And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 12:09:45 -0400 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Precedence: bulk From: Julio Cesar Centeno <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: Federation of Indigenous People of the state of Bolivar - VENEZUELA, and indigenous PEMON, AKAWAIO, ARAWAKO, KARI�A Y WARAO from the Imataca Mountain Range, Gran Sabana and the Paragua river, Bolivar state - VENEZUELA. To: Our friends, allies and people of good will. We hereby declare ourselves in a state of emergency, due to the declared decision by the President of the Republic to continue the construction of the electric transmission line, that trespasses and affects indigenous territories in Imataca and the Gran Sabana, to supply electric energy to Northern Brazil. Nor has the government yet revoked Presidential Decree 1.850, which designates the Imataca Forest Reserve as open to mining, even though it is home of the indigenous peoples mentioned above. We have denounced such projects since the 1997, as violators of our rights as indigenous people. The President of the Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG), the government enterprise that executes the electric line project, recently announced that the works will be reestablished this month. Our people have received this decision with grave concern. So we made clear to the Minister of the Environment (an indigenous person herself) during her recent visit to the Gran Sabana. It seems she is not moved by her brothers' anguish. As a candidate during the electoral campaign, President Chavez made it clear that Presidential Decree 1850 would be revoked. But he has not yet done so. It seems he is doing the same as his political predecessors, whom he has criticized for "unkept promises". He has vowed not to violate the rights of any citizen in this country, but pretends to continue with the electric line project, that violates the rights of our people, mainly our land rights, which we now lack, as established in Article 11 of OIT convention 107. When he was a candidate, he sent to us a signed paper called "A Compromise with History", where he assumes the commitment to "pay the historical debt with more than half a million indigenous people gathered in the 28 ethnic groups of the country, in the memory of the Liberators Simon Bolivar and Antonio Jose de Sucre" (Caracas, March 20th 1998). At this crucial moment for our country and our people, in which the President of the Republic calls to a national referendum to write a new Constitution in the context of a Constitutional Assembly; when the indigenous people of Venezuela have taken an active role in the process to choosing and presenting their legitimate representatives to this Assembly, the electoral body, the National Electoral Council (CNE), has declared as illegal the Indigenous People's Extraordinary Congress celebrated in Ciudad Bolivar (March 22-25th 1999), where 3 indigenous representatives to the Constitutional Assembly were elected, as established by the President of the Republic himself. Thus we address you, all of you, with the purpose of earnestly asking for your solidarity, and to write an urgent letter to the President of the Republic, demanding: * To immediately revoke Presidential Decree 1.850, regarding the management plan of the Imataca Forest Reserve, as promised during his politic campaign, and to guarantee respect and nonintervention of Indigenous lands through projects, until the new Constitution warrants the territorial rights of indigenous people, in agreement with OIT convention number 107 and international juridical instruments subscribed by Venezuela. * To stop the construction of the Electric Line at the Imataca and Gran Sabana Indigenous territories, until these territories are recognized as such, juridically in the laws. In the same terms, to the Minister of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (a Wayuu Indigenous), who supports the electric line project, despite having heard from the indigenous people of the Gran Sabana themselves the reasons for their opposition, and who also favors reformulating, instead of the revokation, of Presidential Decree 1.850, a position we do not share. In the same terms, to the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Foreign Affairs, and to the President of the Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG), Doctors Luis Miquelenea, Jose Vicente Rangel and Clemente Escoto, respectively: * That OIT Convention 169 be ratified without delay by the Venezuelan State. Also to ask from the President of the Republic that the three Indigenous representatives to the Constitutional Assembly, chosen by delegates of 28 ethnic groups of Venezuela at the Indigenous People's Extraordinary Congress of Ciudad Bolivar, gathered from March 22nd to 25th, be recognized and legitimized by the National Electoral Council (CNE). We will keep vigilant to developments, and will briefly be taking actions against these projects; we will then again be asking all of you for support. Ciudadano HUGO RAFAEL CHAVEZ FRIAS Presidente de la Rep�blica Palacio de Miraflores Caracas FAx: 58 2 801344 Ciudadano Dr. ALFREDO PE�A Palacio de Miraflores Caracas Fax: 58 2 8013229 Ciudadana ATALA URIANA POCATERRRA Torre Sur, Piso 19 Centro Sim�n Bol�var Caracas Fax: 58 2 4831148 Ciudadano Dr.LUIS MIQUELENA Edif. M.R.I. Esquina Carmelitas Avenida Urdaneta - Caracas Fax: 58 2 861.1967 Ciudadano: DR. JOSE VICENTE RANGEL Torre M.R.I. Planta Baja, Conde a Carmelitas Caracas Fax: 58 2 816411 Ciudadano Dr. CLEMENTE SCOTTO Presidente de la Corporaci�n Venezolana de Guyana Edif. CVG Alta Vista Puerto Ordaz - Venezuela Fax: 58 2 614153 Ciudadano DR. ANDRES CALECA Presidente del Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) Edif. CNE Centro Simon Bol�var Caracas Fax:58 2 6317933 Federacion de Indigenas del Estado Bolivar-Venezuela Av. Bolivar - Qta. Devis - No.62 Ciudad Bolivar, Estado Bolivar Venezuela tel:(58)(085)25730 fax:(58)(085)26786 ___________________________________________________ Julio Cesar Centeno, PhD PO Box 750 Fax: +58-74-714576 Merida - Venezuela Tel: +58-74-713814 - 714576 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ciens.ula.ve/~jcenteno/ ___________________________________________________ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
