[IPSM] Oct. 25 - NEWS UPDATES

[Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movment - Montreal]

[Oct 25] News Updates

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Check out Native Solidarity News on CKUT 90.3 or
online at www.ckut.ca every tuesday evening from
6-7pm for news from around the world. www.ckut.ca/nsn
If you are interested in contributing to the show,
contact [news at ckut dot ca]
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[I.P.S.M. note: Many of the articles we send out are
from the mainstream news. They likely contain biased
or distorted information and may be missing pertinent
facts and/or context. They are provided for reference
only.  If you have any news to report, feel free to
either post it to this list (ipsm-l [at] lists.resist.ca
or send it to ipsm [at] resist.ca]


(1) Ousted Mohawk police chief returns
(2) Quebec provincial police secretly installed camera in Kanesatake
territory
(3) "Grand chief" offers olive branch on Mackenzie pipeline suits
(4) Testing begins on Imperial gas works
(5) Prison term for involvement in Sheshatshiu riot
(6) Parents protest education standards at Piapot
(7) Tli Cho deal wends way through Parliament again
(8) Survival International: Suicide in Indigenous Communities
(9) Charlie Smoke a pipe dream
(10) Ehattesaht Nation closes logging road
(11) Our 'abysmal' Indian jails
(12) Natives seek improved water supply
(13) Chavez opposes tearing down of Columbus statue
(14) The Promise of Restitution of Indigenous Rights in Venezuela


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(1) Ousted Mohawk police chief returns:
 Terry Isaac appointed to lead police patrols

 MONTREAL (CBC) Terry Isaac returned to the Mohawk community for the first
time since January, after being renamed head of the police force
Wednesday.

 He and other Mohawk police officers have been unable to work effectively
in Kanesatake since the winter. That's when forces opposed to Grand Chief
James Gabriel and the police he'd appointed took over the police station.

 The exiled grand chief, who chose Isaac for a second time, assured the
community the police officer is still the best person for the job.

 "He was very well liked when he worked as chief in Kanesatake.
Unfortunately, some people just don't like law and order," Gabriel said.

 Appointment considered controversial

 His comments come in response to growing unease among residents and
dissident chiefs, who said they have no plans to accept Isaac's
reappointment.

 John Harding, a Kanesatake chief opposed to Gabriel, said there is little
support for Isaac in the community.

 "His appointment is absolutely ridiculous because he's operating under an
illegal agreement which cannot be enforced," Harding said.

 History of difficult police patrol

 He did not say if unhappy residents were making plans to oppose Isaac. In
the past, disagreements in Kanesatake have led to chaos.

 Isaac and his officers were trapped in Kanesatake's police headquarters
for two days in January when an angry group of residents blockaded the
police station. Grand Chief Gabriel's house was also burned to the
ground.

 Kanesatake had another police chief, Eddy Thompson, for a period in the
spring. He quit saying he had not received enough support from the
provincial and federal governments to patrol the community.

 The Sûreté du Québec and the RCMP also worked in the community, before
Thompson started his stint as chief.

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(2) Quebec provincial police secretly installed camera in Kanesatake
territory
Saturday, October 23, 2004

KANESATAKE, Que. (CP) - Quebec provincial police denied Friday they were
spying on
the Mohawk territory of Kanesatake by hiding a surveillance camera on top
of a
school opposite the police station.

Provincial police said they installed the camera, using technicians
disguised as
Bell Canada employees, as part of their investigation of crime committed
on the
native territory northwest of Montreal.

Spokeswoman Isabelle Gendron said it's a surveillance tool frequently used in
investigations.

"It's not at all spying," she said. "We're talking here about a police
investigation."

She added the camera was legally installed, following an order issued by
the Quebec
court.

But community critics accused the police force of illegal spying.

"It's just an excuse to watch all the people of the community, all the
people who
want peace," Chief Steven Bonspille, a vocal critic of exiled Grand Chief
James
Gabriel, told French-language channel LCN.

"For me, it's not acceptable."

But Gabriel said law-abiding citizens don't care about this.

"If you commit illegal acts and your are under surveillance, it will upset
people.
But ordinary people don't care about this."

The camera was located by Mohawks, who became suspicious at seeing a new
metal
chimney, that housed the camera and a microwave device to transmit images.

Officials in Public Security Minister Jacques Chagnon's office refused to
comment.

