articles
This was forwarded to IEN from the League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations of
the Western Hemisphere (LISN).
Sent by: Paul Swann pswann@easynet.co.uk
Published Article written by Terence Freitas.
Copied with permission from Yes! A Journal of Positive Futures,
Spring 1999 issue: Economics as if Life Matters
Yes! PO Box 10878, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 (206/842-0216) http://www.futurenet.org
Banking on earth, light, water
Berito Kuwar U'wa of the U'wa people
Berito Kuwar U'wa is a leader of the U'wa people, an indigenous group in
Colombia that is struggling to regain control of their traditional land.
The U'wa people have a traditional constitution that was created many
years
ago. We look at the way that life works and the way life is
interrelated.
The petroleum companies create their own constitutions and decrees with
a
computer. They plant the seeds of this constitution all over the entire
world, and it's not for the benefit of the world. It's for the benefit
of
their country and themselves. The petroleum companies believe that they
can
be the landlords of the world, that they can control the whole world
until
it ends. Until it dies.
The money that the U'wa have is the Earth. Everything that we make, that
we
sow, that we grow, we also consume in our community. We don't have to
sell
it, and we don't have to buy things. The U'wa don't need money to build
a
house, for example. When we want to build a house, we plant a cassava
plant. Then we take the cassava and make a drink called chicha, which is
like our money. We pay people with chicha to come and help build the
house.
As we say, "The sun is the money." The Earth is also money - it's our
gold.
The water is also our gold. That's what we value. The Earth is what
gives
us everything that we need to live, to eat, and to drink. The light that
the sun gives, the moon, our relationship with the moon - these are
things
that we need to value so that life can continue. We need light, because
right now we are hungry. If we are hungry and we need food, where does
that
food come from? It comes from light; it comes from the Earth.
You should think about water. What is water worth? How do you value it?
Water should be free for everyone. But now we're supposed to pay the
government for water, when the water is born from our territory. Water
is a
benefit for everyone. All the world has property rights over water. But
the
government makes this law so the campesinos - farmers - have to pay.
And
it's very sad. It shouldn't be this way.
The government wants to have $40 billion in its bank. U'wa, all of us
equally, are very poor. The bank that we have is the Earth, so we
respect
many things. We don't kill each other. There's nobody who has more money
than anybody else. There's not this sense of inequality. If somebody
doesn't have food, for example, then a person with food needs to give it
to
the one without. The poor help those who are even poorer. That is the
U'wa.
We have always said that we don't want to enter the culture of money.
Our
word for it is "the number of money." That's what we call their culture.
Why? There's this mountain of money that only some people have. Tomorrow
we
will fight over that money, brother against brother.
No, that simply doesn't work.
It would be good if the people in America understood the organizational
structures of the indigenous people of the world. The indigenous people
have the most ancient structures of the world, and they have a kind of
intelligence that is very concrete and complete. I've seen indigenous
people from many parts of the world, and we are all almost exactly
equal.
Our hearts give us the intelligence to know we shouldn't rule the world.
There are many laws in the world, but no one thinks to protect Mother
Earth. But I think that if the petroleum companies continue to exploit
the
petroleum, they will take all of the strength and spirit out of Mother
Earth. If they do this, if they take it all, then we're all going to
die.
That's why I said to one of these petroleum men, "Take all of that money
you make and stuff it into the Earth, and see if it sustains life. That
money won't sustain anyone."
For more information on the U'wa, or to obtain their information
booklet,
"Blood of our Mother", contact Project Underground, 1847 Berkeley Way,
Berkeley, CA 94703; email: project_underground@moles.org
web site: http://uwa.moles.org
The U'wa: the "thinking people" of Colombia
The U'wa are known as "the thinking people" or "the people that speak
well," because for thousands of years they maintained peaceful
relationships with surrounding tribes without the use of weapons or war.
From 1940 to 1970, the Colombian governnment took away more than 85% of
U'wa traditional territory. Since 1940, contact diseases, violence, and
loss of land have killed more than 18,000 U'wa. Two U'wa clans were
completely exterminated. The current territory of the U'wa is barely 386
square miles, far too small to produce enough food to sustain the tribe.
