indios), La Jomada (4112/95), and Jose Augustin Ortiz Pinchetti For more information, contact FIPI, Apdo. Postal 28-145 Col. Centro Deleg. Cuauhtemoc 0680, Mexico City, Mexico; phone: 783-80-02 19 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Xochimilco: In the Path of a Giant Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Xochimilco: In the Path of a Giant Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (18-19).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note Xochimilco, on of the last remaining plots of common land in the Valley of Mexico, is being appropriated by government and private interests. Pages 18-19 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/1c176ad5e8112fea5764318c20af5572 022f566019740823673d818715a45ad9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (20-21).pdf PDF Text Text I N D I A N C I T Y I, I flll"'"""'"r-"" he indigenous population in Venezuela numbers roughly 400,000, comprised of twenty-five culturally and linguistically distinct groups in the states of Anzoategui, Amazonas, Apure, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro, Monagas, Sucre, and Zulia. Over 50 percent of this population occupy traditional lands and approximately 4 2 percent reside in urban areas. This high percentage of indigenous people living in urban areas is a result of jesus Manuel Gonzalez is the former Executive Secretary of the National Indigenous Council of Venezuela and Director of the Indigenous Documentation and Investigation Genter. 20 an important rural-to-urban migratory trend. In the eight federal states with significant indigenous populations, this migratory process has led to the formation of many indigenous neighborhoods that, in some cases, reach considerable dimensions and continue to grow both in size and number in cities such as Maracaibo, Ciudad Bolivar, San Felix, Tucupita, El Tigre, San Fernando de Aure, and Puerto Ayacucho. The migration of the indigenous population to the cities is a result of the following factors: -The systematic reduction of traditionally occupied territories resulting from the violent process of conquest and colonization. -The scarcity of land suitable for agriculture, hunting, and other traditional forms of subsistence. -The erosion of traditional indigenous economic production systems. -Transportation and distribution difficulties for such small-scale production. -The lack of adequate support from national and regional governments necessitating the search for better living conditions. -The human rights abuses suffered in frontier areas caused by drug trafficking, warfare, smuggling, and the strong military presence. Some 83 percent of the urban indigenous population are Wayuu people living in 48 indigenous neighborhoods in Maracaibo, the second most important city in the country The other 17 percent are Pem6n, Yecuana, Guahibo, Piaroa, Afm, Panare, Warao, Bare, etc. The indigenous neighborhoods are comprised of students and professionals as well as workers and merchants. The problems characteristic of any marginalized Venezuelan urban areas are acerbated for the indigenous neighborhoods by discrimination and racism by the Creole population who reject and scorn the fact that many indigenous peoples still conserve their identity, language, cultural icons, and own socioeconomic systems. The indigenous populations maintain strong social, economic, and familiar links with their peoples and communities of origin, resulting in a further agglutination of the population into groups based on ethnicity and place of origin when several groups coexist in the same neighborhood. The high level of social marginalization characteristic of the urban indigenous populations manifests itself in extreme poverty, malnutrition, and grave environmental and sanitary deterioration causing many deaths from infectious diseases. In the urban centers the socio-cultural uniqueness of the indigenous population is ignored in the educational system. The educational programs are the same as those for the Creole population and are characterized by utter lack of understanding and contempt for the nation's indigenous peoples. Furthermore, these educational programs are not taught in ways consistent with traditional methods further contributing to the loss of language and eradication of custom and culture, all of which make the youth ashamed of their ethnicity The consequence is increasing dependence upon Continue on page 21 Abya Yala News �I N D I A N --------------------------------------------------------------- the State and burgeoning social problems such as begging, prostitution, and drug addiction. One extreme expression of this marginalization is the sporadic migrations of the Warao, Yukpa, and Panare people who move into the main cities to beg in the streets only to be expelled forcefully in busloads by the authorities, who consider them a "shame" but deny any State responsibility Those living in the indigenous neighborhoods have varied means of economic survival. According to the 1992 government economic census of the indigenous population , 48 percent of the people exist at a subsistence level only, 31 percent are partially employed, and only 21 percent have regular incomes. The discriminatory and racist treatment that the indigenous people receive from society at large often translates into violence and human rights abuses. The state security forces frequently are the culprits of these abuses, especially of the Warao in Tucupita, the Wayuu in Maracaibo, and the Piaroa and Guahibo in Puerto Ayacucho. The grave socio-economic problems are aggravated yet further by the rise in drug trafficking. The drug cartels take advantage of the desperate situation in the cities, using indigenous women as "mules" to smuggle drugs into Venezuela. In the last ten years alone, thirty Wayuu mothers have been killed in the trade between Venezuela and Colombia. In 1996 thirty-eight women were imprisoned, some of them while pregnant, for carrying small quantities of drugs. The law is applied unequally in these cases by the justice system; the indigenous people receiving the brunt of the punishment while the leaders of the drug rings are often ignored. Cultural Resistance And Ethnic Reaffirmation Among Urban Indigenous Population Life in the city has generated in the indigenous population various mechanisms of cultural resistance; on one hand the cultural norms that determine the existing cultural identity and on the other hand, organized mechanisms of the city such as guilds and unions. Unlike the government, these organizations recognize the desire of the indi~enous people to Vol. 10 No.3 maintain and reclaim the historical continuity as distinct peoples and societies. The process of acculturation has not been uniform. Some sectors are able to integrate into national life while still maintaining some cultural identity, others cannot. Among the mechanisms of cultural resistance is a strongly rooted adherence to and practice of the social norms, customs, ceremonies, traditional medicinal techniques, and languages. These customs serve as specific models for group living and social relations. For example, the practice of traditional women's education among girls born and raised in the Wayuu neighborhoods including the rite of initiation as performed in the Guarija (the traditional territory of the Wayuu) continues in the urban neighborhoods today Domestic disputes are still settled in the customary manner as well. The processes of organized cultural resistance are varied. For example, in the popular markets such as Las Pulgas in Maracaibo and the Mercadito in Puerto Ayacucho where many indigenous people, especially women, congregate, they organize not only to participate in commercial activity, but to fight racism through cooperation and solidarity The indigenous have formed their own commercial, transportation, work, and professional networks and organizations. The rise of the organized indigenous movements in Venezuela began in 1994 when the first indigenous neighborhoods began to consolidate themselves. These groups began organized struggle for human rights, respect for their cultural identity, and to obtain some land within the cities. · Since then, these movements have continued to grow and now number thirty-two indigenous organizations dedicated to various aspects of the struggle. Since 1990, in the field of cultural promotion, diffusion, and preservation, many organizations have been formed such as Grupo Cultural Paramu (Preservation and diffusion of traditional Caribbean dance and music-Bolivar), Grupo Cultural La Coromoto (Traditional Hiwi DancesAmazonas), FUNDAIN (Foundation of Indigenous Painters), Grupo de Danzas Kaulayawaa (Traditional Wayuu Dances), Grupo Cultural jalianayaa (Indigenous Artists), and ASEINLUZ (Association of Indigenous University Students). An important accomplishment of C I T 'I these cultural groups has been the official recognition of the Wayuu language by the state of Zulia. This recognition has led to the creation of radio programs in the Wayuu tongue such as "Tu Alatakaa Sumuiin Wayuu (The Wayuu news broadcast)" and "Wanuiki Sumaa Wakuipa (Our Indigenous Culture and Art)." These programs are produced by indigenous people living in Maracaibo and are transmitted throughout the entire state of Zulia. The task of cultural resistance and ethnic reaffirmation is not only realized through the diffusion and preservation of indigenous culture but also by instilling a respect for equal rights as citizens. Actually the most important accomplishment was the development of the Network of Indigenous Women. Formed in 1995, this organization is developing campaigns to organize indigenous women living in cities. One of the most interesting accomplishments of the Network is a neighborhood health project developed by the women of the Wayuu. This NOT BEEN project trains neighborhood women to act as epidemiological TO INTEGRATE watchdogs, reducing the danger from prevalent disWHILE eases such as cholera, diarrhea, hepatitis, and parasitosis. They also develOTHERS oped a program to battle the epidemic of child malnutrition, by implementing community breakfasts in the most needy indigenous neighborhoods. Another area the Wayuu women are working in is the battle to bring attention to the plight of indigenous women and children. They are especially combating abuses in the workplace, seeking labor rights, and trying to obtain documentation and protection for themselves and especially the children. The work of the indigenous women is being immensely aided by participation and support from young indigenous professionals . ..., 21 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource To Be Urban and Indian in Venezuela: Assimilation or Cultural reaffirmation? Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title To Be Urban and Indian in Venezuela: Assimilation or Cultural reaffirmation? Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (20-21).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Author Jesus Manuel Gonzalez Abstract Note Indigenous communities Venezuelan cities are consistently marginalized, but their cultural preservation is encouraged by social organizations and institutions within these cities. Pages 20-21 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/b89d91005d00951293cbf49fccac02c0 7cf74628f1c3ca59ee4ec28a09b83aad Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (22-25, 38).pdf PDF Text Text S E l F A N D DETERMINATION i t the end of the 1960s the contact of the Fanara Indians (or Krenakorore, as they were then known) became a national drama in Brazil. They were rumored to be giants, fierce and elusive. As the contacting expedition led by Claudio and Orlando Villas Boas sought their villages only just in advance of the engineers opening the CuiabaSantarem highway, they fled. Once contacted, they were devastated by new diseases, and reduced to beggary by the side of the new road bisecting their traditional territory In February 1975, less than two years after the official contact, 79 demoralized survivors were transferred to the Xingu National Park. Now, two decades later, with much of their territory overrun by gold mining, ranching and logging, the Fanara have returned to the remaining forest of their traditional land in the upper watershed of the Iriri River in northern Mato Grosso and southern Para. Over the last four years, the group has studied their territory, identified an area of 490,000 hectares still forested and unoccupied, reestablished permanent occupation of the region, and filed suit in federal court for indemnification for losses and damages in the contact and the transfer, as well as for demarcation of their remaining land. In December 1994, FUNAI identified the area, beginning the process of official recognition. The recent history of the Fanara is paradigmatic of larger processes in course among Indigenous peoples in Brazilprocesses of demographic loss and recovery, ethnic and cultural reaffirmation, territorial reintegration. The history of the Fanara illuminates tendencies general to Steve Schwartzman did field work with the Fanara between 1980 and 1983 and recieved his PhD from the University of Chicago based on this research. Since 1990 he has worked with the Fanara and the Instituto Socioambiental in support of the Fanara initiatve to reoccupy and defend their traditional tet:ritory. 