Two fires have been set this year at the native police station. No arrests
have been
made.


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(3) "Grand chief" offers olive branch on pipeline suits
 WebPosted Oct 21 2004 04:58 PM CDT

 YELLOWKNIFE - The Deh Cho's grand chief says he's willing to compromise
his stand on how a pipeline is reviewed if federal officials do the same.

 'You can compromise on strategy but you're firm on principal' - Herb
Norwegian

 Herb Norwegian made the comments to the Reuters news agency while in
Ottawa for talks with government representatives Wednesday.

 The Deh Cho has filed two lawsuits to block the $7-billion Mackenzie
Valley pipeline, unless it gets two seats on a joint review panel
examining the project.

 Norwegian said Wednesday he's willing to have only one Deh Cho
representative on the panel.

 "The bottom line is you can compromise on strategy but you're firm on
principal and that's what we're looking for at this point," he says. "We
still need to be a party to the agreement, the joint review panel
agreement,and that's always been our bottom line." Norwegian also says
he's willing to drop the stipulation that the Deh Cho land claim process
be completely resolved before a pipeline is built.

 Ottawa says only aboriginal bands that have settled land claims are
allowed to have members on the review panel.

 But Norwegian says that stipulation has been waived in the past.

 The federal Indian Affairs Minister, Andy Scott, says he plans to meet
with Norwegian.

 Forty per cent of the pipeline route would cross through Deh Cho lands.

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(4) Testing begins on Imperial gas works
WebPosted Oct 22 2004 08:41 AM CDT

INUVIK, N.W.T. - Imperial Oil has announced plans to start the preliminary
stages of building a gas production facility in the Mackenzie Delta.

 The company plans to drill 50 holes down to 20 metres to obtain soil
samples in its Taglu gas field this winter.

 The cost of the project is estimated at more than $3 million.

 About 50 people including heavy equipment operators, geophysical
surveyors, and wildlife monitors will be employed.

 Imperial will use the soil samples to determine locations for proposed
well sites and gas conditioning stations.

 Hart Searle, who speaks for Imperial Oil, says the surveyors will also be
looking for a spot to build temporary staff accommodation.

 "Initially we expect that there will be people on site to make sure
everything is operating safely and appropriately," he says. "And then
over time, as the operation's reliability is confirmed the area will
likely be controlled from the Inuvik facility."

 Searle says the drilling will start early in the new year, if it receives
regulatory approval.

 There are an estimated 2,000 billion cubic feet of gas in the Taglu
gasfield.

 That's enough to heat all the houses in Canada for two years.

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 (5) Prison term for involvement in Sheshatshiu riot

 WebPosted Oct 21 2004 07:41 AM NDT
 CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

 HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY  --  A man who took part in a riot at the band
council office in Sheshatshiu last March has been sentenced to a prison
term.

 Kenny Milley, 26, was one of several dozen people who stormed the band
council office.

 Residents' anger over alleged favouritism at the band council and over
the quality of housing turned into violence, as the office was ransacked.
A number of police cars were wrecked in the incident.

 Milley pleaded guilty in provincial court Wednesday in Happy Valley-Goose
Bay.

 Milley has been sentenced to a two-year prison term. One year is related
to his convictions on nine charges arising from the riot. He was
sentenced to an additional year for two assaults that were not related to
the riot.

[note: Kenny Milley, a member of the Innu Nation, has been sentenced to
two years in prison for his resistance to a police attack on the reserve
of Sheshatshiu. Innu women and children occupied the band council office
in March, after waiting five and a half years for the council to delegate
them housing. RCMP officers and Child, Youth and Family Services officials
were repelled by about 50 to 60 family members who rushed down to defend
those occupying the offices. The RCMP returned the next day and arrested
nine people. Two Innu women were sentenced to several months house arrest.

Innu Fight for Housing: 
http://users.resist.ca/~wiinimkiikaa/issue1/innu_fight.shtml]


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(6) Parents protest education standards at Piapot
Oct 13 – CBC Saskatchewan

 PIAPOT FIRST NATION, SASK.    -  Members of the Piapot First Nation have
shut down the local school in protest of a new curriculum.
 Parents locked the school doors and blocked the entrance Tuesday. They
say their children are not getting the education they deserve.

