Contacts: In Nicaragua, Jaime Incer and Nelson L"pez, MARENA, 505-2/631-273;
Pablo Pereira, Minister of the Economy, 505-2/670-009; Victor Campos,
Fundaci"n Humboldt, 505-2/664-927. In the U.S., Charlie Luthin, Lighthawk,
505/982-9656.
SUMU INDIAN HOMELAND IN NICARAGUA THREATENED BY MINING COMPANY, WAVES OF
SQUATTERS AND LOGGERS
By Darwin Ju rez
Bosaw s Reserve, Nicaragua, September 13, 1994 -- A 1.8 million-acre forest
reserve in northeastern Nicaragua, home to 95 percent of Central America's
Sumu Indians, is under attack by a Canadian mining company, Nicaraguan
loggers and subsistence farmers. The Sumu, with help from conservation
groups and Nicaragua's environmental minister, are fighting the assaults,
but a lack of funding and a government agency pose serious obstacles.
The reserve is called Bosaw s, a name taken from two rivers that run through
the area, the Bocay and Waslala, and the name of a nearby mountain, the
Saslaya. The northern boundary of Bosaw s lies on the frontier of Honduras,
where it connects with the R!o Pl tano Biosphere Reserve. This verdant
jungle corridor is one of the most biologically important expanses of
tropical forests in Central America.
Nicaragua's minister of economy recently granted a permit to the Nycon
Resource Company to search for gold and other minerals in the Bosaw s
reserve. Jaime Incer, who heads Nicaragua's environment and natural
resources agency (MARENA), sent a strongly worded letter of protest to the
ministry, but has not received an answer. Nor will the ministry reveal
details about Nycon, saying only that the company is based in Canada.
According to Nelson L"pez, director of MARENA's Bosaw s Project, mining
could harm the health of the Sumu and further, that "it is a violation of
the 1991 law establishing the reserve, which prohibits any activity that
might cause ecological damage."
About 2,000 Sumu inhabit Bosaw s, living in a handful of commun-ities
connected to one another by a weave of waterways. They sur-vive on
subsistence farming. Jes#s Damasio L"pez, a Sumu leader, reports that it's
possible to sell or trade corn, beans and yucca in the northern frontier
town of San Jos de Bocay, but it can take a loaded canoe a week to reach the
marketplace from his village.
L"pez complains of government neglect, pointing to the lack of health and
education facilities. Only a handful of international aid groups have
ventured to the region. With funds from Denmark, the Humboldt Center is
mapping the reserve and plans to help the Sumu gain legal title to their
land. The European Economic Community is studying the impacts on the
reserve of the invasion by non-indigenous slash-and-burn farmers.
A MARENA study counted about 700 non-indigenous families living on the
borders of Bosaw s. Some have lived in the region for decades, but most
have arrived since the election of current president Violeta Barrios de
Chamorro brought an end to the country's counter-revolution in 1990. Former
rebels and the landless poor teemed into regions of the country that were
off-limits during wartime.
The new arrivals to Bosaw s have cleared thousands of acres of forest in
order to plant crops and graze cattle. They have opened up crude but
passable roads, making it easier for loggers to haul the huge and valuable
trunks of tropical hardwoods to Nicaragua's capital city, Managua, 11 hours
south. Last year, a New Mexico-based conservation group called Lighthawk
took MARENA staff on over-flights of the region, which revealed large areas
shorn of trees on the reserve's western and southern boundaries.
"Illegal logging in Bosaw s is done under the protection of AK-47s and other
firearms," explains Lighthawk's Charlie Luthin. "The unarmed staff of MARENA
do not even have a vehicle to help them confront this problem."
Jes#s Damasio L"pez adds that 40 squatters recently penetrated the reserve,
deforesting a mountain slope. "This worries us," he explains, "since the
mountain is the life of our communities."
The Sumu have informed the Nicaraguan government that they are unlikely to
sit back and allow Nycon to invade the reserve. In a May 29 letter, Sumu
leaders demand "a strong impediment to the entrance of the transnational
business, Nycon Resource." The letter points out that Nycon would cause
environmental contamination, resulting in "the disappearance of our aquatic
fauna, the disappearance of our flora, and the disappearance of our original
culture, as the company would open a door to new colonists in our
territory."
In their letter, the Sumu insist on their rights to decide what happens on
their land: "We will never negotiate on the part of our natural resources
with businesses that try to destroy. We ask that the government recognize
that the indigenous have rights to their natural resources. For that
reason, we demand the cancellation of the concession, otherwise we will
resolve this in our own manner."
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