22 TERRITORY il: Indigenous peoples in Brazil, and also contributes to important advances in anthropology are Panara? "I had never seen them but my grandfather told me, 'The whites are very wild. They killed many of us with guns. If they come to the village, club them, they are dangerous!"' (Ake Panani, interview, November 1991, Xingu Park) When the Fanara were contacted on the Peixoto de Azevedo river in january 1973, the media portrayed them as isolated stone age Indians. The anthropology of the time viewed groups such as the Fanara in more or less the same way-as "subsistence" societies, whose culture and society was best understood as an ancient adaptation to particular ecological circumstances. Some scholars thought that the societies, cultures and economies of contemporary Amazonian societies were the same as those of precolombian groups and thus could serve to ground general explanations of Indigenous societies as adaptations to Amazonian ecosystems (Meggers 1971 ). Recent historical and ethnohistorical research has demonstrated to the contrary, that the present disposition and circumstances of Indigenous societies result from their historical experience of contact with the surrounding society, as well as from their internal social and historical dynamics (cf Carneiro da Cunha 1992). The Fanara are a case in point. Most of the Fanara alive when the Villas Boas expedition arrived in the Peixoto had never seen a white person. But they preserved the memory of at least two hundred years of war against the Portuguese and then Brazilians. The nine villages of Fanara, with some 350 to 600 inhabitants, that existed in 1967 in the Peixoto de Azevedo and Upper Iriri basins were in fact the last outpost of a much larger people, well known to the chroniclers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Fanara oral traditions relate that they came from the east, from a savannah region, where they fought white people with guns. Linguistic and ethnohistorical research (Heelas 1980; Schwartzman 1988, 1995; Giraldin 1994; Dourado and Rodri,oues 1993) has now shown that the Fanara are the descendants of the Southern Cayapo, who in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries occupied a vast territory between the Triangulo Mineiro, western Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goias, and southern Mato Grosso. Several bandeiras were sent against them, most notably that of Antonio Pires de Campos, who mobilized Bororo Indians against them, and is reported to have brought 2,000 Cayapo back to Cuiaba as slaves. By the turn of the century, they were considered to be extinct. In reality, the Fanara of the Peixoto and Iriri rivers are the descendants of the westernmost group of Southern Cayapo, who refused peaceful contact and settlement, and withdrew in the later 19th or early 20th century to the region in which the "first contact" occurred in the 1960s. Ethnohistory of both the Northern Kayapo (a distinct group, belonging to same linguistic subfamily, the Northern Ge) and the Fanara attests that the Fanara inhabited the Peixoto and Iriri basins by the 1920s, when their war with the Kayapo-a living memory for both groups-began. Attempts to explain Fanara customs (some of which are reported from mid19th century settlements in Goias, such as log racing and certain curing practices) as "adaptations" to the forest ecosystem of the Peixoto/lriri basins would then be futile. Attempts to read from Fanara subsistence practices information on precolombian populations are equally misplaced. The Fanara in the late 1960s were extremely well "adapted" to the tropical forest ecosystem of the Peixoto and Iriri rivers, practicing a diversified, and highly symbolically elaborated agriculture with geometrically designed gardens and fixed Continue on page 23 Abya Yala News �S locations in the garden for given crops, as well as fishing, hunting, and collecting a wide variety of forest fruits. By all the accounts of the older Panara who grew up in the region, their modest technologystone axes, bows and arrows, clubs, basketry, rudimentary ceramics and no canoes-provided an abundant livelihood. But in the 1960s the Panara had lived there for no more than 100 years. On the other hand, the historical record makes clear that Panara of the 1960s were neither passive victims of the conquest, nor slaves to an inflexible subsistence adaptation. They had on the contrary actively rejected settlement and assimilation, and adjusted quickly and effectively to a vastly different environment in the course of securing their independence. Panara society and culture equally demonstrate this dynamic quality: clearly, elements of the new tropical forest ecosystem (and the economy the Panara devised to make a living there) were integrated into Panara ritual and cosmology and to the process of their transformation. Brazil nuts, for example, which do not occur in the savannah, are a key symbolic reference in Panara myths, as well as in the ritual cycle. Further, the memory of the two hundred year war that drove the Panara from Sao Paulo to northern Mato Grosso was to have a decisive influence on the Panara understanding of the contact with the Villas Boas expeditions and the tragedy that ensued on it. First Contact Again The Panara probably settled in the Peixoto/Iriri because of the region's wealth of natural resources, and its isolation. The life histories of older Panara men invariably include extensive accounts of long expeditions, to visit kin, flee internal conflicts, or found new villages, before the arrival of the Villas Boas expeditions. In these narratives, the men recount that, arriving in a new place, they would search the forest for signs of enemies (hi'pe - 'enemies, others, whites'). Having assured themselves that there were no enemies and no enemies' trails nearby, they would stay and plant gardens. Vol. 10 No.3 E L F DETERMiNATION In 1967, two events presaged the end of the Fanara's autonomy. First, the Mekragnoti Kayapo attacked the northernmost Panara village, Sonkenasan, in the Iriri basin, for the first time with a large supply of guns and ammunition. While the Panara had raided, and been raided by the Kayapo for a generation, guns and ammunition turned the 1967 raid into a massacre. Some 26 Panara were killed and the village burned. The survivors fled to another village, and by the time a war party was mounted to avenge the attack, the Kayapo had fled. Then, the incident came to the attention of Villas Boas brothers, then directing the Xingu National Park, who mounted a contacting expedition. When the first airplanes arrived over the Panara villages, and began dropping trade goodsknives, machetes, beads-there began a debate amongst the Panara that would continue for the next five years. Were the airplanes (and later the expedition) "wild" Casar)? Did they mean to kill the Panara, as historic experience suggested, or were the gifts of goods evidence of peaceful intentions? The elder men (taputunara) argued, say present-day chiefs such as Ake and Teseya, that the whites were wild and dangerous, and counseled attack or flight, while the young men (pientwara) held that the goods left by the expedition showed peaceful intent. and argued for getting the goods left by the expedition, A N D TERRITORY and making contact. From 1967 to 1973, the elders prevailed. The first expedition was recalled in 1969 when funds were cut off, and a second expedition was only launched in 1972, as an advance team of surveyors was laying out the route of the Cuiaba Santarem highway. The Panara, already having abandoned their easternmost villages, then withdrew south before this expedition, which set out from the Cachimbo airbase. With the abandonment of successive villages and gardens, increasing numbers of people were concentrated in fewer and fewer villages. When the Villas Boas reached the Peixoto de Azevedo, the Panara, after collecting trade goods at the expedition's advance post, crossed the river and occupied the village of Yopuyepaw. The first epidemic struck there. So many people died, and so debilitated were the survivors that they could not bury the dead, and vultures ate them. After the survivors recovered, they returned to the Peixoto, and accepted contact. In 1974, the road opened. The Panara, fascinated by the traffic on the road, confounded efforts by the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) personnel to prevent them from mingling with the army engineers, and passing truckers. Ensuing deaths triggered witchcraft accusations, since witchcraft was the traditional explanation for serious illness. At least 176 people died of epidemic disContinue on page 24 23 j �S E l F DETERMINATION eases between 1973 and 1975, when the surviving 79 Fanara were transferred by FUNAI to the Xingu National Park The Peixoto de Azevedo was thrown open to gold mining and colonization immediately thereafter, and the small area reserved for the Fanara during the contact was transferred to IN CRA for agrarian reform. The Diaspora The Fanara arrived in the Xingu sick, demoralized, and disoriented. The group was settled in the Kajabi village of Prepuri, where several more died in the first months. The Fanara began to talk of returning to their land. Instead they were moved to the Kayapo village of Kretire and delivered to their traditional enemies. Before the year was out ten more Fanara had died, as new diseases continued. English anthropologist Richard Heelas, who lived with the Fanara in this period described them as walking corpses. They were again removed (although a number of women and children were constrained to stay with the Kayapo), and settled with the Suya. In a less oppressive climate, new leaders emerged, and began to mobilize the Fanara to perform traditional dances and songs. Once the Fanara founded their first village in Xingu, in 1977, their population began to increase. They began a gradual process of reconstituting their society and culture. When I conducted field work between 1980 and 24 A N D TERRITORY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1983 with the Fanara, they described their traditional village as having men's houses in the center of the village plaza, in the middle of the circle of extended family households grouped into four clans, with fixed locations on the village circle. The Fanara said that when there were more boys, they would build men's houses (traditionally the place of residence of pre-adolescent, unmarried boys). In 1991, when I returned to the Xingu, they had built a men s house. In 20 years in the Xingu, the Fanara adapted effectively to a new ecosystem, adopted new technology (learning to build canoes, crucial in the flood plain of the Xingu, and to fish with hook and line, hunt with guns, and grow new cultivars from surrounding groups). They now number about 160, with at least 60% of the population under 20 years old, and more than half under 14. They have recovered as much autonomy as any of the 16 other Indigenous groups that live in the Xingu. But the Fanara never reconciled themselves to living in the Xingu. They have lived in seven places, in a permanent search for land resembling the region of the Peixoto and Iriri. From the perspective of the Fanara, the difference between their land and the Xingu is that between wealth and poverty, and their passage through the Xingu a process of impoverishment. Their concept of the land changed as well over the last decade. In 1983 when the Fanara spoke of land (kupa), they referred to earth or soil. They discussed the Peixoto and Iriri region in terms of places, villages, gardens or rivers. but not as something which could be owned. By 1991 the Fanara spoke regularly of "the land of the Fanara," (Fanara nho kupa). They had developed a sense of their land, as something to which they had rights. The Panara Return "Where will all the children live that are growing up and will have children of their own? Here in this little piece of other peoples land where we are? When I think of the children I am sad. How will they live when they grow up?" (Ake Panani, interview, Xingu National Park, October 1991). By 1990, the Fanara found themselves increasingly the victims of their own success. With a growing population and a vital ceremonial life, they had moved to the western boundary of the Park, on the Arraias River, where they found forest that more closely resembled their traditional land. The best hunting territory, however, was outside the Park on private land, where the Fanara began hunting and fishing. In the same year a group of Fanara killed a ranch hand in a dispute. Leaders such