 Under the new curriculum, students from kindergarten to grade twelve were
tested, and many of them were placed in special education.

 But some parents are doubting the accuracy of those tests.

 "You based our whole native children of this First Nation community as
special need?" asks Alvina Crowe.

 Verna Leviolette says her son was placed in grade three math, despite
being a grade four student.

 "So I went to the special ed teacher and she retested him and put him in
grade four," says Leviolette.

 The school is owned by the band, but it is run by a third-party company,
New Horizons, that has a contract with the federal government.

 Parents say New Horizons is not willing to address the needs of the
community as a whole, and they will continue to protest until the company
agrees to meet with all of them.

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(7) Tli Cho deal wends way through Parliament again
 WebPosted Oct 20 2004 08:41 AM CDT
 CBC North

 OTTAWA - The Tli Cho Land Claims and Self-Government Act was introduced
in the House of Commons Tuesday by Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott.

 Scott says the agreement is an example of how Canada wants to see its
relationship with aboriginal people evolve.

 The proposed legislation will bring into effect the comprehensive land
claims and self-government agreement between the Tli Cho, the government
of the Northwest Territories, and the government of Canada.

 The Tli Cho expected the federal government to endorse their agreement
earlier this year, but the June election delayed approval.

 If passed, the Tli Cho government will have law-making powers to manage
Tli Cho land and resources and powers to protect their language and
culture.

 The Tli Cho agreement covers a large area of land between Great Bear Lake
and Great Slave Lake, and includes both of the territory's diamond mines.

 The Dogrib will be paid $152 million over 15 years, along with annual
payments of approximately $3.5 million.

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(8) Suicide in Indigenous Communities
Survival International News Release - 11 October 2004

Indians in North and South America are killing themselves in record
numbers as the continent marks Columbus Day (12th October). In one small
Indian community in Canada, four young people have hanged themselves in
the past three months alone. The former chief of the village, whose nephew
hanged himself on the 30th September, has described the situation there as
a suicide 'epidemic'.

 The deaths are occurring in the Innu community of Natuashish in Labrador,
eastern Canada. Other Innu communities in Labrador and Quebec suffer from
the same appalling social problems, with epidemics of petrol-sniffing
amongst the children, and alcoholism amongst the adults. All ages have
been committing suicide in shocking numbers for many years, but this is
now at an all-time high.

 Five years ago Survival's report 'Canada's Tibet: the killing of the
Innu' exposed the scale of the problem, and called on the Canadian
government properly to recognize the Innu's rights over their land. But
little has changed on the ground.

 At the other end of the continent in Brazil, the Guarani Indians are
living through a similar tragedy. There, over 300 Indians have killed
themselves since 1986, including 26 children under the age of 14. The
tribe has been robbed of almost all its land.

 Stephen Corry, Survival's Director, said today, 'Responsibility for years
of Innu suicides rests squarely with Canada's government. There is no
doubt whatsoever that its denial of Innu rights is destroying the people.
The Indians know this only too well. They also know that if white
children were hanging themselves, rather than Indians, the government
would act immediately. Canada's attitude remains deeply colonialist, even
racist. The recent suicides sound an alarm that it's time for change, but
Canada remains tragically deaf.'

 Tel: (+44) (0)20 7687 8700
 Fax: (+44) (0) 20 7687 8701
 General enquiries: info at survival-international.org
 http://www.survival-international.org


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(9) Charlie Smoke a pipe dream
Canadian Press
UPDATED AT 7:09 PM EDT  Thursday, Oct 7, 2004

 Regina - The saga of Charlie Smoke, a man who claimed he was from the
Akwesasne reserve in Ontario and had been unfairly deported to the U.S.
-  has finally come unravelled in a South Dakota courtroom.
 In a four-page decision released last week, Judge Lisa Cook of the
Oglala  Sioux Tribal Court said the man at the centre of the case is
really  Tennessee-born Charles Roger Leo Adams Jr. and not aboriginal at
all. It  was the first time a court has ruled on the identity of the man
who once  worked at a Regina high school and raised six children with
his aboriginal  wife.

 Adams is now in jail in Hot Springs, S.D., facing a charge of false
impersonation.

 Adams had been jailed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation after being
charged with spousal abuse and child neglect.