In 1992, Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum was granted exploration
rights to much of the traditional U'wa territory in a combined venture
with
Shell Oil and the Colombian government.
U'wa tradition recounts that a portion of the U'wa tribe committed
suicide
400 years ago rather than surrender to the Spanish Conquistadores. The
U'wa
have compared current developments on their land to that time in their
history, and have not ruled out another mass suicide.
- Steve Kretzman & Terry Freitas
STATEMENT OF THE INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK
March 11, 1999
The Indigenous Environmental Network expresses its deep sense of loss over
the death squad style execution of three activists on a cultural education
outreach visit to the U'wa tribe within their ancestral territory in
Colombia, South America. We are calling for a prompt international
investigation into actions of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia (FARC), which went on record on March 10, 1999 for taking
responsibility for the March 4, 1999 murder of Ingrid Washinawatok, co-chair
of the Indigenous Women's Network, Lahe'ena'e Gay, chair of the Pacific
Cultural Conservancy International, and Terence Freitas, coordinator with
the U'wa Defense Working Group. As part of this investigation, we are also
requesting the investigation include the roles of the Colombian military and
allied paramilitaries, Occidental Petroleum, and the U.S. State Department
whose historical and current actions may have contributed to the violence in
Colombia as well as specific actions that contributed to these deaths. We
also demand an immediate end to all U.S. assistance to the Colombian
military and security forces, including training and drug eradication efforts.
These three brave activists gave their lives defending the rights of the
U'wa to live their lives as they have since time immemorial, free from the
genocidal devastation of oil drilling on their lands and the intimidation
and terror of Colombian military and paramilitary forces. We must insure
that their lives were not given in vain, and therefore demand that
Occidental Petroleum withdraw its application to drill on ancestral U'wa
lands. We urge OXY officials to cooperate with any investigation towards resolving this issue.
Even in light of FARC taking responsibility of the murders, many questions
remain and this issue isn't yet resolved.
We wish to thank United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights Mary
Robinson for her prompt efforts condemning the brutal murders of the three
human rights activists and her urging authorities to fully investigate the
murders and bring the perpetrators to justice. We call upon her office to
either conduct or insure for the monitoring of an independent and thorough
investigation into this matter.
There remains the strong possibility that these human rights activists were
killed in retaliation for the overall policies and historical actions of a
government which has been the enemy of indigenous peoples of Colombia. This
underscores the need at the international level to allow indigenous peoples
to define their status with regard to the nation states which have
continually usurped them by adopting the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples in full and without modification. We call on the
United States in particular to end its efforts at the international level to
obstruct adoption of the Draft Declaration and acknowledge the inherent
rights of all indigenous peoples to full self-determination.
Colombia has the worst human rights status of any nation in the Western
Hemisphere today. Politically motivated killings in Colombia range from
3,000 to 4,000 a year. Environmental, indigenous and human rights activists
know the growing oil infrastructure in Colombia has acted as a magnet for
violence. The U'wa tribal peoples believe that oil is the blood of their
mother and is viewed as sacred. Too much human blood has been spilled by
those who see it as merely a source of profit. Perhaps this incident could
bring light to the need for investigation and action to stop this violence
against the indigenous peoples and all people and visitors of Colombia and
the Americas.
MIDWEST TREATY NETWORK
STATEMENT ON COLOMBIAN KILLINGS
OF INDIGENOUS RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
The Midwest Treaty Network deplores the March 4 murders of
Menominee Nation member Ingrid Washinawatok, Hawai'ian
sovereignty activist Lahe'ena'e Gay, and California environmental
organizer Terence Freitas. The three had been visiting U'wa
communities in Colombia threatened by U.S. oil development,
in order to help start an indigenous school system.
They were kidnapped by Colombian gunmen on their way home,
and on March 4 were slain along the Arauca River in Venezuela.
