Cuba USA
Protesting Hugo Chavez
Tribes protest Chavez expulsion order
NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON
Associated Press
PUERTO AYACUCHO, Venezuela - Hundreds of indigenous Venezuelans marched Friday to protest President Hugo Chavez's threat to expel a group of U.S.-based evangelists, amid intensifying government scrutiny of foreign missionaries operating in the country.
The protesters - including some who traveled for days by boat from their homes in the dense Amazon jungle - showed their support for New Tribes Mission, which Chavez has accused of "imperialist infiltration" and exploiting indigenous communities.
Luis Rodriguez, a Piapoco Indian, said the missionaries helped indigenous tribes during hard times when aid from government authorities was scarce or nonexistent.
"The government didn't arrive here to do anything important for us," said Rodriguez, 41, as he marched with fellow demonstrators, some of whom sang hymns.
Two weeks ago, Chavez ordered the New Tribes missionaries to leave the country, accusing the Sanford, Fla.-based organization of links to the CIA and gathering "strategic information" in the country's Amazon rainforest.
Government officials and other critics of the evangelist group have since backed Chavez's decision, accusing the missionaries of destroying indigenous culture and using their presence in remote, mineral-rich tracts of Venezuela to conduct reconnaissance work for foreign mining and pharmaceutical interests.
New Tribes has denied the accusations and is seeking a meeting with Chavez to try to resolve the matter, said a New Tribes spokesman, Ronald Van Peursem. He said the group believes the president has been misinformed about its work in the country.
Supporters say the missionaries have brought much-needed medical, educational and other assistance to impoverished indigenous communities who have long been neglected by the authorities.
"There is no proof of the accusations," said Nereo Silva, a 45-year-old leader of the Piaroa tribe in southern Venezuela.
Liborio Guarulla, the governor of Amazonas state, defended Chavez's decision to expel New Tribes missionaries from the South American nation of 26 million, saying "it's a question of sovereignty."
Guarulla, a government ally, told the state-run Bolivarian News Agency that past administrations largely ignored indigenous groups and their cultures, but left-leaning Chavez has embraced them.
"Venezuela had a debt with the indigenous cultures ... it was this government that first truly took them into account," he said.
Leaders of seven indigenous groups submitted a statement to Gaurulla's office opposing Chavez's decision.
"We request justice and the right to decide our own future. ... We demand that we be consulted before any decision," it said. "This is not a fight against the government but a sign of our disagreement with the decision by the president."
The New Tribes Mission, which has about 160 missionaries in Venezuela, was founded in 1942, specializes in evangelism among indigenous groups and has 3,200 workers worldwide in 17 nations.
The controversy has overshadowed Chavez's efforts to grant collective property titles to indigenous communities. He made the threat two weeks ago while granting 10 land titles for more than 865,000 acres to indigenous communities in the southern Venezuelan state of Apure.
Chavez has said that defending the rights of Venezuelan's approximately 300,000 indigenous people is a priority. He oversaw the adoption of a new constitution in 1999 that recognizes their collective ownership of ancestral lands and allows them to participate in demarcating territory.
But poverty remains acute among many Indian communities, and many protesters said the missionaries were the only people who have tangibly improved their lives.
Chavez's action against the New Tribes missionaries has raised tensions between some church groups and Chavez's government, which is closely allied with communist-led Cuba and frequently critical of the United States.
More than 200 Mormon missionaries have left Venezuela in recent weeks after difficulties renewing visas or obtaining new ones.
The Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has had a presence in Venezuela since 1966, announced Wednesday that the last of its foreign missionaries would be pulling out of the country soon and be reassigned to other countries.
Read the story here.
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Cuba USA
Protesting Hugo Chavez
Tribes protest Chavez expulsion order
NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON
Associated Press
PUERTO AYACUCHO, Venezuela - Hundreds of indigenous Venezuelans marched Friday to protest President Hugo Chavez's threat to expel a group of U.S.-based evangelists, amid intensifying government scrutiny of foreign missionaries operating in the country.
The protesters - including some who traveled for days by boat from their homes in the dense Amazon jungle - showed their support for New Tribes Mission, which Chavez has accused of "imperialist infiltration" and exploiting indigenous communities.