Judge Cook found that Mr. Adams, who was born in Memphis, Tenn., in
1962,  used at least seven aliases and had seven different U.S. social
security  numbers. In addition to Charlie Smoke, he has also called
himself Charlie  Wolf, Charlie Wolfslayer, Leo Chico Adams and
Sunkmanitu Tanka Isnala  Najin.

Court also heard that Adams has an extensive criminal record. A National
Crime Information Centre printout of his previous offences runs 12
pages.

Cook's ruling also orders Adams to stop calling himself Charlie Smoke.

Lisa Big Eagle, the Regina woman who was married to him until they
divorced earlier this year, said she has become increasingly skeptical
of  his claims.

In Regina, Mr. Adams was at the centre of an international controversy
when he ran afoul of Canadian immigration laws.

He was hired as a teacher assistant at Scott Collegiate in Regina, but
was  charged with fraud after it was learned he had given his wife's
social  insurance number as his own.

Adams was first deported to the U.S. in April 2003 and went to live on
the  Pine Ridge reservation. He was kicked out of Canada again last May
for  being an illegal immigrant.


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(10) Ehattesaht Nation closes logging road
October 8, 2004

 ZEBALLOS, B.C. (CP) - The Ehattesaht First Nation on Vancouver Island's
west coast says it has closed but not blockaded a road through this tiny
community to logging trucks as a matter of safety.

 "A lot of people use our roads with semis in the middle of the night and
wake people up and cause disturbance," Chief Ernie Smith said.

 The closure could, however, impact nearby fish farms and other local
businesses.

 The vehicles moving through Zeballos, 280 kilometres northwest of
Victoria, are primarily Western Forest Products trucks, he said.

 "We also have other concerns about their resource (extraction) in our
traditional territory at an alarming rate," Smith added.

 The forestry company received notice of the closure Tuesday. By
Wednesday, operations at its sorting yard had slowed, putting 60 of the
local logging division's 70 workers out of work.

 Smith said the Ehattesaht started posting large signs on the road three
years ago, saying they wanted trucking companies to talk to them about
the correct use of the right of way through the reserve.

 That didn't work, said Smith, so this week the Ehattesaht posted a guard
on the road to turn back drivers of heavy-duty commercial and industrial
vehicles.

 Drivers were given notice that non-permitted access is available only to
the general public and emergency vehicles.

 The road restrictions are expected to impact a growing list of logging,
fish-farm, fuel and commercial and industrial vehicles which use along
the one-kilometre stretch of the B.C. Forest Service road through the
reserve.

 Western Forest Products regional manager Trevor Boniface said Friday the
company is now seeking a meeting with the Ehattesaht and has asked for a
30-day lifting of the restrictions as it tries to rectify the situation.

 The band's notice did not indicate any particular concerns, Boniface said.

 "I don't think it's a safety issue," he said. "We've been hauling through
there since Western took over in 1998 and it's always been a concern, but
always a managed concern we've looked after.

 "It was not flagged as a concern on this road closure."

 Also facing potential problems from the road closure is Marine Harvest
Canada, which runs three salmon farms at nearby Fair Harbour.

 Senior biologist Linda Sams said the Ehattesaht were allowing crew
vehicles through to service the fish farms. But, she said, it remains
unclear whether they will permit big fish-haulage trucks through when the
company begins harvesting next week.

 The notice went up between harvesting periods, Sams said.

 "The potential is there (for disruption)," she said. "We told them that
we want to meet with them to discuss the situation and take a look at it.

 "This is not a protest against salmon farming and Chief Smith has said he
doesn't want conflict or confrontation."

 Sams said that like all traffic through the reserve, the freight trucks
the company contracts to haul the fish are required to travel at very low
speed through the reserve.

 The road is fitted with speed bumps and contractors' trucks adhere to the
limit, Sams said.

 Richard Leo, who runs a store at Fair Harbour as well as a seine boat for
Marine Harvest Canada, said he understands and supports Smith's position,
but is afraid it will damage his businesses.

 "I'm not sure that the issue is," the former chief of the nearby Kyuquot
First Nation said. "What they told me is they want recognition of their
right-of-way through the reserve and some financial (consideration) from
the trucks that use it."


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(11) Our 'abysmal' Indian jails

 By The Helena [Montana] IR - 10/10/04

 Reacting to a federal report blasting Indian jails as a "national disgrace,"
 Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., introduced legislation last week designed to
 provide money for maintenance, repair and replacement of prisons on U.S.
 reservations.