Our hearts go out to the families of these three activists,
and for the great loss suffered by the Menominee Nation and
the Hawai'ian Nation. We knew Ingrid as a strong woman
with a special sense of humor and commitment. She and
the two others had previously experienced conditions of
repression and civil war, and fully understood the risks of travelling
in Colombia. But they chose to do so because they did not
want to see another indigenous community alone and isolated
in the face of an environmental threat to its cultural
survival.
Ingrid, La'he, and Terry also understood that indigenous and
environmental concerns do not stop at the Rio Grande, but extend
to all the peoples of the Americas. Our group, the Midwest Treaty
Network, was founded a decade ago to conduct a Witness for
Nonviolence in defense of Ojibwe treaty rights during the
Wisconsin spearfishing conflict. The effort was modelled by
one of our founders, Walter Bresette, on a similar witness defending
indigenous refugees in Guatemala. He understood that we could
learn from Central and South Americans how to create peace and
justice in our own backyard. Losing Ingrid in the same month
as Walter is a terrible blow to Wisconsin supporters of sovereignty
and the environment, and stands as a challenge to continue their work.
In our current campaign, helping to stop the proposed
Crandon mine along the Wolf River, we have worked
with Colombian indigenous peoples. The first president
of the mining company previously ran the El Cerrejon coal
mine in Colombia, which violated the rights of the Wayuu Nation.
Ingrid's assassination will increase our efforts to protect the
Wolf River, which runs through her Menominee homeland.
*We support indigenous and family investigations into the
killings, in particular by the families, by the Menominee Nation,
by inernational human rights activists such as Rigoberta Menchu,
and by Colombian human rights groups. We demand that any
governmental investigations not be distorted into calls for greater
U.S. military involvement, armed retaliation for the three deaths,
or any violations of Colombian or U'wa sovereignty.
*We call on the perpetrators of the three murders to be brought
to justice in an independent setting--free from political agendas,
public relations spins, or the use of the death penalty.
Any form of justice must be observed and verified by indigenous
representatives and human rights organizations, or it will
simply be interpreted as a cover-up of the truth. We call on
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the
Colombian, Venezuelan, or U.S. governments, to submit any
apprehended suspects to independent interrogation by indigenous
and human rights group representatives of the three families.
*We call on a withdraw of Occidental Petroleum from U'wa lands,
and a suspension of U.S. arms sales and military training to Colombia.
Whoever is ultimately found responsible for pulling the trigger,
it is clear that oil exploration by the Los Angeles-based Occidental
Petroleum, and U.S. military assistance to the Colombian
military, created the situation that led to the deaths of the
three activists. Oil, guns, and money have destabilized Arauca
province, just as the cocaine trade has created violence elsewhere in
Colombia.
*We call on the Colombian government and FARC to resume peace talks,
and to recognize the U'wa interest in protecting their ancestral homeland.
We call on the North American people and U.S. government to help
end the war that has claimed so many Colombian lives. Our three
friends would have wanted their deaths to further the peace process,
rather than to deepen the civil war.
*We offer any support necessary to find the truth, and to assuage
the loss to the families. We urge supporters of sovereignty and
the environment to contribute to the Ingrid Washinawatok Trust
Fund, PO Box 910, Keshena, WI 54135.
MIDWEST TREATY NETWORK
731 State Street
Madison WI 53703 USA
Tel/Fax (608) 246-2256
E-mail mtn@igc.apc.org
Web http:http://www.alphacdc.com/treaty/content.html
Background can be found on these web sites:
Midwest Treaty Network
http://www.alphacdc.com/treaty/ingrid.html
National Indian Telecommunications Institute
http://www.niti.org
Colombia Support Network
http://www.igc.apc.org/csn/
U'wa Defense Working Group
http://uwa.moles.org
Rainforest Action Network
http://www.ran.org
This is a article written by Mr. Atencio Lopez, he's a Kuna Indian
lawyer from Panama and was a friend of Ingrid. Please forward this
to her husband and family members.
Best regards,
Armstron Wiggins, Indian Law Resource Center
Unofficial English translation follows the version in Spanish.
