A slow death for isolated communities
Amazonian indigenous groups, isolated, fight for their right to life and self-determination.
A recent forum found alarming evidence that signs of genocide are beginning to surface in some of the most isolated of the Amazon indigenous communities.
"This
genocide begins when their existence is denied," was the consensus
at the first International Meeting on Isolated Indigenous Peoples of Amazonia and
Indigenous
leaders, human rights specialists, environmentalists, anthropologists
and delegates from the ombudsman offices of
"In denying their existence in public opinion, in the media, they are killed in the national and international consciousness," said Brazilian Sydney Possuelo, 65, a representative of the General Coordinating Body of Isolated Indians.
The Korubo of Brazil, the Yuri of Colombia, the Tagaeri of Ecuador, the Ayoreo of Paraguay, the Mashco-Piros of Peru and the Hoti of Venezuela, scattered among 50 groups of a population of approximately 3,000 people, are the isolated peoples who live in inhospitable corners of the jungle that the governments had designated as protected reserves as much for their rich biodiversity as for these ethnic groups’ presence there.
Valuable wood — such as mahogany — and hydrocarbons are located in these forestlands and there is a subsequently strong interest in the land from national and international companies. While these corporations’ activities allow for the entrance of illegal armed workers, they also pressure the governments to eliminate any form of restriction, claiming that these isolated communities do not exist.
Testimonies
were given at the
Threats
from two sides
According
to Possuelo, the isolated indigenous populations
are threatened from two directions: the first is an economic threat, and
the second is camouflaged as good intentions. The two are perfect to exterminate
these peoples.
In the first place, lacking antibodies, the native peoples are vulnerable to measles and influenza epidemics, and are particularly susceptible to certain viruses, such as tuberculosis and malaria.
Secondly, in the case of survival, they seem to be dying off slowly, because the psychosocial impact of the contact changes the cultural patterns and self-esteem of the group that decomposes into dependence and mendicancy, coming in a short period of "dying from sadness" and then extinction.
Beatriz Huertas, a consultant at the Interethnic Association of Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP), insists in the importance of "preparing contingency and health emergency plans to prevent the undesired impacts of a contact that could alleviate its affects, and not result in genocide and domination scenarios."
Government
and corporations eye natural resources
"The
states’ interest in the natural resources present on their land, the lack
of information about the [native peoples’] cultural riches, the demographic
and industrial expansion of urban civilization, and the lack of legal
protection for indigenous rights" have contributed
to these peoples’ path to extermination, according to Brazilian Judge
Antonio Silveira dos
However,
the
The federal government of Acre — on the border with Bolivia and Peru — implemented drastic measures to prevent a takeover by loggers, hunters and tourists in lands inhabited by isolated indigenous peoples, including representatives of the Evangelical churches that force these contacts, prohibiting such actions in these bordering areas.
Similar measures
are absent in
Lack of
control
Salazar
stressed the urgency to grant isolated indigenous groups control over
their territory that exceeds the conservationist discourse that places
the protection of natural resources higher up on the priority list than
the rights of the isolated indigenous.
In the Belem
Declaration, signed at the meeting’s end, attendees urged countries in
the Amazon region and in the
Additionally, attendees demanded that these groups’ right to self-determination be recognized, to live freely in isolation, in their traditional lands, choosing for themselves the time and nature of any eventual contact they will have with outsiders.