Chancay, siempre en los ojos
-
*La cultura, desarrollada entre 1100 y 1400 d.C. en la costa central, se
caracterizó por un alto desarrollo agrícola, además de sus textiles y
cerámicos....
Muere el hondureño Nathán Pravia, líder indígena que luchó favor de misquitos Por Agencia EFE – hace 20 horas
Tegucigalpa, 17 jul (EFE).- El líder de la etnia misquito Nathán Pravia, quien luchó a favor de los pueblos indígenas de Honduras, murió hoy en Tegucigalpa tras sufrir un quebranto de salud, informaron sus familiares.
Pravia, de 62 años y natural de Puerto Lempira, departamento de Gracias a Dios, fronterizo con Nicaragua, dedicó muchos años de su vida a la causa de los pueblos misquitos de su país, que tradicionalmente han vivido casi en el olvido gubernamental.
Como defensor de derechos humanos lideró varias luchas para que los misquitos hondureños pudieran acceder a la tierra.
También denunció y condenó la situación de los buzos misquitos que se ganan la vida capturando langosta, de los que muchos han quedado parapléjicos o han fallecido por los daños causados por la sumersión en aguas profundas del Caribe.
En varias oportunidades denunció en la prensa local el tráfico de drogas, particularmente de cocaína, en La Mosquitia, procedente de países sudamericanos.
Pravia fue presidente de la Confederación de Pueblos Autóctonos de Honduras y delegado por su país ante organismos indígenas de Latinoamérica y Centroamérica.
En el campo cultural deja una recopilación de textos y otros apuntes sobre la cultura misquita que serán publicados próximamente, indicó su hija Yuwan, estudiante de periodismo de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras.
El presidente de la Organización de Desarrollo Étnico Comunitario (Odeco), Céleo Álvarez, lamentó el deceso de Pravia, de quien resaltó su lucha por los pueblos indígenas y sus derechos.
Campaign Update – Belize: Government Challenges Mayas’ Land Rights Ruling
Date: 07/15/2010
For Belize’s Mayas, good news was immediately followed by bad. In late June, the Chief Justice ruled that the Mayas of all 33 villages in the Toledo district have customary land tenure rights dating back to their residence in pre-colonial times. The ruling specified that the claimants’ rights to customary land tenure “were not extinguished by formal distribution of leases and titles by colonial settlers or any such law or act” and that they have the right “to seek redress in the courts for any breach.”
According to news reports, the Chief Justice declared that the government is obligated to adopt and protect the Constitutional rights of the claimants. He ordered the government, in consultation with the Mayas, to devise legislative and administrative measures to create a mechanism to protect land tenure practices. In the interim, the Chief Justice ordered the government to cease and abstain from any action that goes against land tenure practices, and to refrain from issuing leases to lands or resources, including concessions for logging, mining or oil explorations, unless these are done in consultation with the Maya communities. Maya and Garifuna communities in Toledo district have protested concessions for oil development in their territories, and Global Response supported their protests with letter-writing campaigns.
Now the bad news: the Belize government responded to the ruling by saying it would immediately appeal the decision. The government has never conceded that Mayas have customary land tenure rights, in spite of a 2007 Belize court ruling in favor of the Mayas and a similar ruling by the Inter-American Human Rights Court.
Greg Cho’c, executive director of the Sarstoon-Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM), called the Chief Justice’s ruling “a quantum leap for justice in this country, a quantum leap for Belize on a whole.” He continued, “I hope that we can move towards the kind of reconciliation that the Chief Justice spoke about. We want to develop. We want to contribute, and I believe the government wants to ensure that every Belizean has the opportunity to contribute to their own development.”
Note: Wales in the UK & the Iroquois in the US/Canada... It's almost the same situation.
More important note: last year, in 2009, the Women's Lacrosse WC was held in Prague ( http://www.lacrosseworldcup2009.com/) One of the teams? The Haudenosaunee Team...
http://www.2010worldlacrosse.com/news/1/100 By Neil Goulding (2010 FIL World Championship Press Officer, 07813 859986)
THE IROQUOIS have been forced to forfeit their opening match of this year's FIL World Championship in Manchester because of continuing passport problems.
The team had been due to play England tonight (7.30pm) in the opening match of the tournament at the University of Manchester Armitage Centre, but the British government have confirmed that they will not be allowed into the country unless the British government reverses its decision, said Tonya Gonnella Frichner, a lawyer for the team.