LA GUERRA SUCIA DE COLOMBIA
por Atencio Lopez
El viernes 5 de marzo las agencias internacionales de noticias
traian una tragica nota desde Colombia, habian sido asesinados
dos mujeres indígenas y uno no indígena, todos estadounidenses
en la frontera colombo-venezolano. Cuando dijeron los nombres,
senti que la vista se me nublaba y corri a buscar mis notas de viaje y
album fotografico para enseñarle a mis hijos quien habia sido Ingrid
Washinawatok en vida. Todavia incredulo mire por varias horas casi todos
los canales noticiosos en español e ingles que se transmiten por cable y
todos traian la misma informacion.
Cuando se muere una persona cercana que lo hayas conocido en
plena lucha por la misma causa en que uno esta metido, lo
primero que hace es mirar a su alrededor y buscar a los seres mas
queridos y pensar en ellos si algo igual ocurriese con uno mismo,
y desde hace 15 años que tengo de vida internacional, recorriendo
el mundo, visitando hermanos indigenas de todos continentes, no
es la primera vez que perdemos a una lider como Ingrid y sus
acompañantes, muchas lagrimas y sangre hemos derramado en
esta larga lucha por la supervivencia de las culturas indigenas en
este planeta frente a toda clase de adversidades que se nos ha
puesto en el camino. Son 300 millones de personas en el mundo
que son indigenas y son muy pocos sus voceros y ademas la
mayoria perseguidos o tratados como delincuentes en sus paises,
si no son encarcelados o asesinados.
Fue en 1984, que Ingrid Washinawatok, del pueblo Menominee de
Norteamerica, vino a Panama por primera vez a una conferencia
mundial indigena y desde ese entonces en varias oportunidades
nos ha visitado ya sea para solidarizarse con la causa de los
Kunas o Ngobes o simplemente apoyando la lucha por la
recuperación del Canal interoceanico, formo parte de los grupos
de solidaridad con nuestro pais en Nueva York. En el campo
internacional indigena, se enrolo desde muy joven en ese
movimiento, cuando por primera vez las Naciones Unidas abrio sus
puertas en Ginebra para los indígenas, Ingrid fue de las primeras
mujeres indigenas en entrar en ese recinto en 1977 (en verano de
1997 escribio un articulo extenso sobre esa conferencia a raiz del
20 aniversario de ese hecho -Revista Native Americas, Vol. XlV,
#2, "International Emergence. 20 years at the United Nations"-).
Conociendo la lucha de U´wa en Colombia, los asesinos bien
puede venir de cualquier bando, tanto la guerrilla como de las
transnacionales de petroleo o de paramilitares, todos son
demagogos con la causa indigena, al momento de llegar al poder
no se soluciona los problemas indigenas y lo primero que hacen
es restarle mas tierra, eso que Colombia fue el pais pionero en
esta ultima decada del siglo XX en hacer leyes muy avanzados en
favor de esos pueblos, pero las mismas poca implementacion y
cumplimiento han tenido. La guerra sucia ha empantanado todo.
Desde la Fundacion para las Cuatro Direcciones ( The Fund for
Four Directions), con sede en Nueva York, los asesinados han
presionado a la multinacional petrolera Oxy a abandonar los
territorios U´wa y dejar los planes de exploracion petrolera en el
bloque Samoré, ya que son tierras sagradas y si se asentaban ahi
ese pueblo haria un suicidio colectivo de cerca de 5,000 personas.
Lalucha de los U´wa ha tenido mucha resonancia internacional
sobre todo en Europa y Estados Unidos (los U´wa recibieron dos
premios importantes, la del Bartolome de las Casas entregado por
el Principe de Asturias en España y el Premio Goldman sobre
Medio Ambiente en San Francisco, EUA). Por eso unos dias antes
de encontrarse los cadaveres, Evaristo Tegria, vocero de los U´wa
hizo un llamado desesperado, "las Farc los arrebataron de
nuestras manos y ahora los deben devolver sanos y salvos. Ellos
son nuestros embajadores a nivel internacional".