 The bill is a valuable first step, but it is no cure-all for the
 long-standing neglect of basic needs in Indian Country.

 The Interior Department's months-long study of the 70 Indian jails,
 detention centers and other correctional facilities in this country found at
 least 11 fatalities, 236 suicide attempts and 632 escapes since January
 2001. One in six of the jails held twice its recommended maximum number of
 prisoners.

 The "continuing crisis of inaction, indifference and mismanagement" by the
 Bureau of Indian Affairs included mixing of juveniles with adults, poorly
 trained and inadequate numbers of staff, "countless" assaults on detention
 officers, and broken toilets, showers and sinks.

 Baucus' measure focuses on providing "bricks and mortar" funding to bolster
 a severely under funded Justice Department jail-building program. It would
 authorize a bonding system allowing private investors to earn tax credits by
 providing money for reservation prisons.

 The idea is for tribes to receive supplemental money so they can begin
 upgrading their detention facilities. (Or reopen them. The Fort Belknap
 tribal jail was closed Sept. 30 after government inspectors uncovered sewer
 problems and a lack of trained staff. The Fort Belknap Gros Ventre and
 Assiniboine tribes are transporting prisoners to jails in Great Falls, Havre
 and Wolf Point.)

 Last month's report by the Interior Department's inspector general calling
 the condition of most reservation prisons "abysmal" because of extended
 neglect was narrowly focused on jails. But it is symptomatic of years of
 general indifference to the needs of Indian reservations, a problem that
 will require a lot more than a treasury-bond tax-credit system to correct.

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(12) Natives seek improved water supply

 By JOE FRIESEN
 Thursday, October 21, 2004 - Page A8
 Globe and Mail

 A native community in Northern Ontario has been unable to use its water
supply for three weeks after it was found to be contaminated.

 The 350 residents of Lansdowne House, about 500 kilometres north of
Thunder Bay, have been struggling along on five litres of water a day
each ever since, Chief Peter Moonias said.

 "We're an isolated community being ignored," Mr. Moonias said.

 "Nowhere else in Canada would anyone accept this.

 "It's a violation of our fundamental human rights.

 "We're being treated as second-class citizens."

 The community water system was shut down on Sept. 29, after tests
conducted by the environmental health officer confirmed that the water
contains gasoline and an usually high-level of trihalomethane, a class of
chemical compound linked to an increased risk of cancer.

 The tests were ordered after a break-in was discovered at the local
filtration plant.

 But it is not known when the contamination occurred.

 The community, which draws its water from Attawapiskat Lake, has been
under a boil-water order for nearly nine years.

 "The filtration system is not fit to pass a modern-day quality test," Mr.
Moonias said.

 He said the federal government has told him that it is willing to advance
funds to allow the community to improve its maintenance and operations
but added that is not enough.

 The Department of Indian Affairs provides residents, the vast majority of
whom belong to the Neskantaga First Nation, with five litres of water a
day, but the chief said that although that may be enough to drink, it
does not come close to meeting their needs for laundry, cooking and
cleaning.

 Some residents have developed rashes from exposure to the water, and the
stress of having to monitor water use is taking a toll on the community,
he said.

 Many of the non-native support workers have left because they found it
difficult to cope.

 Nearly 50 per cent of the homes in the community contain black mould and
need to be washed with water and bleach regularly, Mr. Moonias said.

 A one-litre bottle of water sells for $6 in the town.

 The school has also been affected. Almost one-third of its classes have
had to be cancelled this year, and it will cost about $3,000 a day to
make up for the days lost to Grade 9 students alone.

 A Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development spokesperson in
Ottawa said officials from the northern office in Thunder Bay would look
into the matter today.

 "The health and safety of the members of the Neskantaga First Nation is a
priority of concern for the department," said spokeswoman Diane Laursen.

