Native News Roundup

Kanagootsanoon! Welcome to the fifth installment of the Native News Roundup, bringing you the latest news on the struggles of indigenous communities from throughout the world.

Colombia’s Indigenous Warn of Imminent Massacre
A recent call for support from the Alliance for Responsible Trade states: “Thousands of Colombia’s Indigenous people, participating in a national mobilization to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis they face, have been met with violent and repression. Yesterday, the Association of Indigenous Townships (ACIN) and the National Organization of Indigenous People (ONIC) warned of an imminent massacre at the hands of the Colombian army and anti riot police. In Cauca, where the most severe violence is occurring, 35 people were wounded when the Colombian military and antiriot police surrounded and fired indiscriminately into a crowd of 12,000 who were blockading a road. Fleeing protestors are being pursued by the military with long range weapons. Two indigenous activists have been detained and 4 cadavers were transferred from Corinto to the morgue in the town of Caloto, Cauca.” (ART 10/08)

Cauca Indigenous Leader Assassinated in Colombia
According to Colombia Reports: “The Cauca indigenous council denounced the assassination Sunday of a prominent local indigenous leader. According to the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), Raúl Mendoza, indigenous governor of the cabildo Peñón and former member of the council, was shot dead inside his home by paramilitary hitmen. The indigenous governor had made repeated announcements before local authorities and the government office dealing with indigenous issues about ongoing threats against his life and his community for weeks before his assassination, the CRIC said. The council says the murder is the last of three assassinations that took place in Cauca the past week. The indigenous leaders blame Colombian President Álvaro Uribe of provoking violence against indigenous and social leaders and asks the international community to “remain on high alert and to express solidarity with the social processes that continue to get attacked by violence promoted from the spheres of the central government.” (Colombia Reports 29/09/08)

Quebec Riot Police Use Tear Gas to Break Up Highway Blockade by Algonquins
Kitiganik/Rapid Lake, Algonquin Territory – On October 6th, the Quebec government used riot police, tear gas, and “pain compliance” techniques to end a peaceful blockade erected by Algonquin families from Barriere Lake, rather than negotiate, as requested by the community. The blockade on Highway 117 in Northern Quebec began at 6:00 AM, with nearly a hundred community members of all ages and their supporters promising to remain until Canada’s Conservative government and Quebec honored signed agreements and Barriere Lake’s leadership customs. Around 4pm, nearly sixty Quebec officers and riot police encircled families after a meal and without warning launched tear gas canisters, one of which hit a man in the chest. “Our demands are reasonable,” said Norman Matchewan, a community spokesperson. “We’re only asking for the government to uphold the agreements they’ve signed and to stop illegally interfering in our customary governance. “We will not tolerate these brutal violations of our rights,” added Matchewan. “Forestry operations will not be allowed on our Trilateral agreement territory, and we will be doing more non-violent direct action.” Nine people, including an elderly women, a pregnant woman, and two minors, were roughly arrested. While a line of police obscured the view of human rights observers from Christian Peacemaker Teams, officers used severe “pain compliance” techniques on protesters who had secured themselves to concrete-filled barrels, twisting arms, dislocating jaws, leaving them with bruised faces and trouble swallowing. Barriere Lake community members had promised to maintain the blockade until the Government of Canada honored the 1991 Trilateral agreement, a landmark sustainable development and resource co-management agreement praised by the United Nations and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. To end federal interference in their leadership customs, they wanted the Government of Canada to appoint observers to witness a leadership re-selection according to their codified customary selection code, respect its outcome, and then cease interfering in their internal governance. (BLS 08/10/09)

Chiapas State Police Murder Six Campesinos and Injure 17 in Attack on Town
Kristen Bricker reports from the Narcosphere: “The Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) issued a press release on denouncing the October 4 police operation in Chincultik that left six peasants dead, 17 wounded, and 36 detained. Of the wounded, ten were beaten and six were shot. According to a communique from the state attorney general’s office, about 40 police had entered the community to carry out subpoenas against 28 people whom it suspected were involved in the takeover of the Chincultik ruins. The police entered on horseback, in vehicles, and on foot, shooting tear gas and kicking down doors in various houses. The townspeople, who claim that the government does not properly maintain the ruins and that the tourism proceeds from the ruins should benefit the town, defended themselves from the attack. They surrounded the police and disarmed them, guarding the 77 police weapons in the town. The residents detained the police officers, holding them in the town office. Hours later, 300 State Preventative Police officers entered the community, again shooting tear gas at the residents. The peasants responded with sticks and stones, at which point the police opened fire, injuring several residents. Agustin Alfaro Alfaro, his wife Eloisa Margarita Espinoza Morales, and their young son arrived from a neighboring ranch to transport four of the injured men to the nearest hospital. However, before reaching the hospital the State Preventative Police intercepted their truck and opened fire. A bullet struck Alfaro in the leg. The police pulled him from the car and shot him in the chest. Then they summarily executed three of the injured men: Rigoberto López, Alfredo Hernández, and Miguel Antonio Martínez. Espinoza Morales and her son were uninjured.” According to La Jornada “Blood trails, scatted spent high-caliber casings, and bullet holes could be seen in the streets and in some houses. “It seemed like the police were on drugs because they indiscriminately beat children, women, and elderly people, and that’s not right,” said Jose Velazquez, one of the ejido representatives.” The community “has controlled the Chinkultic archaeological ruins, located three kilometers from the village, for almost a month.”(NarcoNews 09/10/08)