En la segunda semana del mes pasado de febrero, en Ginebra
hubo un Seminario-Taller sobre la Creación de un Foro Permanente
de los Pueblos Indigenas dentros del Sistema de la ONU" , esta
vez notamos la ausencia de nuestra hermana, y no sabiamos que
para esa fecha preparaba maletas para hacer su viaje sin retorno a
Colombia. Viajera incansable por el mundo, su sonrisa siempre
perenne ya no nos acompañara en Africa, Pacifico, Asia, Europa o
Latinoamerica, pero su espiritu y su legado ha de forjar los animos
de los guerreros indigenas a nivel mundial, por nuestra parte en
este ultimo año del siglo que finaliza nos dedicaremos a exaltar su
figura y lucha, despues de colocar unas flores en su tumba y besar
a sus seres queridos tomaremos la mochila y partir hacia el
proximo milenio con mas brio para luchar por la causa indigena, y
en nuestras oraciones haremos nuestra la palabra de la
Organizacion Nacional Indigena de Colombia (ONIC), "..que los
cuerpos de nuestros hermanos se coloquen como piedras para
que la tierra se mantenga en equilibrio; pero su sangre reemplace
la sangre que otros le quitan a Kerachikará; que sus espiritus se
unan al vuelo de las tijeretas y cuiden el espacio de los U´wa y de
los pueblos indigenas de America; que su palabra y su entrega
solidaria se mantenga en nuestra memoria y en la de Sira".
Panama 8 de marzo 1999
THE DIRTY WAR IN COLOMBIA
by Atencio Lopez
Last Friday, March 5, international press agencies brought us
tragic news from Colombia regarding the assassination of two
indigenous women and one non-indigenous man, all from the
United States, on the border of Colombia and Venezuela. When
the names were spoken, I felt my eyes cloud and I ran for my
photo albums and trip notes so that I could tell my children who
Ingrid Washinawatok was in real life. Still not believing the news, I
spent several hours watching the news on every Spanish and English
television channel that I could get on cable. Each source brought the
same news.
When a person who is close to you, a person you have come to
know as part of the same struggle in which you are in, the first
thing you do is look around you and look for your loved ones and
think what if it was you who had died? This is no the first time that a
leader like Ingrid and her companions have died in the fifteen years that
I spent traveling the world to visit indigenous brothers on every
continent. Many tears and much blood has been spilled in this long
struggle for the survival of indigenous peoples on this planet against
adversaries of all types that have stood in our way. There are 300
million indigneous peoples in the world and their advocates are very few.
Many of them are persecuted or treated as criminals in their countries, if
they are not imprisoned or killed.
Ingrid Washinawatok from the Menominee Nation in the United
States first came to Panama in 1984 to attend an international
indigenous conference, and since then she has returned on several
occasions to show her solidarity with the Kuna or Ngobe indians,
or just to support the struggle to recover the inter-oceanic canal. She
was a member of the various Panama solidarity groups in New York. Ingrid
was involved in the international indigenous arena from a very young age,
being one of the first indigenous women to participate in the first
indigenous meeting at the United Nations in Geneva in 1977. (In the
summer of 1997 she wrote an extensive article commemorating the twentieth
anniversary of this conference for Native Americas magazine, Vol. XlV, #2,
"International Emergence. 20 years at the United Nations")
Knowing what I do about the struggles of the U’wa in Colombia, the
assassins could well have come from any side. They could have
been guerillas as much as they could have been from the
transnational oil companies or the paramilitaries, all of whom are
demagogues with the indigenous cause. Once they come to
power though they never solve the problems that indigenous
peoples face, but rather take more indigenous land as has been
the case in Colombia. Colombia has been one of the countries to
pioneer very advanced legislation in favor of indigenous peoples in
this last decade of the twentieth century, but the implementation
and compliance with these laws has been very poor. Working with
the New York City-based Fund for the Four Directions, the victims
had pressured the petroleum multinational Occidental to abandon
their efforts to conduct exploration in the Samore block, on lands
that the U’wa consider sacred. In response, the U’wa, who number
close to 5000, threatened to commit mass suicide if the
exploration went forward. The struggle of the U’wa attracted a
great deal of attention internationally, especially in the United
States and Europe. (The U’wa received two important prizes: the
Bartolomé de las Casas prize awarded by the Prince of Asturias in
Spain and the Goldman Prize for the Environment in San
Francisco.) Several days before the bodies were found, Evaristo
Tegria, a U’wa spokesman, made a desperate plea that “the FARC
has snatched them from our hands and now they should return
them safe and sound. They are our international ambassadors.”