"They're telling us: `Go get U.S. passports or Canadian passports,'" Frichner said on Wednesday shortly after getting the news. "It's pretty devastating."
Thus, tonight's scheduled clash will be forfited and England will be awarded maximum points. In its place, England will play Germany in the tournament's opening game. The England-Germany match-up will be an exhibition game, and the results will not count toward the Championship.
Federation of International Lacrosse spokesman Ron Balls revealed: "We are sorry that the Iroquois are still having problems getting their visas.
"Given the delays, we had to make a decision on the opening date. After discussions, we are pleased that Germany will participate in the opening game."
While it sounds like the British government won't budge, it's worth noting that the Iroquois have not withdrawn from the competition.
If they are granted access to the UK, they can still compete in their remaining games.
The team's 23 players — who are all eligible for passports issued by those nations — say that accepting them would be a strike against their identity.
In a statement, the U.K. Borders Agency said: "Like all those seeking entry into the U.K., they must present a document that we recognise as valid to enable us to complete our immigration and other checks."
The British government's decision was announced hours after the U.S. cleared the team for travel on a one-time waiver at the behest of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
U.S. authorities initially had refused to accept the passports issued by the Iroquois Confederacy, which lack new security features now required for border crossings because of post-Sept. 11 crackdowns on document fraud and illegal immigration.
Asked why the State Department had dropped its opposition and awarded the one-time-only waiver, spokesman P.J. Crowley said: "There was flexibility there to grant this kind of one-time waiver given the unique circumstances of this particular trip."
Federation of International Lacrosse spokesman Ron Balls said in a statement on the 2010 official championship website earlier on Wednesday that the Iroquois team would forfeit the opening game against England on Thursday night if it didn't arrive on time. But Frichner and other team supporters had held out hope that the game would be rescheduled.
The Iroquois Confederacy oversees land that stretches from upstate New York into Ontario, Canada.
The Iroquois, known to members as the Haudenosaunee, helped invent lacrosse, perhaps as early as 1,000 years ago. Their participation in the once-every-four-year world championship tournament is a rare example of international recognition of their sovereignty.
U.S. authorities had said the issue was a matter of border security rather than Iroquois sovereignty.
"For other countries, including the United States, that is not a travel document that is on par with a U.S. passport," Crowley said of the Iroquois documents. He noted that the Iroquois have had similar problems with their passports in foreign countries before.
"The best way to open doors around the world is to obtain a U.S. passport," he said.
New U.S. passports contain embedded radio-frequency identification chips, similar to the ones inside highway toll transponders. The Iroquois documents look similar to U.S. passports but are emblazoned with a Haudenosaunee insignia featuring a tree and animal emblems. The simple blue booklet is made with thinner paper than U.S. passports, has no high-tech chips and some information is handwritten.
At least four Indian nations, including the Kootenai, of Idaho; the Pasqua Yaqui, of Arizona; the Tohono O'odham Nation, of Arizona and Mexico; and the Seneca, of New York, have been working with federal officials to develop ID cards that meet new security guidelines, but would be good only for arrivals in the U.S. by land or sea, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Frichner, who also is the North American Regional Representative to the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, said the Iroquois have almost completed a transition to higher security passports. The process has cost the six-nation confederacy more than $1.5 million, she said.
Native Americans are not the only ones that have been asked to beef up travel document security features in recent years.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. has tightened up identification rules for foreign travelers from close U.S. allies like France, Germany and the United Kingdom. A growing number of visitors from those countries who wish to travel to the U.S. without a visa must now present passports containing digital photographs and embedded electronic information.
The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative also began requiring most U.S. citizens to present their passports when re-entering the country from Canada or Mexico. Previously, travelers needed only to show a driver's license and orally declare their citizenship.
BP: las lecciones de las tribus indígenas de Ecuador
Redacción
BBC Mundo
Humberto Piaguaje espera que su experiencia pueda servir de algo en Luisiana.
Los líderes de varias tribus indígenas de Ecuador implicadas en un largo juicio con una petrolera estadounidense visitaron el estado de Luisiana para compartir su experiencia con las tribus nativas de la costa del Golfo de México.
Cinco grupos indígenas ecuatorianos están envueltos en uno de los litigios medioambientales más largos de la historia.
