And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 11:10:30 EDT
Subject: Indian Reserve Strained by Growth
Indian Reserve Strained by Growth
.c The Associated Press
By JARED KOTLER
SILVIA, Colombia (AP) -- Glancing from the jeep climbing up into the
breathtaking Guambia Indian reserve, it's no wonder locals call their region
``the Switzerland of Colombia.''
Blooming wildflowers and tended fields carpet a broad canyon cut down the
middle by the icy, rushing waters of the Piendamo River. Steep slopes soar
skyward, framing an idyllic pastoral scene in shades of green.
Sturdy men, women and children shoulder loads along the road, weave in
doorways or tend onion and potato fields. Many are dressed in the traditional
garb of the Guambianos: violet shawls, black bowler hats and -- for the women
-- strands of white beads spiraling up their necks.
As fortunate as they are, the Guambianos are a people in danger, tribal elder
Lorenzo Alemendra said. Life on the seemingly utopian reserve illustrates as
much the fragile status of Colombia's Indians as it does their many
impressive gains.
Rapid population growth on the 40,000-acre reserve is fueling family quarrels
over land, encouraging unsafe farming practices and bringing environmental
degradation, he said.
Gesturing with an antique wooden scepter that symbolizes his authority,
Almendra illustrated one of the problems.
``Look up there, where they're planting,'' he said, pointing high up a nearly
vertical mountain face that a Guambiano farmer had scaled to carve out a corn
plot the size of a backyard swimming pool.
Wheeling around, he pointed at another slope, where deforestation, rain and
seismic tremors have sent torrents of brown earth dangerously toward adobe
settlements below.
``The entire Guambiano people are living in high-risk zones. There could be a
disaster at any moment,'' Almendra said.
Malnutrition is also on the rise, he said. Good prices at markets outside the
reserve are luring away all of the fruit and vegetables raised here, reducing
local diets to potatoes and rice.
Even drug trafficking is making its way back into Guambiano life. The tribe
has officially disavowed opium poppies as a crop, but the lilac-flowered
plants are visible in gardens even at the reserve's entrance.
Still, there are signs of progress.
Guambiano culture is being preserved through bilingual education, weaving
workshops and ``Stereo Guambiano,'' a radio station transmitting in the
native language.
Dozens of families have invested in a promising economic alternative -- fish
hatcheries that produce rainbow trout for tourists and nearby markets.
And after decades of short-shrifting, municipal funds have started flowing
into the reserve thanks to one of the Indian group's greatest strides yet:
the election two years ago of the first Guambiano mayor in Silvia.
AP-NY-04-10-99 1109EDT
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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