as chiefs Ake and Teseya became increasingly concerned with the future ofthe group. With a young and rapidly increasing population, they were caught between the approaching deforestation outside the Park, and the other groups within the Park, also growing, and already long established on much of the best land. Once again, the Fanara's attention turned to their traditional land. They sought help from FUNAI and several non-governmental organizations active in the Xingu-(which now form the Instituto Socioambiental)-as well as my help, as the anthropologist who had lived longest among them. In November 1991 a group of six Fanara men returned for the first time to their traditional territory: They witnessed the ecological effect of nearly twenty years of Continue on page 25 Abya Yala News �S gold mining in the Peixoto de Azevedo, as well as ranching and colonization and the boom towns left in their wake. Their ter-. ritory in the Peixoto had been occupied and very largely degraded. Flying over the region, however, they discovered that the lriri basin was still unoccupied and forested. From that moment they began to formulate a plan to return to the area. Between 1992 and 1994 groups of men returned repeatedly, to locate former village sites, take cognizance of the processes in course in the area and plan their reoccupation of the region. In 1993, they reached an airstrip near the headwaters of the lriri, and determined that the supposed owner was subdividing an area of public land under the control of the National Institute for Agrarian Reform (INCRA) for sale-a process of land fraud. The Panara recognized that they would have to act quickly if the lriri headwaters were not to succumb to the uncontrolled occupation that had already devastated the Peixoto. In the dry season of 1994, the Panara identified a new village site on the lriri, not far from an historic landmark they had recognized from the air, the Great Lake (inkotunsi), the spot where the Panara of Sonkenasan village had intended to make a new village in 1967, before the Kayapo attack. They set to work building a village, gardens and an airstrip to facilitate access for health care. In August 1994, through their attorneys at the Nucleo de Direitos lndigenas, the Panara filed two lawsuits in federal court in Brasilia, seeking indemnification of losses and damages suffered in the contact and transfer, and the demarcation of their remaining traditional land. In October 1994, a FUNAI and INCRA team lead by anthropologist Ana Gita de Oliveira identified the area, verifying the presence of the Panara in the village and determining traditional resource use and the boundaries of the area. Two days after the FUNAI team had left the village, a group of armed men appeared in the village, alleging to have been sent by the Mayor of the regional town of Guaranta looking for the FUNAI team. After a tense discussion, the group left. In December 1994, the president of FUNAI published the decree (portaria) recognizing the Panara's rights to an area of 488.000 hectares in northern Mato Grosso and southern Para states in the Diario Oficial. Subsequently modified to E l F DETERMINATION- -AND - TERRITORY --- remove an area titled to private interests, the revised area (490,000 hectares) is awaiting the signature of the Minister of Justice for its demarcation to proceed. In October 1995, a group of Panara families moved to the new village, brought in successive flights by a FUNAI plane. Their airstrip is in operation, their gardens are growing, and some 65 Panara now reside there. They are engaged in building houses and planting more gardens so that the rest of the group can join them. The Panara are aware that the edges of their land have already been invaded by loggers and that the grileiro maintains a presence in the southwestern corner of the area . But they remain convinced that their future is in the reoccupation of the area, and the defense of its natural resources against depredation. one language, have developed and elaborated a diversity of languages and social and cultural forms-men's societies, age grades, "formal friendship", joking and avoidance relations, kinship, marriage and naming systems, ritual complexesall of which, while distinct, bear "family resemblances" to one another., much like the relations of cognate words in related languages to one another. It is still common to assume that Indigenous peoples Brazil are a vanishing race, doomed to succumb to the pressure of superior technology and disappear into the surrounding society Behind this idea is a notion of culture as static and unchanging-culture as a sort of FUll CIRThe Future an Illusion the laundry list of of the Vanishing traits. If an Indian wears clothes, and Culture as laundry list speaks Portuguese, In little more than twenty years, the or plants rice, then Panara have come full circle, from the he is no longer a paradigmatic "victims of the miracle" of "real" Indian. Anthropology the military government, on the brink of cultural if not physical extinction, to pro- has in the past lent tagonists of the successful recreation of credence to such their own society and culture. The beliefs by, for process of territorial reintegration was the example, attemptconsequence of this: only in reinventing ing to explain culPHYSICAl traditional leadership, and satisfying tural and social EXTINCTION, TO as themselves that it could be both adequate organization to the challenges of life among other peo- adaptations in an OF time ple, and legitimate with reference to tra- ecological ditional knowledge-of myths, rituals, frame to given RECREATION or songs, dances, the proper ordering of ecosystems, work and sociability-could the Panara indeed by focusing form the necessary consensus to take on on the reproducthis task. The reconstruction of Panara tion of Indigenous society was in short also its recreation, its social organizatransformation. But not for the first tions to the exclutime-the historical record of the sion of history As Southern Cayapo demonstrates that the both the short and ancestors of the present Panara under- longer views of the history of the Panara took an epic migration, involving a radi- demonstrate, culture, rather than a list of cal shift in ecological adaptation from traits or institutions, is better understood savannah to closed tropical forest, and as the capacity for collective self-creation also changing culturally Nor was this or reinvention (Turner 1995). In this conprocess of change, impelled by the pres- text, what is exceptional about the drasure of the frontier though it was, unique. matic story of the Panara is its unexcepA longer comparative view of the lan- tionality Most of the Indigenous peoples in guages and cultures of the Northern Ge linguistic family shows that for several Brazil have passed, like the Panara, thousand years (ef Urban 1992 ), these through a succession of "first contacts," groups, descended from the speakers of lost population to new diseases, have _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ C_9)1tinue on page 38 - - : - - c - - - - : - c - - : - - - : : - - - - - - - - - - -·-·-·------· 25 Vol. 10 No.3 m �D S NNOUNCEMENTS A N D South American Explorers Clu1 The best source of infonnati.on and advice for travel in Latin America Memhem receive expert help in trip planning, and discounts on maps, guidebooks, and other items. ~li\\.Ui!!Counits are also available on lodging, tourguides, and language schools. Clubhouses located in Lima and Quito. FOR A FREE CATALOG, contact us at: 126 In.lian Creek RoaJ, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA Tel (607) 271-0488 Fox (607) 277-6122 e-mail (ASLA INDIAN PAWANkA NAlkA SUl~A, LAlA~A) CfNi fR MISI<IiU INDIAN CULtURAL IN i -Hf f)(IL f explorer@nmexplo.org http://www.... mexplo.org The SAEC is a non-pJrofit organization A Human Rights Quarterly (formerly Justicia y Paz) Colombia Bulletin seeks to forge strong connections for information and activism between the U.S., Europe and Colombia by reporting accurate and current information on Colombia's struggle for human rights. Each issue includes regional reports, analysis of statistics on political violence, commentary on the origins ofhuman rights violations, updates on activism, and other resources. Four issues: US$25/yr, US$12.50 student low income, foreign subs add $10. Submissions welcome. c/o CSN PO. Box 1505 Madison, Wl53701 (608)255-8753 105046.3333@compuserve.com Continued from page on page 25 moved or been removed from traditional territories. Many, like the Guarani in Mato Grosso do Sul, have returned to lands from which they were removed. The Indigenous population in Brazil reached its nadir in the 1970s and has grown since. In 1990, there were some 235,000 Indians in Brazil, while today there are 270,000. The Indigenous popu- , I t lation in Brazil is, like the Fanara, small but growing. The resistance of Indigenous peoples, and their capacity for self-recreation even in extremely adverse circumstances, is the sine qua non behind increasing official recognition of Indigenous land rights. When the National Indian Foundation was created in 1967, as the contact of the Fanara was starting, an infinitesimal quantity of Indian land was officially recognized as such by the federal government. Today, Indigenous peoples have constitutionally guaranteed rights to some 11% of Brazil's territory, although only part of this area has been fully officially documented. A plethora of histories like that of the Fanara have shattered the illusion of the vanishing Indian. In so doing, they have better informed both national Indigenous policy, and scientific understanding of the depth and dynamics of Indigenous culture and history '9 References Cited Carneiro da Cunha, Manuela (org). 1992. Hist6ria dos Indios no Brasil. Editora Schwarcz, Sao Paulo. Dourado, Luciana and Aryan Rodrigues. 1993. Fanara: Indentificar,;ao Linguistica dos Kren-Akarorore com os Cayapo do Sul, comunicar,;ao ao 450. Reuniao Anual da Sociedade Brasileira pelo Progesso da Ciencia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, 11 - 16 julho. Giraldin, Odair. 1994. Cayapo e Fanara: Luta e sobrevivencia de um povo, Dissertar,;ao de Mestrado apresentado ao MIAMI. P-H/FX (305) Departamento de Antropologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Sao Paulo. Guidon, Niede. 1992. As ocupar,;oes prehist6ricas do Brasil, in Hist6ria dos Indios no Brasil, Manuela Carneiro da Cunha (org.), Editora Schwarcz, Sao Paulo. Heelas, Richard. 1979. The Social Organization of the Fanara, a Ge Tribe of Central Brazil. Doctoral Dissertation, St. Catherine's College, Oxford University. Meggers, B.]. 1971. Amazonia: Man and culture in a counterfit paradise. Chicago, A/dine-Atherton. Schwartzman, Stephan. 1988. The Fanara of the Xingu National Park: the transformation of a society. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago. 1995. The Fanara: Indigenous Territory and Environmental Protection in the Amazon, in Local Heritage in the Changing Tropics: innovative strategies for natural resource management and control, Greg Dicum (ed.), Bulletin Series, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Number 98. New Haven, Connecticut. Turner, Terence. 1995. Indigenous Rights, Environmental Protection and the Struggle over Forest Resources in the Amazon: The case of the Brazilian Kayapo. mss. Urban, Greg. 1992. A hist6ria da cultura brasileira segundo as linguas nativas, in Hist6ria dos Indios no Brazil, Manuela Carneiro da Cunha (org.), Editor a Schwarcz, Sao Paulo. (a previous version of this article appearded in the Brazilian magazine Ciencia Hoje) ~--------- 38 Abya Yala News � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Success Story in Brazil: The Return of the Panara Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Success Story in Brazil: The Return of the Panara Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (22-25, 38).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Author Stephan Schwartzman Abstract Note The Panara in Brazil have organized to sue for the protection of the land from private interests and have made steady gains in the government to do so. Pages 22-25, 38 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/0cd8f6362d8c34251baf24b336c95c5a 0b4768670f45eefe9af5c7d518e09b95 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (26-29).pdf PDF Text Text 5 E l F DETERMINATION A N D TERRITORY he bullet entered from under his jaw, and came out the top of his head," says Maestro Ernesto of the Partido de la Revoluci6n Democratica (PRD). With his index finger as the barrel, he forms his hand into a gun and sticks it into the soft flesh of his jowl. Then he pulls the trigger and taps the barrel against his skull. lfllll!liiiB""''Iii""- "The government says it was a robbery or altercation, but the manner in which he was executed indicates otherwise. It was retaliation for the previous kidnapping and killing of a PRI candidate. He was assassinated by the Judicial Police." The body of R.E.Martinez was found in his home in Nueva Palestina, Chiapas on January 16, 1996, the victim of what the PRD and opposition groups are defining as more than an isolated act of vengeance. Funded and orchestrated by wealthy landlords, cattle ranchers and the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), it is an intentional against campaign of oppression Indigenous and campesino communities carried out by the police, Mexican National Army and private goon squads called the White Guard. In Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero and other Mexican states, any action that threatens the land tenure of the rich or endangers the election of PRI candidates is crushed. Mexico's population of over 10 million indigenas, the majority of whom are campesinos or peasant workers, has been Brad Miller is a free-lance journalist who has written for newspapers and magazines such as the Progressive, and for a section of the Utne Reader entitled "Nine Views of Mexico." 