In the second week of this past February, indigenous leaders
gathered in Geneva to attend a workshop on the creation of a
permanent forum for indigenous peoples within the UN system.
We noted the absence of our sister Ingrid, not knowing that in
those very days she was packing her bags for trip to Colombia from
which she would not return. She was a tireless world traveler, and
her perennial smile will no longer accompany us to Africa, the
Pacific, Asia, Europe or Latin America, but her spirit and her
legacy will forge the spirits of indigenous warriors throughout the
world. For our part, we will dedicate our selves in this last year of
this closing century to honoring her life and her struggles. After
placing some flowers on her grave and kissing her loved ones we will take
our backpacks and head for the next millennium with more energy to fight
for the indigenous cause, and in our prayers we will repeat the words of
the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), “...let the
bodies of our slain friends rest as stones that keep the Earth in its
equilbrium; let their blood be replaced by the blood of others who take
from Kerachikará; let their souls join with the flight of the
scissor-tailed kites (Tijeretas) as they guard the territory of the U’wa
and the all indigenous peoples in the Americas; let their words and their
gift of solidarity stay in our memory and in the Sira.
Panama, March 8, 1999
Unofficial translation by Joe Bryan, Indian Law Resource Center.
The Indian Law Resource Center, provided this translation concerning a ONIC
press release. Thanks to the Indian Law Resource Center for their assistance.
Condemnation of the deaths of the North American activists who
were defenders of the U’wa People
Communique to the Public
According to news reports released today, the bodies of our
indigenous [sisters] Ingrid [Inawatuk] and Larry Gay [Laheenge]
and biologist and U’wa defender Terrence Freitas. The three were
apparently by the 45th front of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of
Colombia (FARC) kidnaped February 25th on the road between
Cubará, Boyacá and Saravena, Arauca,.
The North American indigenous representatives and the
representative of the NGO Project Underground had been visiting
the U’wa territory and participating in cultural exchanges. The
NGO [Project Underground] as well as diverse North American
indigenous groups had been assisting the U’wa people to defend
their territory from petroleum exploration conducted by Occidental
– Colombia.
The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC)
vehemently condemns the crime committed against our North
American brothers and friends. We condemn this action as an
attack against the rights of the U’wa people and other indigenous
peoples of Colombia.
We repudiate the actions of the FARC and we demand clarification
of this crime that so violates our rights. To us, it is unacceptable that
people who defend the rights of social sectors, already gravely threatened
by far-right forces, now become victims of armed groups that claim to
defend the popular classes. We call on all friends of indigenous peoples
throughout the world to join us in denouncing this crime.
To the families, friends and colleagues of our indigenous brothers
and North American friends, we extend our condolences and
solidarity. We will not let this crime go unpunished in our
communities and we will once again raise our efforts to defend our
rights and those of all indigenous peoples in the world.
Let the bodies of our slain friends rest as stones that keep the
Earth in its equilbrium; let their blood be replaced by the blood of
others who take from Kerachikará; let their souls join with the flight of
the scissor-tailed kites (Tijeretas) as they guard the territory of the
U’wa and the all indigenous peoples in the Americas; let their words and
their gift of solidarity stay in our memory and in the Sira.
ONIC Executive Committee
Santafé de Bogotá, D.C., 5 de marzo de 1999
Communique to National and International Public Opinion
In the name of organizations that support indigenous peoples at the
international level, we the undersigned, with great consternation
and sadness, unite our voices with the hundreds of other
organizations and indigenous peoples of Abya Yala to condemn
the vile and cowardly massacre and death of our sisters INGRID
WASHINAWATOK, GAY LAHE-ENA-E
and our brother TERENCE FREITAS, last Thursday, March 4th on
the border of Colombia and Venezuela.