Survival of the Yanomami Threatened by Illegal Mine in Brazil
Noticias Socioambientais reports: “A letter signed by the Hutukara Yanomami Association denounces the threat that the Yanomami of Alto Catrimani in Brazil’s Roraima State are facing due to an illegal mine in that region, a mine that has been expanding in the last few months along with the rise in the price of gold and in the shadow of the municipal elections which will take place throughout Brazil in October. According to the letter, the illegal mine is polluting the Catrimani river, and the people are starving because there are almost no more fish, they can’t drink the water nor can they take baths.” (NS 19/09/08, in Portuguese)

Peaceful Blockades of Pipelines in Saskatchewan by First Nations End
James Wood writes for the Saskatoon Star Phoenix: “The teepees have come down and construction on an oil pipeline has resumed after almost a week of peaceful protests. “We went about it in a respectful way. We didn’t create a lot of commotion. We felt we needed to take a stand,” said Edmund Bellegarde, a spokesperson for the Treaty 4 chiefs. “In the long-term, we feel, this was necessary so we could advance 134-year-old commitments through the treaties and advance our interests and bring attention to our rights.” On Friday afternoon, chiefs from Treaty 4 and Treaty 6 First Nations and representatives from Enbridge Pipelines Inc. participated in a pipe ceremony near Regina to formalize what the chiefs are describing as “a new alliance.” The two groups as well as representatives from the provincial and federal governments met Thursday to settle a dispute over the construction of the pipeline through traditional territory. “It’s government’s obligation to ensure proper, meaningful consultation happens. And if there’s impacts on traditional territories, traditional rights, economic rights, even spiritual and some of our medicinal gathering rights on some of those sites, accommodation must happen,” said Bellegarde. When finished, the 1,590-kilometre oil pipeline known as the “Alberta Clipper” will carry hundreds of thousand of barrels of oil a day from Western Canada to major American cities such as Chicago.
(SSP 03/10/08)

Indian Affairs Orders Third Party Management of Pine Creek First Nation
Alexandra Paul writes for the Winnipeg Free Press: “Indian and Northern Affairs Canada took over Pine Creek First Nation this week, turning control of the band government and finances over to a third-party manager. But it’s not for the usual reasons, reserve residents say. They say that cutthroat politics, not bad debts, threw the western Manitoba Ojibway First Nation 437 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg into financial chaos this summer. Typically, bands are broke when Ottawa steps in and takes control. But in July, Indian Affairs decided to sideline the Pine Creek chief and four councillors over what Ottawa saw as a total breakdown in band government. (Canada.com 03/10/08)

UN Carbon Scam Threatens Indigenous Lands and Forests
Brenda Norrell writes: “On the third day of the General Assembly’s 63rd Session, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Prime Minister of Norway launched the United Nations REDD program, a collaboration of FAO, UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank. The inclusion of forests in the carbon market, or REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) has caused anxiety, protest and outrage throughout the world since it was created at the failed climate change negotiations in Bali and funded by the World Bank. An estimated 60 million indigenous peoples are completely dependent on forests and are considered the most threatened by REDD. Therefore, indigenous leaders are among its most prominent critics. The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change declared that: ‘...REDD will steal our land… States and carbon traders will take control over our forests.’ It is alarming that indigenous peoples’ fears and objections have now been confirmed by the UN-REDD Framework Document itself. On page 4 and 5 it blatantly states that the program could “deprive communities of their legitimate land-development aspirations, that hard-fought gains in forest management practices might be wasted, that it could cause the lock-up of forests by decoupling conservation from development, or erode culturally rooted not-for-profit conservation values.” It is further highlighted that “REDD benefits in some circumstances may have to be traded off against other social, economic or environmental benefits.” In carefully phrased UN language, the document further acknowledges that REDD could cause severe human rights violations and be disastrous for the poor because it could “marginalize the landless and those with communal use-rights.” This is tantamount to the UN recognizing that REDD could undermine indigenous peoples and local communities rights to the usage and ownership of their lands.” (Censored News 28/09/08)

Army Expands Training Facility on Sacred Site of the Comanche Nation
S.E. Ruckman reports: “A hearing date has been set for Sept. 10 in the Oklahoma Western District Court to address the Comanche Nation’s conflict with the U.S. Army over the continued construction of a training site on nearby Ft. Sill. The Medicine Bluffs site is divided between military property and state park land in southwestern Okla. The 12,000-member tribe filed for and won a temporary restraining order in August for the Medicine Bluffs site that sits on military land near the Wichita Mountains. Portions of the mountains are military property and the remaining portion is a state park. The tribe has made a motion for a preliminary injunction. At dispute is whether the tribe received adequate notice on the Army’s plans to complete the training facility at the southern base of Medicine Bluffs. Comanche officials said the tribe was not properly notified of the furthered construction plans and that the failure to contact appropriate representatives violated federal statutes. Tribal chairman, Wallace Coffey, has asserted that he “adamantly opposes” the Army’s construction plans. Tribal officials contend that notification is not the same as consultation in matters of cultural and historical significance. Attorneys for the tribe said they will push for a relocation of the project, according to a notice published in the tribes’ September Comanche Nation News. The attorneys maintain that after receiving notification in February, they asked commanding officers to move the training facility and were ignored. Some tribal preservation members believe that Medicine Bluffs is a site of “spiritual and healing medicine to the Comanche and other tribes,” according to a letter from the tribes’ cultural preservation officer filed as part of court documents.” (Native Times 09/08)

Native News Roundups are compilations of news relating to indigenous peoples, with a dash of original content and translations from Spanish and Portuguese language news outlets. Charles Mostoller is a student journalist and photographer and can be contacted at cmosto@gmail.com.

Posted by charlesmostoller
--Más vale morir de pie, que mendigar de rodillas--