26 IN CHIAPAS, OAXACA, GUERRERO AND OTHER MEXICAN STATES, ANY ACTION THAT THREATENS THE TENURE OF THE RICH OR ENDANGERS ELECTION OF PRI CANDIDATES IS CRUSHED. hit heavily by these pistoleros. In the continuing 500 year nightmare of genocide, the corpses of the Tzotzil, Chole, Mixe and Nahualt Indians that appear in alleys or irrigation ditches are written off as the victims of drunken brawls or jealous husbands. The victims converge on the PRD office in the Chiapan capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez. The residents of Jaltenango de laPaz and Nueva Palestina travel the 150 miles by bus to register complaints con- cerning human rights abuses and landtenure disputes. 'The Judicial Police arrived at our house with ten vehicles and a helicopter," says Muriel Perez of Jaltenango. "They beat up my husband. Now my 70 yearold mother-in-law and three children are missing. We have been looking for them for three days." She believes that the rich landlords who own the property next to her small farm want to expand onto her land and Continue on page 2 7 Abya Yala News �S that they have been directing the activities of the Judicial Police. "Our farm is titled under my motherin-laws name. And now we can't find her." Behind Maestro Ernesto a sign hangs on the cracked, concrete wall: "The brave don't shoot cowards in the back." T he Mexican government denies any violations committed are officially sanctioned, and in their version of history, the White Guard has never existed. But historically, the national rulers and the state of Chiapas have supported the landlords and cattlemen, called ganaderos, and the formation of their private armies. Since the invasion of Columbus, Cortez and the Conquistadors, those gluttonous for land have forced Indigenous subsistence farmers off fertile land and into the rocky canyons and jungle. Several Chiapan governors own vast spreads of cattle land, forming special police forces to persecute cattle thieves and creating laws allowing ganaderos to carry weapons. The ganaderos, strongly tied to the PRI, have continued to be given credits, subsidies and political aid from the Mexican government. The cattle industry is also propped up by the foreign credits of the World Bank, the United States, New Zealand and Australia. The ganaderos have consolidated their power by forming groups like the Citizen's Defense Group and the National Small Property Owner's Confederation and arming their White Guard, who are usually young ranch hands, to defend against anyone occupying "their" land. They have felt especially threatened since the 1992 Quincentennial date marking the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the beginning of Indigenous genocide. The ganadero leaders pump local residents full of fear, telling them the "Indiada" is corning, that Chiapas will soon be an "Indian reserve." Chiapas-where 1/3 of the land is used for cattle ranching, while indigenas and carnpesinos farm only 1/5 of it. Chiapas-the state that produces 28% of Mexico's meat supply while most Indigenous people can rarely afford to buy farm animals or eat meat. The Fray Bartolome Center for Human Rights reported that ganaderos E l F DETERMINATION were accompanying the Mexican Army as it advanced through Altamirano and Ocosingo during the 1995 winter offensive against the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), breaking into houses and stealing horses and cattle. In several northern municipalities of the state, indigenas and campesinos were displaced by armed PRI groups who attacked PRD-based communities and ejidos and by police operations backed by local ganaderos. The expulsions intensified as the fall1995 elections approached. More private armies were formed-the Force of Reaction, the Juvenile Revolutionary Front, Paz y Justicia (Peace and Justice). Paz y Justicia established a "summary court," where 63 families were judged and fined for participation in the PRD. Since June 1996, the violence and terror have been escalating, influencing the EZLN to pull out of the peace talks on September 2. The Estaci6n Norte de Distension and Reconciliaci6n, established by a number of human rights groups to monitor the situation and facilitate a peaceful and positive outcome, has reported that some communities are under a state of siege. They lack food, water and medicine and are continually confronted by members of "Paz y Justicia." The pistoleros of those in power have also been attacking Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, a state situated next to Chiapas-both geographically and in terms of poverty and Indigenous population. Oaxaca, rich in natural resources, has been the sight of a long-running battle between foreign and mestizo colonizers and Indigenous communities. The greed for narcotics-generated money has only intensified the conflict. Indigenous groups in Oaxaca say the PRI is using the pretext of fighting narcotraffickers to militarize the area, but that armed groups are being used against Indigenous communities and their leaders. They also believe the assassins of the Oaxacan opposition leaders are actually the ones involved in drug trafficking. The caciques and ganaderos "have used the force of judges, the police and army," while they "have been infiltrated by drug trafficking and have created paramilitaries or White Guard," says the Union de Comunidades Indigenas de la Zona Norte del Istrno (UCIZONI), an A N D TERRITORY organization that promotes the rights and culture of indigenas and provides them legal aid. During the local elections of November 1995 the PRI sent in armed groups to Mazatlan Villa de Flores to disrupt the traditional system of communal vote-taking, killing one person. In the ensuing state of siege, seven more people were killed. Two Mixe Indian communities were displaced and one Mixe leader assassinated by PRI gunmen. UCIZONI leaders have been popular targets of the military and White Guard-for harassment, torture and assassination. In 1989, a Mixe named Crisforo Jose TRAFFICKERS Pedro was murTHE In dered. November 1995 it was Blas ARMED GROUPS Santos Vasquez BEING USED and Armando Agustin Bonifacio. On Sept. 18, 1996, Abraham Gonzalez was killed and three other Mixes wounded. Official cornplaints to the government concerning the killing of indigenas are filed, but usually ignored. According to the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, six members of the Organization Indigenas de Derechos Hurnanos en Oaxaca(OIDHO) were killed between May 1995 and July 1996. The killing of OIDHO representative Honorato Zarate Vasquez was called a suicide. Teachers in Oaxaca, many of whom are Indigenous, are also seen as a threat to the power structure. ':(hey are often threatened, beaten and killed. As its leaders are murdered, Oaxaca's Indigenous communities are slowly eliminated through displacement, emigration, fear and detention. The Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights state that as of July 1996, half of Oaxaca's 3,600 inmates were Indigenous. The residents Continue on a e 28 Vol. 10 No.3 27 �SELF _ _ ___:___ DETERMINATION! __ of Union y Progreso, who had been living as refugees in a neighboring town for two years due to the violence created by the caciques and their pistoleros, travelled to the City of Oaxaca in October 1996. The displaced then set up camp in front of the Governors palace in a protest to their desperate living situation. But the government continues to respond with more force, increasing its deployment of military and police since the public emergence of the People's Revolutionary Army (EPR) in June of 1996. The army arrested almost all the community leaders in Agustin Loxicha, Oaxaca and rounded up villagers in the mountains of Guerrero (the state where the EPR first appeared). In Guerrero, military repression is nothing new. In June 1995 alone, three Mixtec members of the Guerrero Council of 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance were murdered, and in a separate incident, 17 villagers were shot to death as a group of police 28 A Nl D TERRITORY fired on a passing truck in Aguas Blancas. In the state of Hidalgo, "the problem of the private armies isn't as significant as the use of government forces," says Sabino Juarez of the Special Agrarian Committee. "The caciques just use the police and Federal Army as their White Guard." convoy of Mexican soldiers in USsupplied HUMVEEs winds through the tight curves of Chiapas's Highway 190. The soldiers look out from under their US-supplied kevlar helmets, scanning the cornfields that are scattered on the steep, rocky hillsides, the stalks poking out of the road cuts. The US government sells Mexico $40 million per year in military equipment and has trained over 700 of their officers over the last ten years. Through military credits and drug enforcement and eradication grants, the Mexican armed forces, which now number over 200,000 troops, have acquired over 80 Huey, Bell and ____ Blackhawk helicopters and 75 Swissmade P-7 jet trainers and 250 French tanks. The trainer jets have been souped up into lethal machines. The helicopters, authorized only for drug enforcement duties, have been used to battle the Zapatistas and help the ganaderos and landlords crush organization and dissent. When not used directly by government forces against opposition groups and indigenas, automatic weapons have 'trickled down' into the hands of the White Guard, whose oppression was one of the initial reasons for the formation of the EZLN-and others. "Our principle fight is against the existing ruling class," says Maestro Rodolfo of the Coordination of the Campesinos for the Popular Struggle, based in Venustiano Carranza, Chiapas. "We have organized to stop people's hunger." Hunger and land starvation is increasing, and Mexico's continued emphasis on an export-oriented economy and the PRI's globalization have further marginalized indigenas and campesinos. The xevision of Article 27 of the 1917 constitution allows communal property to be seized if the owners fall into debt, and permits Indigenous lands to be purchased by outsiders. NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and World Bank and IMF policies prescribe a shift to export crops and animal feed. As the Zapatistas pronounced in a communique, NAFTA is a "death sentence" for Indigenous people. Land invasions have been organized by indigenas and campesinos in order to pressure the government to give them more arable land. The revision of Article 2 7 states that anyone 'holding' private land can be sentenced to 40 years in jail. This 'holding' is essentially the only means by which indigenas and campesinos can reclaim land formerly taken from them by ganaderos or landlords. "But the government's solution to land battles is to buy more arms and respond with violence," says Maestro Rodolfo. Violence was the response in the cool hills of the Sierra Madre of Chiapas, as a land battle erupted on the coffee finca of Liquid Amber. In August 1994, an armed group called the Union Popular Francisco Villa (UPFV) took control of the finca and held it for ten months. "They held us in the office at gunpoint for four days," says Gerardo Saenger _ _ _ ___________ Continue on page~~ Abya Yala News �S Gonzalez, Liquid Amber's administrator. "They killed the doctor and used the furniture for firewood." When the UPFV grabbed the finca, its owner, Lawrence Hulder, armed his Guatemalan workers and tried to take it back. When the efforts of his White Guard proved to be unsuccessful, he called in the police and military, which arrived in helicopters to drive out the UPFV Saenger shakes his head when asked if Liquid Amber has any White Guard. "We just have to make a call down to jaltenango if there are any problems." But residents of the nearby ejido of Nueva Palestina say the 100 White Guard of Liquid Amber travel the road from the finca to their town. "We can't live a tranquil life," says Luisa Montoya. "Not with the finca's pistoleros walking the