/* Written 4:07 PM Aug 17, 1996 by igc:newsdesk in ax:ips.english */
Copyright 1996 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 14-Aug-96 ***
Title: LATIN AMERICA: Native Peoples Wary of Paternalism
By Mario Gonzalez
QUITO, Aug 14 (IPS) - More than 100 representatives of Latin
American indigenous groups, meeting this week in this Ecuadorean
capital, underlined their desire to play a greater political role.
The first continental gathering of Native leaders also denounced
paternalism and demagoguery. Their most famous spokersperson, the
Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, declared the
gathering as ''the first step to bringing a different message, one
without the old complaints and that proposes concrete solutions.''
The meeting was held as part of the United Nations-sponsored
International Day of Indigenous People which has been held on Aug.
4 every year since 1994.
Its conclusions were summarized in an Indigenous Declaration of
El Yavirac, named after a small mountain in the southern part of
Quito. Distributed here Monday, the declaration describes the need
to ''construct our democratic project which does away with
authoritarianism, corruption and racism''.
Participants analyzed the role of different ethnic groups in
democratic processes on a regional level, their experience in
getting access to local authorities and relations between
indigenous peoples and the State.
Menchu said paternalism can be found in every political action
directed at indigenous people. She observed that the historic
relationship between the State and indigenous peoples ''is a
paternalistic relationship that is encouraged by both parties.''
To actively take part in politics was a significant step forward,
Menchu said. ''We have elected the politicians and now we want our
turn to be elected.''
''The participation of indigenous peoples in the democratic
process is growing,'' said Luis Macas, deputy of the indigenous
movement 'New Country Pachakutik,' and leader of the Confederation
of Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador (CONAIE), a sponsor of the
meeting.
''For the first time in our country, an indigenous coalition
independently took part in general elections,'' held in May, said
Macas. In the balloting, the coalition garnered eight seats in the
chamber of deputies and 71 in municipal polls.
In Ecuador, according to CONAIE, 40 percent of the country's
11.5 million inhabitants belong to one of 10 ethnic groups. The
Quechua leader said that meant indigenous people had opened a
legitimate space in the political process.
''We have passed from silent struggle and an attitude of
dependency to direct political action,'' said Macas, which
indicates ''progress in democracy and in the way of thinking of
our peoples.''
In a ceremony without precedent in Ecuador, the new deputies,
advisers and council members elected by the Pachakutic movement,
were inaugurated in Yavirac, in the presence of delegations from
the regional gathering.
Their bodies were smeared with liquors and sacred herbs.
Shamans recited prayers seeking the blessing of the spirits for
the newly elected deputies.
''We will follow the three laws of Atahualpa,'' said Miguel
Lluco, a deputy from Pachakutik, referring to the teachings that
the Inca leader from the pre-Hispanic days left to his people.
''We will not lie, we will not steal and we will not be lazy.''
For Jose Cabascango, president of CONAIE, ''our participation
in politics will lead to new political models where respect for
our rights will be the main objective.''
''We are entering parliament to learn, to get to know the game
of democracy,'' said Clara Flores, an Aymara and Bolivian
legislator. ''We have forced open the door and we have to dialogue
and negotiate in order to advance our own projects.''
According to Cabascango, indigenous people must maintain a
regional outlook since each country practices a different form of
democracy, but ''we must assume that the struggle is for all.''
Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go, said Menchu.
''We must struggle for more openings in the democratic process as
we also want to be ministers and presidents.'' (ENDS/IPS/MG/lv/96)
Origin: Amsterdam/LATIN AMERICA/
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[c] 1996, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
All rights reserved
[ Redistributed to NATIVE-L and Usenet newsgroups with permission. ]
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