Llevan 17 años buscando compensación por parte de la petrolera Texaco, ahora propiedad de la estadounidense Chevron, que presuntamente habría vertido en la selva de la Amazonía ecuatoriana más de 68.000 millones de litros de petróleo.
Una cantidad nada despreciable, si consideramos que se calcula que en el Golfo de México se han derramado entre 350 y 700 millones de litros.
Las tribus Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Kichwa y Huaorani vivían en completa armonía con la naturaleza y la selva en una parte poco poblada del oriente de Ecuador.
Hasta que en 1964 Texaco se instaló en la zona y comenzó una explotación petrolera.
La visión de un niño de 6 años
Humberto Piaguaje tenía seis años cuando aquello ocurrió aunque todavía lo recuerda.
El río bajaba lleno de petróleo y los niños se bañaban en él sin saber cómo les afectería, las mujeres lavaban las ropas, limpiaban los platos y tomaban el agua que utilizarían en la elaboración de sus comida a diario
Humberto Piaguaje, representante de la tribu indígena ecuatoriana Secoya
"Era la primera vez que veíamos helicópteros aterrizando en nuestra comunidad. Corrimos a la montaña, pensando que era algún tipo de fantasma. Los hombres llevaban cascos y botas y nunca habíamos visto a nadie vestido así. Tuvo un gran impacto en los niños y en la comunidad".
"Comenzaron a cortar los árboles de la selva, enormes segmentos, incluso aquellos árboles que nosotros considerábamos sagrados", continúa.
La tribu de los Secoya nunca antes había visto el petróleo que comenzó a inundar los ríos en los que se bañaban, bebían y pescaban.
Cuando vieron la gran capa negra que cubría el río, preguntaron a los trabajadores de la compañía petrolera si era peligroso.
Pero dicen que la respuesta que obtuvieron es que podía utilizarse como medicina, para tratar el reumatismo o la gastroenteritis.
Único recurso
Los representantes de la tribu Secoya, Humberto Piaguaje, (dcha) y Kirk Cheramie (izda) tratan de buscar solución a los efectos de la tragedia ecológica.
"El río bajaba lleno de petróleo y los niños se bañaban en él sin saber cómo les afectaría, las mujeres lavaban las ropas, limpiaban los platos y tomaban el agua que utilizarían en la elaboración de sus comida a diario. Esto realmente ha causado un problema a lo largo de los años. Y como no hay otro recurso, se continúa consumiendo".
"He visto morir a muchos niños, ha sido muy doloroso, sobre todo para las familias".
Las organizaciones Amazon Watch y Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía pensaron que esta experiencia podría ayudar a aquellos que sufren directamente las repercusiones del vertido del Golfo del México, como la tribu Nación Unida Houma.
Así que reunieron a líderes de varias comunidades indígenas y los trasladaron a la bahía de Luisiana para que fueran testigos de la tragedia medioambiental con sus propios ojos.
Piaguaje toma un trozo de la tierra y la acerca a su nariz. "Huele a brea, a petróleo", asegura.
El desastre ecológico en el Golfo de México ha destrozado la industria de la pesca, que proporcionaba comida y trabajo a la mayoría de la comunidad.
Los miembros de Houma están también preocupados por el efecto que tendrían las aguas tóxicas si se produce un huracán en la zona.
Los efectos del agua tóxica
Y a esto se añade que nadie sabe a ciencia cierta en qué momento o si alguna vez podrán volver a sus hogares que han sido inundados con aguas tóxicas.
Los Houma vuelven sus ojos a las tribus indígenas ecuatorianas para encontrar respuestas sobre cómo afrontar la situación en caso de que haya un largo juicio.
"He visto morir a muchos niños, ha sido muy doloroso, sobre todo para las familias"
Humberto Piaguaje, representante de la tribu indígena ecuatoriana Secoya
Piaguaje afirma que uno de los objetivos en esta dura batalla reside en mantener la unidad de la comunidad.
"Me parece importante documentar la evidencia del daño, con científicos creíbles e independientes, porque cuando vas a juicio tienes que demostrar que tienes pruebas y si no tienes una evidencia del daño medioambiental que sea concreta y concluyente la compañía logrará evadir su responsabilidad".
Para los indígenas esta estrategia ha sido de momento exitosa.