streets." The ejido and its marginalized community are surrounded by coffee fincas and the El Triunfo Bioreserve, on which they have not been allowed to cultivate-even though Liquid Amber already has. "The problems are coming from outside the ejido of Nueva Palestina," says Saenger. "The villagers are calm until the groups from the town of Venustiano Carranza fill them with Marxist and communist ideas." But problems do exist inside the ejido, where Public Security roam the streets and the Mexican Army and police, having implemented an operation to capture opposition leaders sympathetic to the Zapatistas, arrest and torture UPFV organizers. Marginalized societies of other areas have also initiated land occupations when given no other option. In April 1992, indigenas battled the state police over land that had been sequestered near Palenque, Chiapas to make room for "Mundo Maya", a tourist project celebrating the ancient Mayan heritage of the same people the government murders. Two hundred Chole Indians were tossed in jail. In protest, members of the Indigenous organization called Xi Nich, meaning "ants", marched 1,100 km to Mexico City The federal government ignored their grievances, just as they've ignored the more recent warnings of Indigenous leaders such as Xi Nich's Victor Guzman, who stated at the Special Vol. 10 No.3 E L F DETERMiNATION A N D TERRITORY COUNTRY." Forum for Indigenous Rights in February 1995 that "the Indigenous problems of Chiapas are the Indigenous problems of the entire country" The empowered elite of Mexico have been receiving adequate warnings of insurrection for a long time. In the book of Chilam Balam, the Mayan gods dictated that "the shield shall descend, the arrow shall descend ... together with the rulers of the land." In the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Michoacan, there have been reports of the formation of new opposition groups, armed for self-preservation. n the trendy city of San Cristobal de las Casas, where tourists come to buy Mayan crafts, sip coffee and listen to folk artists sing about Che Guevara, an Indigenous girl stands on a corner. She watches a ladino girl of her same age walk proudly to church wearing an elegant, white dress. On the next street a group of Tzotzil Indians carries the white casket of a child off to another world. Road cuts don't yield enough corn to live on. In the same trendy city, Subcomandante Marcos of the EZLN gives a press conference behind a black ski mask, smoking his pipe, flanked by Comandantes David and Tacho. "The problems in this country are not just in Chiapas. They also exist in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Vera Cruz, Hidalgo ... " Mexico has 31 states and a federal district. Subcomandante Marcos could have gone on and on.~ Graphics by Brad Miller 29 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mexico's Hired Guns Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Mexico's Hired Guns Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (26-29).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Author Brad Miller Abstract Note Increasing violence in Mexico has led to an increase in state-sponsored murders and killing by the police, the military, and paramilitary forces in an attempt to re-establish state control across the country. Pages 26-29 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/30d7ff445247273952da167ef00ee05d d4057748d7773b09eb2a4fe074cbb514 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (30).pdf PDF Text Text S DETERMINATION recent ruling by the Constitutional Court of Colombia that the government must "consult" with the U'wa Indigenous people regarding oil activities in their territory may be a move to undermine Indigenous rights in that country The U'wa, under threat of an oil concession to Occidental de Colombia, an affiliate of Occidental Petroleum of Bakersfield, CA, have threatened to commit collective suicide if the company is allowed to exploit oil in their territory Fiercely opposed to the Colombian governments' agreement to allow Occidental to explore in their territory, the U'wa claim that they would rather die than live with the inevitable desecration of their sacred ancestral land which would accompany the oil extracting project. U'wa leaders say that they have "talked about collective suicide" and that their spiritual leaders, the Werhayas, will decide how they will make the sacrifice. In the late 17th century an entire community of U'wa committed mass suicide by jumping off of a cliff when a group of Spanish missionaries and tax collectors threatened to take over their village. Today the U'wa people call this spot "the Cliff of Glory" On October 22, 1997, SAIIC sent out an urgent action to infonn the international community that the U'wa Indigenous people in Colombia were threatening to commit collective suicide if the Occidental Oil Company went through with its plans to do seismic testing and exploit oil in the Samore Block, a concession it had acquired from the state oil company Ecopetrol in 1992. For Occidental to obtain the necessary environmental permit to begin its seismic studies it was required by law to discuss the potential impact the project could have on the Indigenous communities in the region. By February 1995 Occidental was granted its license after having met with representatives from Ecopetrol, the Colombian goverpment, and U'wa communities. A government human rights 30 A N D TERRITORY i E l F i I i organization called The People's away with the environmental license preDefender's sued the Environment viously required for seismic exploration. Ministry on grounds that they disregard- However a September court ruling called ed the U'wa's position on the issue. The into question the legality of that action. Environment Ministry and Occidental The suit and recent court ruling have argued that there was no legislation that brought to light the profound conflict of required the U'wa's approval of the pro- interest between indigenous peoples in ject before its implementation. The final Colombia and that of the nations' largest ruling decided that while a 30-day con- source of foreign revenue, oil exportation. sultation period is mandatory, the gov- Occidental has released the information ernment reserves the right to make the that the oil field on which the U'wa live could be one of the largest in the hemiultimate decision. The 5-4 ruling on February 2, 1997, sphere, holding between 1 and 2.5 billion deemed that the Colombian government barrels of oil. The Colombian government would get 80 percent of has 30-days to consult with the the profits from the exploitaU'wa, after which time the govtion. ernment apparently retains the The U'wa, who number right to decide whether or not roughly 8,000, are well aware the oil exploration and eventual of the ambiguous court ruling, exploitation will continue. NEGOTIATE." Although the court decided in and have sent out a letter to the international public favor of Indigenous participation in the decision making expressing their dismay that "those gentlemen judges [of process, ONIC, the Indigenous the Constitutional Court] have Organization of Colombia, has not been able to defend our TEGRIA stated that "[Indigenous peoples] gain nothing with the fundamental rights: to the integrity of our territory, to our guarantee of the right to be consulted if the government has no obliga- culture, and, in general, our life. Rights tion to respect the results of the consulta- which, besides being recognized by the tion." constitution and both national and interThe court ruling apparently under- national norms presently in force, are mines the historic Decree 1397, which ancestral rights. " "What is sacred we don't negotiate," was established in August 1996 after a long Indigenous protest in Bogota by the said Ebaristo Tegria in an interview with 82 native communities in Colombia (see the Associated Press. The U'wa believe oil Abya Yala News 10:2 Summer 1996). is the blood of Mother Earth and that its Decree 1397 calls for mandatory consul- exploitation will lead to the destruction of tation with Indigenous peoples and their their culture. "We have already made organizations (Mesa de Concertaci6n) known our thoughts about this project to before starting any project in their com- bleed Mother Earth, " states their letter. munities. It requires that eight ministries, "For us Mother Earth is sacred, is not for three Indigenous organizations and violation, exploitation, nor negotiation; it politicians as well as three other official is to be cared for, to be conserved. For bodies be in attendance during the dis- these reasons we cannot permit oil explocussions surrounding any future develop- ration on our traditional territory." "'9 ment, including oil exploration projects. Mining and Oil interests disputed the Information from ONIC and the Amazon decree, claiming that it made the licens- Coalition. Pleas.:: send letters to President ing process far too difficult for foreign investors. In response to these com- Emesto Samper callingfor the respect of plaints, the Colombian government did Indigenous rights to their ancestral territory. Abya Ya\a News � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ambiguous Ruling in Colombia: U'wa Struggle to Stop Oil Concession Continues Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Ambiguous Ruling in Colombia: U'wa Struggle to Stop Oil Concession Continues Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (30).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note The U'wa have been told by the Colombian government that the they must be consulted regarding oil concession on their land, a statement that may be void of meaning. Pages 30 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/f3253add3814c6f96e71787edb6deeea 559d44d200411a00df36ebc2fab4b256 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (31).pdf PDF Text Text S E L F DETERMINATION A N D TERRITORY Continued from page 11 'Wa chief Roberto Cobaria and his companion Edgar Mendez came in early May for a two week U.S tour to try to garner support from environmental organizations and human rights workers in their fight to protect ances, Chief Cobaria made clear the U'Wa belief that if there is no blood (oil) there is no light and there is no life. Petroleum is a part of the U'Wa's environment as much as the forests and rivers and animals are, and cannot be removed from its habitat without disrupting the precious the Indigenous way of thinking. They are different. Now, it is clear that the work of Indigenous peoples in the city, creating alliances, this is completely different from the problem of migration. Migration is not a method of establishing alliances. Migration is a reaction to a set of problems, like lack of land and unsustainable conditions in the Indigenous areas, which force people to head for the cities. This doesn't constitute a beneficial solution for the communities in the Indigenous areas. Do Indigenous organizations aspire to a high level of autonomy, with a proper education, control over the territories, and self-rule in the respective areas? The idea is that the government exercise greater respect towards the traditional organizations of Indigenous peoples. We are not seeking a very formal system of representation of Indigenous peoples, but simply that our traditional organizations and our customs be granted respect. Roberto Cobaria, chief of the U'Wa people. their territory from oil exploitation. They met with Occidental in Los THE Angles and gave press conferences IS and presentations in Washington D. C and San Francisco. The U'Wa are determined to continue their protest of Oxy and are standing firm in their refusal to WORLD. allow any portion of their land to be bought or sold or contaminated in any way: IS For the U'Wa, petroleum is the blood of the Mother Earth and is crucial for maintaining the delicate balance of the world. In his numerous Bay Area appear------------------ Vol. 10 No.3 equilibrium which the U'Wa work to maintain and protect. In an interview at the South and Meso American Indian Rights Center, Roberto explained how petroleum was here on earth before there was anything, before the world was created. The Occidental corporation refuses to respect this belief and has offered more royalties to the community in hopes of gaining access to the oil-rich region. The U'Wa asked Oxy who gave them the authority to buy, sell or exploit that which they do not own. In a press conference at Rainforest Action Network, San Francisco, Chief Roberto Cobaria said that to negotiate this matter [we] are contaminating ourselves. The U'wa are continuing to fight for their right to protect and preserve the integrity of their land and culture. They feel that any exploration on their ancestral territory will gravely disrupt their culture and traditions as well as the land that has sustained them for centuries.