 With a report from Rob Shaw


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(13) Chavez opposes tearing down of Columbus statue

Report from www.americas.org

 In Caracas, Venezuela, demonstrators pulled down a 100-year old bronze
statue of Christopher Columbus and dragged it through the streets to
protest the October 12 commemoration of Columbus' 1492 arrival in the
Americas, which they described as the start of the biggest genocide in
history against the continent's indigenous peoples. Caracas police
recovered the pieces of the statue and arrested five people in connection
with the incident. Earlier, President Hugo Chávez Frías had presided over
an official event paying homage to indigenous chief Guaicapuro for his
resistance to the Spanish invaders. The leftist Venezuelan government
marks October 12 as a day of indigenous resistance. (La Jornada (Mexico)
10/13/04 from Reuters, AFP, DPA; El Diario-La Prensa 10/13/04 from AP) In
an October 14 statement read by Chávez's minister of communication and
information, Andrés Izarra, the government condemned the trashing of the
statue. The Chávez government "decidedly and totally rejects anarchy and
any action of vandalism which attacks national heritage," according to
the statement. (Communication and Information Ministry (MINCI) Press
Release 10/14/04 via Colombia Indymedia) WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE
AMERICAS, 10/17/04.



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(14) The Promise of Restitution of Indigenous Rights in Venezuela

 Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004
 By: Robin Nieto - Venezuelanalysis.com

 The arrival of Christopher Columbus was commemorated last week in
countries across the Americas except in Venezuela.

 This past October 12, President Hugo Chavez did not commemorate the
arrival of Columbus to this continent in 1492. Instead, Chavez paid
homage to 16th Century indigenous chief, Guaicaipuro, at the National
Pantheon in Caracas.

 Chief Guaicaipuro, leader of the Caracas and Teques people, fought
against the first Spanish settlements in Venezuela for a period of 10
years during the 1560s.

 His successful campaigns against Spanish colonials united the first
peoples of the Caracas valley against the Spanish invasion. Guaicaipuro
was eventually killed by Spanish soldiers in an ambush.   More than 400
years later, Guaicaipuro's name has been revived.

 "Chief Guaicaipuro preferred to die rather than give up his territory,"
said Nicia Maldonado, president of Venezuela's national indigenous
organization CONIVE at a rally in downtown Caracas on October 12. 
Indigenous people from the Amazon region covered a statue of Columbus
with a white blanket, which for the Venezuela's first peoples symbolized
the beginning of a new era.

 "This statue of Columbus represents centuries of colonialism," Maldonado
said, "and it's time to bring it down."  The assembled indigenous people
presented the city mayor, Freddy Bernal, with a written request to
replace the statues of Columbus in the capital city with their own
leaders, like chief Guaicaipuro.

 The Chavez government changed the name of October 12 from "Day of the
Discovery of America" to "Day of Indigenous Resistance," recognizing
indigenous people and the effects of European colonialism on their
societies. President Chavez regularly refers to his own indigenous and
African roots conscious of promoting Venezuela's non-European cultural
heritage which many Venezuelans share.

 President Chavez also named a national social program for indigenous
people in honor of the Venezuelan resistance leader.

 President Chavez and Nicia Maldonado inaugurate Guaicaipuro Mission

 The Guaicaipuro mission and the Venezuelan constitution

 Chavez started the Guaicaipuro Mission a year ago, aiming to restore the
rights of indigenous people by following the principles of Chapter 8 of
the country's constitution.

 Chapter 8 of the constitution is a blueprint for new relations between
the government of Venezuela and the indigenous people. It emphasizes
recognition and respect for indigenous land rights, culture, language,
and customs.  According to the constitution, the role of the Venezuelan
state is to participate with indigenous people in the demarcation of
traditional land, guaranteeing the right to collective ownership of land
that indigenous people have inhabited for millennia.  The state is also
expected to promote the cultural values of indigenous people.

 In terms of resource extraction on indigenous habitat, the constitution
states that it will be done without damaging the cultural, social, and
economic integrity of indigenous communities and that before any
development is considered, communities will be consulted.

 The State recognizes indigenous traditional medicine and complimentary
therapies and guarantees the protection of collective intellectual
property, knowledge, technology, and innovations of indigenous people. 
The register of patents of genetic resources and ancestral knowledge is
prohibited.

 Indigenous representation in the National Assembly is also guaranteed and
as such Venezuela has three indigenous members of the National Assembly
and one state governor.

 According to indigenous Venezuelans, the current constitution of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a leap forward toward full
recognition of indigenous rights.

 "Under previous governments we had only two lines in the constitution,"
Dalia Herminia Yanez said. Yanez is a member of the Environmental Network
of Indigenous Warao women of Delta Amacuro state.  "Today we have an
entire Chapter," Yanez says. "We have advanced. We also have the law of
the demarcation of land that will be approved, the rights of children,
and now we are writing laws of the rights of indigenous women," Yanez
added.