The assassination that concerns us was not casual nor a mistake.
INGRID WASHINAWATOK was an indigenous leader from the
United States that from a very young age fought for indigenous
rights in her country. She was also well known within the world of
international solidarity and justice. She was a tireless traveler who
brought the help of the Foundation that she directed to wherever
indigenous peoples were fighting for their survival in Africa, Asia and
Latin America. We demand that FARC explain her death as well as those of
her friends. For us, those who are guilty of this bloody act are enemies
of indigenous peoples. For this reason, we join our brothers in Colombia
in calling for the condemnation of this act and of its authors. We cannot
accept that those who purport to speak of the rights of the poor and of
indigenous peoples be those who torment the true defenders of peace and
indigenous rights and who want to distort our U’wa brothers with whom the
assassinated martyrs worked.
To the North American families and brothers that have lost valiant
human members who fought for our indigenous cause, we want to
say that we are with you and for this our prayers and cries shall
cultivate the fertile minds and hearts of our future children. We
hope that their spirits will always accompany us and keep us true
before our enemies who hope to see indigenous peoples
exterminated from this planet. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE.
Panama, March 6, 1999
ATENCIO LOPEZ MARTINEZ
President, Asociacion Napguana (Panama)
MARCIAL ARIAS GARCIA
Meso-American Coordinator for the International Alliance of Forest
Peoples
ONEL ARIAS ARIAS
Meso-American Regional Coordinator, Indigenous Knowledge
Program
INTERNATIONAL INDIAN TREATY COUNCIL STATEMENT
ON THE DEATHS OF INGRID WASHINAWATOK, LAHE'ENA'E GAY
AND TERENCE FREITAS
MARCH 8, 1999
The International Indian Treaty Council is heartbroken and outraged beyond
words at the brutal assassinations of Ingrid Washinawatok of the Menominee
Nation and the Indigenous Women's Network, Lahe'ena'e Gay of the Pacific
Cultural Conservancy International, and Terence Frietas, environmental
activist. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families, friends and co-
workers of these beloved individuals. They were, to the end of their lives,
valiant warriors for peace, human rights and protection of the natural world.
Ingrid, Lahe and Terence were kidnapped on February 25th by armed gunmen in
Uw'a Indian Territory of North Eastern Columbia. On March 5th, their
brutalized and bullet-riddled bodies were discovered across the border in
Venezuela. IITC is firmly committed to assisting the families in finding out
the full truth about what occurred and bringing to justice those responsible
for this heinous, barbarous act of violence. There are no words to fully
express the extent of our condemnation for those responsible for this
reprehensible act.
Ingrid came to the IITC as a college intern in 1978. IITC was able to secure
a scholarship for her at the University of Havana in Cuba where she majored in
the Spanish language. While studying in Cuba Ingrid met her future husband,
Ali El Issa. Their son Maehki, now 14, traveled with Ingrid from his birth
and was known and loved at the United Nations and by human rights
organizations around the world.
After returning from Cuba, Ingrid worked in IITC's New York office for over
eight years and continued to serve as a member of IITC's advisory council, as
well as on the boards of many community and national-level organizations. Her
bright smile, unforgettable laugh and sense of humor captured the hearts of
all who knew her.
Information which has come to light since the kidnappings raises serious
questions about whether the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Columbia
(FARC), initially implicated in the kidnapping, was in fact responsible. Many
of the facts as well as possible motives for the killings point instead to the
involvement of paramilitary forces operating in the region. These groups have
much more to gain than the FARC by destabilizing the peace process in Columbia
and alienating international human rights movements through such acts of
extreme brutality.
Likewise, the role and involvement of the United States government must be
scrutinized thoroughly if the entire picture is to come to light and justice
served. US Attorney General Janet Reno was reportedly in Bogota the day
before the bodies were found to finalize the transfer of over $230 million
from the US to the Colombian government for its so-called "war on drugs"
program. This program is reportedly used by the Colombian government to wage
military operations against the FARC and has been implicated in widespread
human rights violations against the civilian population.