~ Are you seeking the right to administer the territories? Indigenous areas in Brazil are destined for the usufruct of Indigenous peoples. They are the property of the state, and Indigenous peoples hold usufruct rights over them. This is a very complex issue in Brazil, because when people speak of "self-determination," various sectors interpret this as proof that Indians want to disassociate with the state and establish a type of sovereignty, and this in turn ends up jeopardizing our relations with the larger society: Therefore, in today's Brazil, we are speaking more about respect towards Indigenous cultures and customs and decision-making rights for Indigenous peoples regarding their territories. We make it very clear that we do not have the intention of creating a new state, and enter into conflict with national sovereignty: We want to support our systems of culture and traditions, and receive the respect of the state and of the larger society:~ - - - - - - - - - - - 31 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource U'wa Update: UWA people representatives toured the United States Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title U'wa Update: UWA people representatives toured the United States Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (31).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note The U'wa leaders who toured the United States have stated that they are continuing to fight oil drilling on their lands. Pages 31 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/9fed16cb782d5df35fa26fa3a832ccf8 9d7b470a2760d48ecdbfd0c0bd7bac4b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (32-33).pdf PDF Text Text 0 DAUGHTERS F B YA Y A l A @I I • • .. IS s Thoughts of Grandma lupe during the encounter. n December 1996 the members of the Indigenous Cultural Society Tepehuanos organized a ceremonial meeting in the municipality of Escuinapa, Sinaloa, Mexico to focus on the theme "Indigenous Women-Respect and Dignity." Representatives of the Tepehuanos, Huicholes, Cherokee, Micmac, Maliseet, Passomoquody, and Algonguin peoples came to participate in the conversation circles, temascales (sweat lodges), and nights of medicine dancing. The meeting concentrated on supporting the cause of the Indigenous American Woman facing the challenges and obstacles that threaten indigenous culture and sacred values of the indigenous peoples. The indigenous grandmothers stressed the importance of the indigenous spirituality in our lives. During the meeting we had the opportunity to interview grandma Huichola, Guadalupe de la Cruz Rios de la Rallanera, (from Sinaloa) known as Lupe. Lupe emphasized the importance of keeping ourselves in the harmonious circle of connection with the Creator that is fundamental to generating constructive forces and battling the injustices suffered by the world's indigenous peoples. Grandma Lupe told us that in her community they continue to practice their own culture based in the spirituality or spiritual vision of the Huicholes for whom they keep their customs alive. "Our Grandmothers left us this legacy," says Lupe, "and it is an ancient history from long ago and we the Huicholes continue to follow its footsteps." Grandma, could you explain to us the Huichola spirituality that you practise? In our Huichola spirituality, we all wear the Huichola clothing that is of fabric drawn with the images of the gods during the ceremonies. This distinguishes us from other religions. One of the most important ceremonies that we practice is the medi- 32 Guadalupe de Ia Cruz Rfos de Ia Rallanera, master artisan and spiritual guide and healer in Sinaloa, Mexico cine gathering, when we harvest the Hicuri that helps us to concentrate and commune with our Creator and to perceive ideas that guide our lives and all our actions. In preparing for the ceremony we go to the mountains, to Huilcuta, once a year before the harvest to gather the Hicuri or Peyote Espafiol (sacred plants). Huiculta is a sacred place where dwell the gods; Tatemantiniegue (water), Tate-Wari (fire), Tate-Huirika-Iumari (grandmother), Tate-Haramara (ocean), Tauyupa (the sun), Tate-Yulienaka (Mother Earth). The Gods guide our path, teach us, feed us with the fruit they give us, and with their spirit we live. · This ceremony is very important for our community since it is when we receive counsel and assistance to help us complete the tasks we want or need to do. We also perform ceremonies when we sow corn, and when the first ears flower. We have blue, white, yellow, red, and black corn. The corn is sacred because it is our main foodsource and is a fruit of the Mother Earth. There is a special day when we perform a ceremony with the children and the sun so that the Gods may give life and force Continue on page 33 Abya Yala News �DAUGHTERS OF BYA -------------------------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~--~~--~~~~-- YALA Back issues are available in both Spanish and English for $3 each plus shipping!! 0 State Frontiers and Indian Nations Vol. 9 No.1, Spring 1995; Includes: • Ecuador-Peru Border War • Interview Leonardo Viteri • Mexico's Domestic and International Borders 0 Confronting Biocolonialism Indigenous Huichola women participating in the ceremony of the Huicurf (peyote)/ Sinaloa/ Mexico. and so that the children gain a better understanding of their roots and language. What is your mission as the spiritual guide of the community? My mission is to teach the knowledge that my grandmothers have left me. Although I will no longer be here, the teachings of our grandmothers remain alive and I wish to reinforce our culture, teach the cultivation of the earth, reinforce the unity and strength of the family and especially maintain the Huichola spirituality I also make offerings of food to the Gods. I leave an offering of corn drink or food on the altar in our temple since the Gods have left us things of importance. Eating and drinking the food of the altar, brings us new thoughts and new knowledge. The Huichola spirituality shows us respect between man and woman, that man and woman are actually complimentary not two indivividual entities that compete. As a spiritual guide I give family counsel to young coulples who sometimes have problems with each other. The man and the woman are one Vol. 10 No.3 body I show them that the Creator gives us intelligence and peace and thus we should always feel clean and happy We do not create problems between ourselves and between those who speak other languages because we are all children of the Creator. What is the relation between the traditional craftwork and Huichola spirituality? Our craftwork is a product of visions that we obtain when we go to Huilcuta and when we eat Hicuri or Peyote. In the visions we see the different images and this is what we An example of the mastery of Tepehuano artisan women. This is a [thingamajig] that is used to carry sacred objects needed during ceremonies. copy and weave. De ahi viene los cuadros de chaquira de estambre. My grandmother showed me. Our craftsmanship is intimately connected to our spirituality since every image expresses a significant relationship with nature and the universe. "9 Vol. 8, No. 4, Winter 1994; Includes: • The Human Genome Diversity Project • Safeguarding Indigenous Knowledge • The Guaymi Patent • Biodiversity and Community Integrity 0 Indian Movements and The Electoral Process Vol. 8, No. 3, Fall 1994; Includes: • Mexico: Indigenous Suffrage Under Protest • Bolivia: Reconstructing the Ayllu • Guatemala: Maya Political Crossroads • Colombia: Special indian Districting 0 Chiapas: Indigenous Uprising with Campesino Demands? Vol. 8, Nos. 1 & 2, Summer 1994; Includes: • Maya Identity and the Zapatista Uprising • Chronology of Events • Indigenous and Campesino Peace Proposals • Interview with Antonio Hernandez Cruz of CIOAC 0 II Continental Encounter of Indigenous Peoples Vol. 7, Nos. 3 & 4, Winter 1993 (not available in Spanish); Also includes: • Oil Companies Take Over the Ecuadorian Amazon • Free Trade's Assault on IndigenouS Rights 0 1993 Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples Vol. 7, Nos. 1 & 2, Winter/Spring 1993; Includes: • UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights • Statement of Indigenous Nations at the UN 0 Exclusive Interviews with Four Indian Leaders Vol. 6, No. 4, Fa/11992; Interviews: • Miqueas Millares, AIDESEP CPeru) • Mateo Chumira, Guarani <Bolivia) • Margarito Ruiz, FIPI CMexico) • Calixta Gabriel, Kaqchikel Maya (Guatemala) • Pehuenche Organizing Pays Off CChilel • South and Central American Women's Gathering CPeru) 33 I � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Learning from Grandma Lupe: Indigenous Spirituality is the Source of all knowledge at Indigenous Women's Conference Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Learning from Grandma Lupe: Indigenous Spirituality is the Source of all knowledge at Indigenous Women's Conference Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (32-33).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note Guadalupe de la Cruz Rios de la Rallanera talks about the importance of spirituality within her community. Pages 32-33 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/f4f893810b3bf0a56cfbf16e062dfa34 1b3aa1f2e2e1bc2ca4cd427736383f54 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (34).pdf PDF Text Text ENVIRONMENT he situation concerning the Sumo of Awastingni of the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua in the Autonomous region of the North Atlantic (RAAN) is becoming increasingly difficult under the government of Dr. Arnoldo Aleman, the current president of the republic. Aleman's administration has been unwilling to continue discussions regarding the management of natural resources and the rights of Indigenous communities in the coastal region of Nicaragua. It was the previous administration of Dona Violeta Chamorro that granted a land concession to lumber dealers which affected the Sumo's territory In March of 1996 the government of Dona Violeta Chamorro promised a concession to the timber company SOLCARSA, a subsidiary of the Korean company Kum Kyung, which granted the company a 30year contract to explore and exploit the 63,000 hectares of tropical rain forest in the territory of the Sumo community of Awastingni. This concession was made without consulting the Sumo community. For the Sumos, this concession signifies a grave threat to the security and survival of the 364 families who live in this region and have traditionally fished, hunted, cultivated and buried their dead on these lands. International pressure from financial institutions impelled the government of Violeta Chamorro to start privatizing state industries and to undertake development projects on a grand scale in order to attract foreign investment. The government alleged that, according to the Civil Code, the lands were not titled to private individuals but belonged to the government and could therefore be given in concessions. With this justification the government handed over great tracts of national land to transnational corporations like SOLCA~SA. This policy contraflllll"'"""'!ll'-,... diets the Law of Autonomy of the Atlantic Coast as well as the measures concerning traditional lands which were won in 1985. In September 1996, the Sumos presented a petition to the court of appeals in Managua against the Ministry of Natural Resources (MARENA) in an attempt to THAT, halt the concession. When their ACCORDING TO THE appeal was rejectCIVIL CODE, THE ed, the community took their NOT LANDS case to the TITLED TO Supreme Court. It in turn disINDIVIDUALS carded their TO THE case, claiming that the appeal was submitted 30 days after the BE GIVEN IN signing of the concession- in CONCESSIONS." other words, they acted too late. The Sumos considers these actions by the government to be in violation of international norms, the Constitution of the republic and the statute of the Autonomous government of the Atlantic Coast region. They have filed a petition of protest before the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Organization of American States (OAS). These organizations accused the Nicaraguan government of not complying with its obligation to guarantee the demarcation of the communal lands of Awastingni and of the other Indigenous communities of the Atlantic Coast. Particularly frustrating is the fact that the national government continues to make consequential decisions regarding the national resources of the Atlantic Coast region in complete disregard of the statutes of the Autonomous Government of the Atlantic Coast, which has been awaiting ratification in the national congress since 1990. As a result of the meetings with the lACHR and the OAS, delegates from the Nicaraguan government and representatives from the Sumo and Miskitu communities formed a task force under the Dona Violeta administration to further study the issue. However, under the new administration of Dr. Arnoldo Aleman, new conflicts are surfacing. Delegates of the new government are accusing Sumo leaders of being separatists. It is evident that the new government has little desire to continue with the task force discussions. Meanwhile the Sumos continue to suffer from the repercussions of the mining exploitation project that operated on their lands from 1930 through the 1980s. They bitterly recount their personal experiences of the destruction of their environment, their rainforests and their entire way of life. They are demanding that this time their rights as an autonomous community be respected. For many years the rivers in their territory have been severely contaminated. The consequences of this contamination are evident: high infant mortality rates, chronic diarrhea, open sores on their skin and a host of other illnesses and infections. The Sumos demand respect for their community and improvements in their roads, their schools, their public health facilities and the care of their fragile forests. One of their highest priorities is ensuring the reforestation of their land. For the Sumos, the only alternative for the survival of their communities is the demarcation of their communal lands. In this way they can legally keep out forces like the Korean company Kum Kyung which continue to seek access to their lands and resources. ~ --~·--- 34 Abya Yala News � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Awastingni Sumo Defend Autonomy of Coast Against Government: Effort is to stop Asian logging giants from further destroying Indigenous lands on the coast of Nicaragua Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Awastingni Sumo Defend Autonomy of Coast Against Government: Effort is to stop Asian logging giants from further destroying Indigenous lands on the coast of Nicaragua Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (34).