 Warao leader, Dalia Herminia Yanez, "We have advanced."
 Credit: Robin Nieto
 As for the Guaicaipuro Mission, Yanez says the program encompasses much
more than most social programs and will take time to take effect. "The
Guaicaipuro mission is like a baby that is growing. And it will keep
growing. It is now walking and as it evolves, I believe it will be one of
the best missions with our participation."

 Guaicaipuro`s mission is to ensure that indigenous rights stipulated in
the constitution are respected and that each of the country's 12 social
programs reach the country's indigenous communities.  This includes
Housing, Health, Literacy, Education, and community development, as well
as a legal process of demarcating indigenous lands.

 The Guaicaipuro mission must not only negotiate the implementation of the
country's recently created social infrastructure, it must do so
respecting Venezuela's 36 distinct indigenous cultures.

 As such, the Guaicaipuro Mission faces the enormous challenge of
rectifying hundreds of years of exploitation and extreme marginalization
of indigenous people while respecting cultures that few Venezuelans
understand.

 This is why the participation of indigenous people from each community is
vital to the program, says Marta Orozco, an Altiplano indigenous woman
from Bolivia who is in Venezuela working on a small scale trade project.

  "The Guaicaipuro Mission has to work with indigenous organizations and
communities.  It has to be a catalyst for change but it should not take
leadership.  That will only divide indigenous communities," Orozco says.
 "The Guaicaipuro Mission should be a co-participant at the
decision-making level for planning," Orozco says.

 The indigenous people of Zulia state

 In the sun drenched oil producing state of Zulia, where the majority of
Venezuela`s approximately 500,000 indigenous people live, the Guaicaipuro
mission is still in the planning stage.

 The largest group of Zuila`s 330,000 indigenous people is the Wayuu. 
Many Wayuu emigrated to the lands surrounding the bustling city of
Maracaibo from the north-western most region of Zulia called, the
Guajira, near the Colombian border.  Other indigenous groups in Zulia are
far smaller in number, like the Añu (pronounced Anyu), who live along the
shores of Lake Maracaibo. The Jukpa (pronounced Yupa) live in the Perija
cordillera, bordering with Colombia.   Each group faces similar problems
in terms of lack of community social infrastructure.

 A Wayuu man on cultivated land in El Chivato.
 Credit: Robin Nieto
 El Chivato - A Wayuu farm community

 On the outskirts of Maracaibo, the Wayuu community of El Chivato is
located on land that once belonged to a single land holder. Today more
than 50 families live on this flat land of reddish brown earth, each
growing crops for self-sufficiency and small scale trade.

 According to Cecilia Rincon, a long standing resident of this farm area,
each family has received one hectare of land provided by the national
government as part of the national land reform program through the
Venezuelan National Land Institute (INTI in its Spanish initials).

 Families here organized themselves to apply for their own pieces of land.
 The national government approved the applications since they found the
land applied for was not being used and had been idle for some time.  The
land was given to the families on the condition that they make it
productive.

 The Wayuu of El Chivato have since planed lettuce, corn, and traditional
plants like Guana, used to prepare traditional food. However, Rincon says
the community lacks water, gas, and electricity and says that their hope
for improvement now lies with the Guaicaipuro program. "We hope the
Guicaipuro Mission will give us a hand to help us progress," Rincon said.

 According to Angel Montiel, a member of the national coordinating team
for the Guaicaipuro mission and a Wayuu, a census has been taken of the
area and plans for electricity, potable water, sewage lines, housing as
well as social services in health and food security will be in place by
next year.  "We have designated an area in this community to begin a
nucleus of endogenous community development based on the Vuelvan Caras
program," Montiel says.

 The Vuelvan Caracas program is meant to stimulate employment in
communities by developing local resources and skills.

 Nazareth - A Lake Maracaibo Añu community

 There is little breeze to cool the intensity of the sun's heat that beats
down most days of the year in this lake shore town called Nazareth.  The
shores here are covered with a thick blanket of bright green duckweed.
The weed that has the consistency of lentils and is known as "lemna" has
plagued Lake Maracaibo for nearly a year.  The effects are suffered
mostly by the Añu people who live literally on top of Lake Maracaibo on
traditional homes called "Palafitos" built on a base of wooden poles
along the shores of the lake.