The ongoing role of US-based Occidental Petroleum in perpetrating violence in
the area must be thoroughly investigated as well. The Uw'a People have
successfully opposed oil development by Occidental on their lands, in part by
building international support and awareness The three slain activists were
visiting and offering support to the Uw'a when they were taken captive.
The IITC calls upon the United Nations through its appropriate investigative
bodies to assist in expediting the fact-finding efforts underway. UN
involvement would minimize the possibilities for manipulation of facts to
serve the foreign or domestic policy interests of the countries involved, and
provide objective international oversight in this situation in which the
human rights of the three victims were massively and brutally violated.
The International Indian Treaty Council is calling upon the Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Columbia (FARC) and the Government of Columbia to resume
Peace talks in honor of Ingrid Washinawatok, a Great Menominee Indian Woman
who was loved by Indigenous Peoples throughout the world. To use her death to
undermine the Peace Process in Columbia would be a gross violation of her
lifelong commitment to justice and human rights. The pursuit of peace is the
only logical conclusion to this great loss.
March 11
COMMUNIQUÉ PRONOUNCEMENT DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS IN COLOMBIA
We the undersigned, representing the Colombian human-rights
organizations
Association for the Promotion of Social Alternatives (MINGA), the
Institute
for People's Empowerment (IPC), and the Committee in Solidarity with
Political Prisoners (CSSP), and who are now touring the United States to
denounce the treats and attacks by paramilitary troops against the human
rights defenders in the country
STATE
To the international community, the media and the victims' families:
1. Our strong repudiation of the arbitrary detention and subsequent
assassination of the indigenous leaders, INGRID WASHINANATOK, LAHE'ENA'E
GAY and the recognized defender of the causes of the U'wa people in
Colombia, TERENCE FREITAS, perpetrated by the 10th front of FARC-EP.
2. Our great acknowledgement and support for the indigenous communities
of the world and the non-governmental organizations that are carrying out
the extraordinary efforts to bring respect to the culture, autonomy, the
dignity and solidarity of the indigenous people against multinational companies,
the governments, the armed forces and the irregular groups that operate in
variuous countries of the world.
3. Our urge to FARC-EP to demonstrate through their act their
political will to reestablish the rights to justice, to reparation, and to the
truth duly owed to the families of the victims, the indigenous communities,
and the non-governmental organizations affected by this crime. To this
effect, we request that the ones responsible, and/or those presumed
responsible for these acts, be turned over to an independent and
mpartial court that will ascertain the intellectual and physical authors of this
crime and that will apply the fundamental guaranties of due process and
the presumption of innocence. We believe that the Human Rights Unit of the
Attorney General's Office of Colombia is an institution that has
demonstrated independence and efficiency in its investigations and that
can contribute to bringing about justice.
4. Our resolve to assist in uncovering the truth and to constantly
follow up the investigations and criminal process so as to guarantee rights to the
victims, of the indigenous communities, as well as of the authors of the
crime.
5. Our rejection and repudiation toward assassinations, attacks, and
threats against human rights defenders in Colombia as well as our demand that
the Colombian government adopt the methods and policies that guarantee the
legitimate execution of our work.
6. Our urgent call on the armed actors to respect the civil
population's rights to not be involved or be affected by the conflict, and our demand
that the insurgent groups, the paramilitary troops, and the military
forces of Colombia to cease threats, killings, bombings, displacements, and
military occupation of lands belonging to the indigenous communities of
Colombia, particularly the Emberá Katios in Urabá, Puinave in Guaviare,
Sinú in Cordoba and the U'wa in Arauca y Boyacá.
To the families of Ingrid, Lahe Gay, and Terence, to the indigenous
community of North America, and to the U'wa people, our embrace as
brothers and sisters in sorrow and in the struggle for justice.
GLORÍA INES FLÓREZ SCHNEIDER
MINGA
JOSÉ ANTONIO GIRÓN
The Institution of the People's Empowerment
AUGUSTÍN JIMÉNEZ
Committee of Solidarity of Political Prisoners
|