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note The Sumo have appealed to the Nicaraguan government to prevent Korean logging activities on their land. This has not proved fruitful, which may lead the Sumo to seek demarcation. Pages 34 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/fc89439b54d18cd123540f67e1a51e94 20ea1c4ac7f8b8d4838721b7de4e4e1d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (35-36).pdf PDF Text Text HU M A N RIGHTS • • I @> I eginning on january 31 and continuing the following day, 30 Indigenous families were forcibly evicted from their homes and land in the community of Santa julia del canton Las Hojas, located in the San Antonio del Monte municipality in the Sonsonate region of El Salvador. At 11:30 on january 31, 19 units of the PNC (Policia Nacional Civil) invaded the Santa julia Hacienda accompanied by the district's judge, a human rights delegate, and a representative from the government. Also accompanying the police force were 200 soldiers, who remained posted around the territory throughout the day and night of the 31. By the following day the village was surrounded by 25 police units and 500 soldiers including a 100-strong riot squad armed with tear gas. Firefighters, the Salvadoran Red Cross, and two ten-ton trucks without plates had arrived on the scene. The riot squad threatened to thrown tear gas in the homes in an effort to dislodge their inhabitants. Armed personnel proceeded to harass the cooperative's remaining inhabitants until dawn, removing them from their homes and loading each family's personal belongings into trucks bound for unknown destinations. Once the buildings were evacuated they were immediately destroyed and the land set on fire. These kinds of violent attacks and flagrant abuses of human rights have intensified over the last few months. On February 5, 1997, Chief Adrian Esquino Lisco, leader of the National Association of Indigenous Salvadorans CANIS) and his family were forced, under threat of death, from their home in Comarca San Ramon by Arena party activists Jorge Ruiz Camacho and Marta Benavides. Chief Lisco fled to the ANIS offices in Sonsonate, which are being patrolled by Death Squad members and are scheduled for impoundment. Members of ANIS have received death threats, have been ~--····-·~·· severely beaten, and have witnessed their family members being raped and tortured and their homes bulldozed and burned. On November 3, 1996, the jaguar Battalion death squad murdered the Vasquez Ramirez family of San Miguelo, Sonsonate, who were members of ANIS. Using machetes the squad killed all eight family members, four children and three women among them. The home of Margarita Esquino, one of the leaders of ANIS now living in the United States because of constant threats, was bombed. He was brutally beaten lETTERS FROM THE and his wife UNITED STATES HAVE and young niece were PROVEN TO HAVE raped by HELPED ANIS IN THE armed men. THE 18, As of March 3, 1997, 1997,lETTER US ANIS memCONGRESSMEN bers have been given MOAKlEY AND 72 hours to RESUlTED completely evacuate IN THE ESQUINO liSCO their homes FAMilY and offices or they will THEIR be evicted OFFICIAlS CAME by armed SEARCHING FOR THE guards. The sitlEADER THE FOllOWuation in lNG MORNING. Sonsonate has a long, unhappy history. According to ANIS, these lands were purchased more than ten years ago by ANIS for its cooperative, at that time UCESISTA, with the help of loans from the Banco del Fomento Agropecuario and the Caja de Credito de Izalco, which were canceled five years later. After this date, members of the Indigenous cooperative, UCESISTA, continued to work on this land until internal political differences drove a wedge between them. Influenced by the ruling ~-----~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- Vol. 10 No.3 ARENA party, some of the families separated themselves from ANIS and identified themselves as the true UCESISTA members. Those who remained continued to work the land of the San Ramon and Santa julia Hacienda in the Las Hojas region of Sonsonate where they suffered all types of tortures from various members of the ARENA party operating in Sonsonate, including the brutal massacre in 1983 in the Las Hojas cooperative of 74 innocent people. In the eyes of ANIS, these ARENA party members have manipulated the members of the original Indigenous cooperative UCESISTA by fomenting confrontation and instigating conflict and division within the Indigenous community, actions that have already cost many lives and the eviction of 30 families from the Santa julia cooperative. The Sonsonate authorities of the Arena party allege that the legitimate proprietors of this land are the members of the UCESISTA cooperative. On two previous occasions efforts to evict the families were halted when the members of ANIS presented documents to the court of San Antonio del Monte which demonstrated that they were in fact the legal owners of this property The court was in the process of reviewing the documents before making a final decision when the primary judge of Sonsonate gave the order to evict the inhabitants of the Santa julia cooperative. Today these families remain homeless, exposed to the elements, and are not being given any attention. Some have found refuge in the homes of families in San Ramon, who are soon to be the next victims of eviction under an order from the same judge. The community of San Ramon is scheduled for eviction on March 4, 1997. Representatives of the ARENA party have promised the Indigenous lands, including those parcels which ANIS has bought and has titles for, to other parties. The situation in Sonsonate seems to be deteriorating daily The atrocities being Continue on page 36 -~~~~~~- 35 �I I H U M A N RIGHTS committed at this moment call for urgent action. Death threats, illegal evictions, beatings, rapes and political shootings continue in El Salvador despite the peace that was promised in Chapultapec in 1992 (the El Salvador Accords). Indigenous Salvadorans continue to be threatened with violence by the National Civilian Police (PNC), the courts, and those connected with the ARENA party now in power. Letters from the United States have proven to have helped ANIS in the past. The February 18, 1997, letter from US Congressmen john Moakley and james McGovern resulted in the Esquino Lisco family returning to their home, although armed officials came searching for the leader the following morning.,. Please send letters by fax to the Salvadoran authorities urging them to respect the fundamental human rights of the Indigenous communities (Ndhuat, Lenca, Pipiles, Pokomames, U1uas and Maya people) in El Salvador and denouncing the repression and grave injustices committed against them by some members of the ARENA party. Please send your letters to the following addresses: Dr. Armando Calderon Sol, Presidente de Ia republica de El Salvador; FAX 503-271-0950 Lie. Mario Acosta Oertel, Ministerio del Interior, Centro de Gobierno San Salvador, El Honduran Red Cross, the Ministry of Public Health and private doctors, as well as the construction of latrines, there were no outbreaks of communicable diseases. After eight days of negotiation, at 4:00 am just five hours before the planned signing of an agreement , 2,000 well-armed Honduran soldiers and police attacked an encampment of indigenous and black protesters. The demonstrators were gathered outside of the Honduran Presidential Palace in Tegucigalpa to protest the politically motivated assassinations of Chortis' leaders, Candido Amador and Ovidio Perez, and to demand the return of indigenous lands. Abiding by their convictions, the demonstrators refused to leave until an agreement was signed and continued their peaceful protest despite violent assault from the government. Over four thousand people from seven Honduran indigenous and black groups: Chortis, Lenca, Pech, Tolupan, Miskito, black English speaking Creoles and Garifuna arrived in Tegucigalpa as part of the "Great Indigenous and Black Mobilization" on May 5, 1997. In the camp, food was scarce and health care inadequate. Many people suffered from stress, heat exhaustion, heart conditions, and arthritis. Still, Hospital Escuela, only a mile away, refused to provide the pilgrims with essential medical treatment. The public health risks were comparable to those of many poor Honduran communities. Luckily, /with the arrival of the 36 In the negotiating room, things appeared to be moving swiftly. By the second day, the government had already agreed to conduct a full internal investigation into the assassinations of Amador and Perez. The government was slow to comply with Articles 13 through 19 of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which demands the return of indigenous lands and respect for indigenous cultures. This refusal to concede blocked negotiations for eight days. Pastor Fasquelle, chief government negotiator, finally presented an agreement directly to the encampment. Offering too little land and not enough guarantees, the proposal met with fierce opposition and was rejected in an oral vote. Finally, an agreement was reached that included a stricter time table to restore indigenous land and stronger guarantees of government compliance. Five hours before the agreement was to be signed at 9 a.m. on May 11th, 1,500 soldiers and 500 police descended upon the camp armed with riot gear and rifles, including M 16's and M60's (large tripod-style machine guns). Unarmed men, women, and children assembled peacefully in front of Presidential Palace found themselves trying to avoids the blows of their attackers. One pregnant woman was brutally beaten, and many children were trampled by police. Large pots of cold water were poured over protesters and most of their possessions were destroyed. Michael Marsh, an interna- Salvador; FAX 503-271-2484 Ambassador of El Salvador Ana Cristina Sol, Embassy of El Salvador, 2308 California St. NW Washington, DC 20008; FAX 202-3280563 Send copies to: Dra. Victoria Marina Velasquez de Aviles, Procuradora para Ia defensa de los derechos humanos de El Salvador, 9a. Avenida Nte. y Calle Poniente, Edificio Amsa No. 535, San Salvador, El Salvador Adrian Esquino Lisco, Asociaci6n Nacional Indigena Salvadorena ANIS, calle Obispo Marroquin Oficina Antigua Aduana Ferrea 5-l Sonsonate, El Salvador; FAX 011-503451-0742 tional observer, personally witnessed soldiers violently knocking over women with children in their arms. The pilgrims relocated a mile away at a more precarious site. Fast moving cars encircled the encampment, hitting one protester. Most of their food and belongings had been confiscated, and authorities refused to release them. These government actions incited public outrage. Hundreds of students and other demonstrators flocked to the capital equipped with food, clothing, and other supplies. It was two days before negotiations formally resumed. After the resignation of Pastor Fasquelle from the government negotiating team, progress was made toward resolving the crisis. The accord was signed on May 14th between President Reina and the indigenous delegation representing the demonstrators. In addition to promising a full investigation into the assassinations, the agreement also includes the return of 9,000 hectares of land, the instatement of human rights observers in Copan and Ocotepeque, where many indigenous people have received threats or been attacked by wealthy landowners, transportation to return the pilgrims to their communities of origin, assurances to fulfill its obligations from past treaties. The negotiators also agreed to instate a commission of Guarantors to guarantee the fulfillment of this agreement. The commission will work with indigenous groups and government agencies to insure compliance of the agreement. Information for this article from: www.ibw.com.ni/-cgenica for further information write: andres%acceso@sdnhon. org. hn Abya Yala News � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource El Salvador: No End in Sight to the Abuses Against Indigenous Communities in Sonsonate Type The nature or genre of the resource Magazine Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title El Salvador: No End in Sight to the Abuses Against Indigenous Communities in Sonsonate Item Type Magazine Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (35-36).