Luis Rodriguez, a Piapoco Indian, said the missionaries helped indigenous tribes during hard times when aid from government authorities was scarce or nonexistent.
"The government didn't arrive here to do anything important for us," said Rodriguez, 41, as he marched with fellow demonstrators, some of whom sang hymns.
Two weeks ago, Chavez ordered the New Tribes missionaries to leave the country, accusing the Sanford, Fla.-based organization of links to the CIA and gathering "strategic information" in the country's Amazon rainforest.
Government officials and other critics of the evangelist group have since backed Chavez's decision, accusing the missionaries of destroying indigenous culture and using their presence in remote, mineral-rich tracts of Venezuela to conduct reconnaissance work for foreign mining and pharmaceutical interests.
New Tribes has denied the accusations and is seeking a meeting with Chavez to try to resolve the matter, said a New Tribes spokesman, Ronald Van Peursem. He said the group believes the president has been misinformed about its work in the country.
Supporters say the missionaries have brought much-needed medical, educational and other assistance to impoverished indigenous communities who have long been neglected by the authorities.
"There is no proof of the accusations," said Nereo Silva, a 45-year-old leader of the Piaroa tribe in southern Venezuela.
Liborio Guarulla, the governor of Amazonas state, defended Chavez's decision to expel New Tribes missionaries from the South American nation of 26 million, saying "it's a question of sovereignty."
Guarulla, a government ally, told the state-run Bolivarian News Agency that past administrations largely ignored indigenous groups and their cultures, but left-leaning Chavez has embraced them.
"Venezuela had a debt with the indigenous cultures ... it was this government that first truly took them into account," he said.
Leaders of seven indigenous groups submitted a statement to Gaurulla's office opposing Chavez's decision.
"We request justice and the right to decide our own future. ... We demand that we be consulted before any decision," it said. "This is not a fight against the government but a sign of our disagreement with the decision by the president."
The New Tribes Mission, which has about 160 missionaries in Venezuela, was founded in 1942, specializes in evangelism among indigenous groups and has 3,200 workers worldwide in 17 nations.
The controversy has overshadowed Chavez's efforts to grant collective property titles to indigenous communities. He made the threat two weeks ago while granting 10 land titles for more than 865,000 acres to indigenous communities in the southern Venezuelan state of Apure.
Chavez has said that defending the rights of Venezuelan's approximately 300,000 indigenous people is a priority. He oversaw the adoption of a new constitution in 1999 that recognizes their collective ownership of ancestral lands and allows them to participate in demarcating territory.
But poverty remains acute among many Indian communities, and many protesters said the missionaries were the only people who have tangibly improved their lives.
Chavez's action against the New Tribes missionaries has raised tensions between some church groups and Chavez's government, which is closely allied with communist-led Cuba and frequently critical of the United States.
More than 200 Mormon missionaries have left Venezuela in recent weeks after difficulties renewing visas or obtaining new ones.
The Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has had a presence in Venezuela since 1966, announced Wednesday that the last of its foreign missionaries would be pulling out of the country soon and be reassigned to other countries.
Read the story here.
- Zapatistas Confirm Solidarity With Palestine At The National Indigenous Congress
By Brenda NorrellIndigenous ResistancePhoto EZLN collective Zapatistas affirmed their solidarity with Palestine, during the opening of the National Indigenous Congress in the Zapatista Stronghold of La Realidad, Chiapas, near the Guatemalan border. Comandante...
- Do You Believe This?
The MSM is now calling Chavez the victor in Venezuela. Do all of you believe the results? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wins re-election by wide margin Dec 03 10:30 PM US/Eastern Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wins re-election by wide margin IAN...
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Boycott of Citgo From WorldNetDaily.com: Boycott of Citgo launchedPro-family group leads effort to shun firm run by Venezuela's Chavez Posted: January 31, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com A pro-family group has launched a boycott...
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Chavez calls Bush a Murderer Always the agitator, mini-me relies on the standard tactic of fear to distract the people of Venezuala from the failures of the revolution. Yo Chavez do we need Rocky or Pauly to find out this mystery called "Balboa." Article...
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Venezuela detains four for the Assassination of a Prosecutor All suspects are in the opposition of Chavez and a leading Cuban dissident? Very suspicious? They are being held without any charges. Remember in a communist court just as Che Guevera stated:...