Se espera que la decisión final del juicio se produzca en los próximos meses y muchos expertos en cuestiones legales creen que los indígenas tienen posibilidades de ganarlo.
Pero en Luisiana, es probable que los afectados tengan que enfrentarse a una larga espera y una difícil carrera si deciden seguir la ruta ecuatoriana e ir a juicio.
Chief Lyons talked at length about their lacrosse team... how good they were, and what they represented to the Iroguois Nation and other first nation people. I played lacrosse as a boy in Canada (not very well, to be honest), and so have an appreciation of the game, as well as of its cultural origins. Lacrosse was created by indigenous North Americans and later adopted by European colonial cultures. Chief Lyons was proud of the fact that his team would be travelling under their Haudenosaunee indigenous nation passports, which they have been using for 20 years. He contacted me to tell me that they had been held up from in NYC from flying to England, and needed financial assistance to stay there, until it could be resolved with the State Department. I jumped in to buy them a couple of days. State Department apparently came through in time, but of course we are all shocked and deeply disappointed that England then chose to stonewall the team's hopes and dreams. I hope this can get sorted out, as we all want to see them play.
Identity, federal policy clash for Iroquois lacrosse team
From Kristen Hamill, CNN
July 13, 2010 -- Updated 0943 GMT (1743 HKT)
New York(CNN) -- The clock is ticking on a government decision to grant the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team their own Haudenosaunee Confederacy, or Iroquois, passports.
The team is hoping to compete in this week's World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester, England.
It was supposed to depart for England on Sunday with about 43 people, including family members.
But the British Consulate told the team on Friday that it would not be given visas unless the U.S. State Department could confirm in a letter that the Nationals would be allowed back into the United States following the tournament's end, according to a press release issued by the team's board of directors.
The holdup appears to come from new security measures applied to passports -- and whether the Iroquois-issued passports meet new rules applied to travel, said State Department Assistant Secretary P.J. Crowley.
"The real issue is, does this passport properly provide the identification and does it meet the security standards that have been raised within our hemisphere and around the world since 2001?" he said Monday.
But it is still unclear as to exactly why the team was denied the requested letter.
Crowley said he could not confirm whether or not the passports meet new travel requirements. He referred that question to the Department of Homeland Security.
Matt Chandler, spokesman for the department, said his department was working to help resolve the matter with government agencies including the State Department, but would not comment further.
Crowley did acknowledge that his department has offered the Nationals assistance in obtaining U.S. passports.
"We are trying to help them get the appropriate travel documents so that they can travel to this tournament," he said.
But Dr. Percy Abrams, executive director of the Iroquois Nationals, said U.S. passports wouldn't even be accepted at the competition where they have to produce a passport originating from the country they are representing -- the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Also, Abrams said, it's a matter of principle.
"We have our principles and with that sovereignty goes the idea that our country has been accepted. We've been travelling on this for years," Abrams said during the team's practice at Wagner College in Staten Island.
"I think it should have been explained well ahead of time or someone should have been advised that travel requirements had changed," Abrams said when asked about the update in travel security measures.
Monday afternoon, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson sent a letter to the state department and the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of the Nationals.
He asked that the matter be immediately reviewed and referenced that the passports have been used to travel outside of the country since 1977 without issue.
"As a governor of a state with a significant Native American population, I know many tribes and pueblos will watch carefully how these young competitors are treated by the administration. As a signator of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights, which includes the freedom to travel and return, I believe we have an obligation to assure these young men's rights are protected," Richardson wrote.
The last time the team travelled outside the country was in 2002, when the championship was held in Australia. The passports didn't pose a problem then, Abrams said. But Crowley acknowledged that that was before travel requirements changed.
If the matter doesn't get resolved, the team is aware it may not make it to this year's championship. Nationals General Manager Ansley Jemison said that would be a "worst case scenario for the game of lacrosse."
"These guys are also heroes to a lot of the young children that we have in our communities, and I think that would be a very negative message for the U.S. government to send to our people," Jemison said.
"We don't have a lot of heroes, and it's tough for us to have a lot of heroes... These are the Michael Jordans of the native communities. These are the guys that we hold on the pedestal. These are the guys we look up to," Jemsion said.
Despite the setback, Abrams, Jemison, and the team are confident they will make their scheduled 4 p.m. flight on Tuesday.
Sid Smith, defender for the team, said the players are continuing to work hard and stay focused.
