500 Years Conf/Guatemala
21015000 (guiller@ucscd.ucsc.edu)
Sun, 6 Oct 1991 17:01:17 -0700
The Second Continental Conference of the 500 Years of Indigenous and
Popular Resistance was inaugurated today in Guatemala City hosted by
the Secretariat of the same continental organization. Representatives
of Indian and Popular organizations belonging to South,Meso and North
American countries will discuss for five consecutive days (Oct 7-12,
1991) the following agenda: Democracy, Human Rights; Land & Life; Colo-
nialism, neo-colonialism & self-determination; Women and Youth; and
the Next 500 Years.
About a hundred and ninety delegates from the Artic Circle Inuit, to
the Mapuche of Southern Chile and Argentina, plus about a hundred guests
belonging to national and international organizations will share their
thoughts analyzing the seven points agenda. Each regional representative
(North America, Central America, Caribbean, Southern Cone, and Andean
regions), will also present a political document specifically written
for this II Continental Encounter.
Several Indian organizations, mainly of Latin America, due to economic
constraints, or lack of communication within their respective regions,
have been unable to attend this continental conference. While popular
organizations have integrated Indigenous issues to their agendas, Indian
organizations would like to see popular organizations openning even
further on issues related to indigenous voices themselves. SAIIC, The
South and Mesoamerican Indian Information Center, interviewed several
Indigenous leaders, both men and women, and learned that the II Continental
Conference of Guatemala hopes to integrate more Indian organizations,
women and youth in the task of drawing the next 500 years. It is hope
that the II Continental Encounter and Conference of the "500 Years of
Indigenous and Popular Resistance" of Guatemala will come up strengthened
and that Indians of the Continent will help lead, indeed, the next 500
yaers. We, at SAIIC, are serving as a liaison between Indian people of
the South and Indian people of the North and Mesoamerica, as well as
educating the general public about what the past 500 years has meant
to Indian people of the Continent, and how we are strategizing for
real change for the next 500 years.
Guillermo Delgado-P.
South and Mesoamerican Indian Information Center
P.O. Box 28703/ Oakland, CA 94604
1212 Broadway/ Suite 830/ Oakland, CA 94612
Fax 415-834-4264