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note Government-sponsored violence against indigenous communities in Sonsonate, El Salvador has increased, an action justified by the statement that the land is under the ownership of UCESISTA members. Pages 35-36 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/7d92769bb653dc91c7f693875d20c7ed 9216389ce88de0fced97ddf904c3591b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (36).pdf PDF Text Text I I H U M A N RIGHTS committed at this moment call for urgent action. Death threats, illegal evictions, beatings, rapes and political shootings continue in El Salvador despite the peace that was promised in Chapultapec in 1992 (the El Salvador Accords). Indigenous Salvadorans continue to be threatened with violence by the National Civilian Police (PNC), the courts, and those connected with the ARENA party now in power. Letters from the United States have proven to have helped ANIS in the past. The February 18, 1997, letter from US Congressmen john Moakley and james McGovern resulted in the Esquino Lisco family returning to their home, although armed officials came searching for the leader the following morning.,. Please send letters by fax to the Salvadoran authorities urging them to respect the fundamental human rights of the Indigenous communities (Ndhuat, Lenca, Pipiles, Pokomames, U1uas and Maya people) in El Salvador and denouncing the repression and grave injustices committed against them by some members of the ARENA party. Please send your letters to the following addresses: Dr. Armando Calderon Sol, Presidente de Ia republica de El Salvador; FAX 503-271-0950 Lie. Mario Acosta Oertel, Ministerio del Interior, Centro de Gobierno San Salvador, El Honduran Red Cross, the Ministry of Public Health and private doctors, as well as the construction of latrines, there were no outbreaks of communicable diseases. After eight days of negotiation, at 4:00 am just five hours before the planned signing of an agreement , 2,000 well-armed Honduran soldiers and police attacked an encampment of indigenous and black protesters. The demonstrators were gathered outside of the Honduran Presidential Palace in Tegucigalpa to protest the politically motivated assassinations of Chortis' leaders, Candido Amador and Ovidio Perez, and to demand the return of indigenous lands. Abiding by their convictions, the demonstrators refused to leave until an agreement was signed and continued their peaceful protest despite violent assault from the government. Over four thousand people from seven Honduran indigenous and black groups: Chortis, Lenca, Pech, Tolupan, Miskito, black English speaking Creoles and Garifuna arrived in Tegucigalpa as part of the "Great Indigenous and Black Mobilization" on May 5, 1997. In the camp, food was scarce and health care inadequate. Many people suffered from stress, heat exhaustion, heart conditions, and arthritis. Still, Hospital Escuela, only a mile away, refused to provide the pilgrims with essential medical treatment. The public health risks were comparable to those of many poor Honduran communities. Luckily, /with the arrival of the 36 In the negotiating room, things appeared to be moving swiftly. By the second day, the government had already agreed to conduct a full internal investigation into the assassinations of Amador and Perez. The government was slow to comply with Articles 13 through 19 of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which demands the return of indigenous lands and respect for indigenous cultures. This refusal to concede blocked negotiations for eight days. Pastor Fasquelle, chief government negotiator, finally presented an agreement directly to the encampment. Offering too little land and not enough guarantees, the proposal met with fierce opposition and was rejected in an oral vote. Finally, an agreement was reached that included a stricter time table to restore indigenous land and stronger guarantees of government compliance. Five hours before the agreement was to be signed at 9 a.m. on May 11th, 1,500 soldiers and 500 police descended upon the camp armed with riot gear and rifles, including M 16's and M60's (large tripod-style machine guns). Unarmed men, women, and children assembled peacefully in front of Presidential Palace found themselves trying to avoids the blows of their attackers. One pregnant woman was brutally beaten, and many children were trampled by police. Large pots of cold water were poured over protesters and most of their possessions were destroyed. Michael Marsh, an interna- Salvador; FAX 503-271-2484 Ambassador of El Salvador Ana Cristina Sol, Embassy of El Salvador, 2308 California St. NW Washington, DC 20008; FAX 202-3280563 Send copies to: Dra. Victoria Marina Velasquez de Aviles, Procuradora para Ia defensa de los derechos humanos de El Salvador, 9a. Avenida Nte. y Calle Poniente, Edificio Amsa No. 535, San Salvador, El Salvador Adrian Esquino Lisco, Asociaci6n Nacional Indigena Salvadorena ANIS, calle Obispo Marroquin Oficina Antigua Aduana Ferrea 5-l Sonsonate, El Salvador; FAX 011-503451-0742 tional observer, personally witnessed soldiers violently knocking over women with children in their arms. The pilgrims relocated a mile away at a more precarious site. Fast moving cars encircled the encampment, hitting one protester. Most of their food and belongings had been confiscated, and authorities refused to release them. These government actions incited public outrage. Hundreds of students and other demonstrators flocked to the capital equipped with food, clothing, and other supplies. It was two days before negotiations formally resumed. After the resignation of Pastor Fasquelle from the government negotiating team, progress was made toward resolving the crisis. The accord was signed on May 14th between President Reina and the indigenous delegation representing the demonstrators. In addition to promising a full investigation into the assassinations, the agreement also includes the return of 9,000 hectares of land, the instatement of human rights observers in Copan and Ocotepeque, where many indigenous people have received threats or been attacked by wealthy landowners, transportation to return the pilgrims to their communities of origin, assurances to fulfill its obligations from past treaties. The negotiators also agreed to instate a commission of Guarantors to guarantee the fulfillment of this agreement. The commission will work with indigenous groups and government agencies to insure compliance of the agreement. Information for this article from: www.ibw.com.ni/-cgenica for further information write: andres%acceso@sdnhon. org. hn Abya Yala News � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Violent Military forced Removal of peaceful Indigenous Demonstrators in Honduras Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title Violent Military forced Removal of peaceful Indigenous Demonstrators in Honduras Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (36).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note Protesters were removed from in front of the Honduran Presidential Palace after days of protesting the state-sponsored assassinations of indigenous leaders. Pages 36 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/479ff595f980ce137ceb3f101a30502a 5ad3e8cc8cbc166e70316f5e79f401c0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 3 (37).pdf PDF Text Text -Bo o li By 'Wii Muk'Willixw (Art Wilson). Published by New Society Publishers, PO Box 189, Gabriola Island, BCVOR IXO, Canada. 1996. his book is a series of forty brief but compelling stories starting with the Gitxsan Native Nation from British Columbia, of which the author is a hereditary leader. From there, the author focuses on the struggles of Indian Peoples throughout Canada, the US, and all the Americas as well as other World Indigenous First Peoples. Each page of text faces the author's extraordinary artwork. In the molding of traditional Northwest Coast X-ray depiction of deep red and black animals and spirits, the images leap out with a contemporary twist, speaking of issues, asking for justice from injustice seen today The past meets the present and begs us to consider the future of all, and of Mother Earth. by Nathan Muus An environmental Treatise From Costa Rica's Kekoldi Indigenous Reserve by juanita Sanchez, Gloria Mayorga and Paula Palmer: Published in San jose, Costa Rica,1993 f we want to save tropical rainforests, will find our best teachers among the rainforests'indigenous inhabitants. For centuries, the indigenous people who Vol. 10 No.3 K REV!EW I live in rainforests have known how to use non-Indian squatters, poachers and comrainforest resources without damaging mercial enterprises, the Kekoldi people the ecosystem. Their whole way of life-- have initiated a three part strategy First, beliefs about God and Nature, agricultur- they are completing land tenure and land al parctices, handicrafs and social rela- use studies which are needed as a basis tions --works to preserve the biological for legal enforcement of their land rights. Second, they are educating the public diversity of their forest home. about their In a unique book, now This illustration by l<ekoldi artisan way of life in Juanita Sanchez, depicts the available in the rainforest ceremony that is performed English, the and their strugwhen an indigenous person is people of Costa gle to preserve about to see the sea for the first Rica's Kekoldi it.; Taking Care time in his or her life. Indian Reserve of Sibo's Gifts, share the tradiin Spanish, tional knowland English edge that Dutch editions, defines them as is part of that effort.. Third, a people who "take care of they are raising Sibo's gifts," the funds to purchase deforestgifts of forest flora and fauna. ed lands from As they tell how non-indian their lives and landholders livelihoods depend on rainforest within the boundaries of their reserve, so resources, they appeal to us all to support that they can reforest these properties. them in their struggle for the survival of With income from the sale of Taking Care their forests and their way of life. of Sibos Gifts, the Kekoldi people have already purchased three properties and reforested critical watershed areas. In Taking Care of Sibo's Gifts, the Kekoldi people show how the rainforest provides them with almost everything they need to live, as long as they respect Sibo's laws governing the use of natural resources. The book is illustrated with black and white photographs, maps, and line drawings by Kekoldi artisan jaunita Sanchez, who normally carves her pictures on dried gourds. Income from book sales goes directly to the kekoldi people, to support their rainforest conservation efforts and their cultural school. This book is a unique resoeuce for teachers and students of cultural anthropology, social ecology, environmet and multicultural education. It can be ordered at the following address (checks made to Paula Palmer), for $12/each; $11/each North American sociologist Paula with orders of 5 or more,shipping includPalmer collaborated with two indigenous ed. Please specify the English or Spanish women to write this book as part of a edition. long-term project sponsored by the tribal Paula Palmer council of the Kekoldi Indian Reserve. To 1103 Linden Ave. Boulder, CO 80304 protect their forests from destruction by 37 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, No. 3 (Summer 1997) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource New Publications of Interest Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Summer 1997 Language A language of the resource English Zotero Title New Publications of Interest Item Type Newspaper Article Attachment Title Vol. 10, no. 3 (37).pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Issue 3 Language English Publication Title Abya Yala News Volume 10 Abstract Note New publications that SAIIC suggests to its readers. Pages 37