 A boy swims in Duckweed infesting the shores of Nazareth.
 Credit: Robin Nieto
 These traditional homes are what the first Spanish explorers to arrive in
this country saw along the shores of narrow rivers, reminding them of
Venice.  Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda called it "little Venice," or
Venezuela.

 The Añu depend on fishing from Lake Maracaibo for their livelihood and
for their subsistence.  The presence of the weed is taking its toll on
the population.  "We want to be able to fish again," says one resident
who echoed the same desire of many residents

 The weed is the latest problem for fishing in Nazareth which has suffered
from contamination by industries as well as conservation efforts which
prohibit fishers from catching fish in traditional waters.

 "Fishing is not providing enough to live a better life," says Jose Luis
Lopez who lives with his wife in a palafito.  "Many of us want to live
far from here," Lopez says.  His wife Loreanny Sanchez disagrees.

 "If we move from here we will lose our culture" she says.  According to
Lopez, the traditional way of life of the Añu is not providing enough of
an incentive to continue and he welcomes changes as proposed by the
national government that would diversify the local economy and provide
alternative employment as well as inland housing.

 These are the kinds of community issues that the Guaicaipuro mission is
supposed to deal with.  But for Nazareth, the Guaicaipuro Mission is slow
in coming says Sanchez.  "The Guaicaipuro Mission has not arrived.  We do
not know what has happened, and we don't have the resources to go the
capital to find out," Sanchez said.

 Towns like Nazareth, just as many communities far from the Venezuela's
principal cities, are often left without communication with coordinators
of the program, who often live outside the communities.

 Toromo - A Jukpa Mountain community

 Jukpa elder, Jesus Peñaranda, says community is not receiving help.
 Credit: Robin Nieto
 In the mountains of the Sierra Períja bordering with Colombia, the Jukpa
are a world away from the bustling city of Maracaibo.  In natural
settings of lush green forest and the rushing frigid waters of the Cumana
river, the Jukpa have lived here far from Venezuela's mainstream for
generations.  However, despite the spectacular natural settings of the
area, many Jukpa in this community called Toromo live in dire conditions
of poverty.

 Outside a shack made of dried tree branches, wooden planks and a dirt
floor, a Jukpa elder, Jesus Peñaranda, cuts away at a reed fashioning it
into a flute instrument and talks about his distrust of outsiders. 
"People come here to steal, to take from our culture, and what do I get
in return?" Peñaranda says. "I get nothing in return." He points to the
condition of his house and says "look at the way I live."

 Peñaranda says the community has tried to get things improved through the
government but with little in the way of results.  "We have made dozens
of applications for things and we have never received anything",
Peñaranda says.

 His granddaughter, Carolina Peñaranda, is a 17-year-old student in the
local high school her mother lobbied to have opened in Toromo. A high
school that was backed personally by President Chavez himself.

 Carolina differs from her grandfather in her opinion of the way things
are developing for Toromo community.  "We the indigenous people were not
taken into account before.  Today with this government we are in the
constitution and have that to defend us." Carolina explains how Toromo
has advanced in terms of education.  "We have a high school in our
community that was opened with the help of President Chavez.  If it were
not for this school many of us would not be able to study," says
Carolina.

 Carolina plans to study medicine in Cuba and says she will return to
continue helping her community.

 While the Guaicaipuro mission has only begun to be introduced to
indigenous people in Zulia, few were critical. The program is seen as a
welcome new beginning for positive change for communities that have
suffered neglect and abuse for centuries.

 Rusbel Palmar is a professor at the Bolivarian University of Zulia and
the coordinator for a state-wide indigenous organization called ORPIZ. 
He and the Bolivarian University are involved in a long term project of
community development that pairs students with indigenous communities
across the state.  "The result will be a census of a multitude of
communities, a diagnostic of the social and economic conditions of a
large part of the indigenous communities of Zulia state," Palmar says.
"This way we can manage the information of the Guaicaipuro mission."

 Palmar said the Guaicaipuro mission is a very large and very important
project that will take time to plan and coordinate and like many
indigenous people in Zulia, Palmar said he hopes to see the mission on
its feet soon.  "We have great expectations of the Guaicaipuro Mission."