Urgent Action Appeal
Kuna , Embera and Ngob People of Panama Seek Recognition,
Meet with Repression
Indigenous people in Panama who have mobilized in recent
weeks for recognition of their lands against invading settlers have
met with arrests, tear gas and - in one case - death. Ngob-Bugle
and Embera Indians held peaceful demonstrations in five provinces
on May 27, demanding that the government complete demarcation of
indigenous lands. On May 28, one Ngob-Bugl man was beaten to
death by police agents when a group of demonstrators was blocking
the Pan-American Highway.
Laws to protect indigenous territories have lain idle in
Panama's Legislative Assembly. Instead, the Assembly gave initial
approval to the sale of 5000 hectares of publically-owned banana
plantations in Bocas del Toro province on which Ngob people live.
The proposed sale to U.S. multinational Chiquita Brands has provoked
a strike by 10,000 banana workers, whose leaders say they do not
want to be "an American colony again."
Please send letters or faxes to Panamanian government
officials requesting that they stop the repressive measures,
investigate the killing, and negotiate seriously with Indian
representatives.
Background
Responding to the invitation of 1992 Nobel Peace Laureate
Rigoberta Mench, representatives of indigenous peoples from all
over the world met in Guatemala from May 24-28 for the First World
Summit of Indigenous Peoples. In their final statement the
delegates called for, among other things, the establishment of the
Decade of Indigenous Peoples from 1994 to 2003 and the approval by
the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples which protects the rights to political, economic,
social, and cultural development.
Even as the delegates met, events in Panama underscored the
critical need for such efforts. For some time, Kuna people of the
Madungand comarca, or territory, have denounced the growing
invasion of their lands by settlers, poachers of endangered animals
and loggers. On April 15, colonizers destroyed a Kuna family's house
in Madungand. The house was to be used by Kuna villagers plannning
to demarcate their territory themselves. Government officials have
not carried out promises to relocate the peasant settlers on other
lands or demarcate the Madungand comarca for more than 10,000
Kunas.
This situation, common to the four indigenous peoples in
Panama (Kuna, Ngob, Embera and Teribe), led to widespread protests
on May 27 and 28. With painted faces and ceremonial dress, Indian
groups took over public offices, airports and roads in five provinces.
Saturnino Aguirre Rodrquez, 30 years old, was badly beaten by
police on May 28 in San Felix, Chiriqu, according to Felipe Bejerano,
regional leader of the Ngob-Bugl people. Many demonstrators were
able to escape the police encirclement of the demonstration,
Bejerano said, but Aguirre was captured by police. He was
hospitalized on May 30 and died the next day as a result of internal
bleeding. Details of the autopsy have not been released, and
investigation of the killing has moved slowly, according to Service
for Peace and Justice (SERPAJ) in Panama.
The protests reportedly brought the Panamanian government to
the negotiating table to hear the Indians' demands for a law
recognizing their rights to ancestral territories and to govern
themselves under their own laws. Panama's constitution gives
indigenous people the right to control over their own lands.
Indigenous people represent 8 percent of Panama's 2.4 million
inhabitants. International pressure is critical at this time to ensure
that meaningful negotiations do take place.
On June 16, in the same town of San Felix, five Ngob people
were detained, including the one-year-old son of the president of the
regional Ngob congress, Marcelino Montezuma. The five are: Rosala
Montezuma, infant Marcelino Montezuma, Migdonio Montezuma,
Andrs Moreno and Teodoro Aguirre. The arrests were reportedly an
attempt to force the thirty-two Ngob families that inhabit the San
Felix community to abandon their claims to the land. The five were
released shortly after their detention.
Meanwhile, in the Caribbean province of Bocas del Toro, 7000
banana workers walked off the job on June 9 in opposition to the
proposed sale of state-owned land to Chiriqu Land Company, a
subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International. On June 12, 3000
independent banana workers joined the union-led strike, which is
also supported by ten civic groups in the region, including the
municipal government where the lands are located. The strike
paralyzed the economy of the entire province, which is dependent on
the production of bananas for export. Panama's Legislative
Assembly has since rejected the land sale on its second hearing, but
as of June 25 the strike continued in order to keep workers who
participated in the strike from being fired.
Action
Please address letters to the authorities below, seeking the
following:
1) Support for a law recognizing Indian comarcas.
2) A public accounting of the events surrounding police
response to indigenous protests in Chiriqu and Bocas del Toro.
3) An end to repressive acts against peaceful demonstrations.
4) Investigation and trial of those responsible for the death of
Saturnino Aguirre.
5) Medical attention to those injured in police violence.
Direct letters to:
Sr. Guillermo Endara
Presidente de la Repblica
Palacio Presidencial
Panam, Panam
Fax: 011-507-27-0076
H.L.
Lucas Zarak
Presidente, Asamblea Lesiglativa
Palacio Justo Arosemena
Panam, Panam
Fax: 011-507-62-2344
You can have a pre-written message sent in Spanish by calling
Faxnet (a company specializing in human rights fax messages) at 1-
800-831-2202. Ask to send message #2 for President Endara, and
message #3 for the president of the Assembly. With a credit card,
the message costs $7.00; if you are billed, the cost is $9.00.
Postage for letters to Panama of one half ounce or
less is 50 cents.
Sources: SERPAJ-Panama; Latinamerica Press 6/3/93 and 6/17/93;
Inter-Press Service; South and Mesoamerican Indian Information
Center.
PLEASE COPY AND CIRCULATE THIS APPEAL.
Issued by the Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin
America and the Caribbean and the Resource Center for Nonviolence
515 Broadway
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Tel: (408) 423-1626
Fax: (408) 423-8716