Venezuela's Chavez Presents Land Titles to Indigenous Groups

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBQ2I7R6CE.html

KARI'NA LA ISLA, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez presented property titles to several indigenous groups Tuesday, recognizing their ownership of ancestral lands and reversing what he says have been centuries of injustice.

It was the first such action by Chavez's government. Kari'na Indians attended a ceremony with the president, wearing traditional dress, face paint and strings of colored beads.

"This is an important step," Chavez said after presenting the collective property titles at the remote village of Kari'na La Isla in eastern Venezuela. "We're here to ask for justice for indigenous people."

The documents recognize land ownership by six indigenous communities with some 4,000 people and territory covering 127,000 hectares (313,817 acres) in the eastern states of Anzoategui and Monagas.

Chavez said he hopes the government will be able to turn over titles to 15 other indigenous communities by the end of the year.

[neuvocat]

1. He's a very shrewd politician.

He knows that the U.S. wants to take over their land, so what better way to have someone defend it than to give them a deed to it?

[1932]

9. See post 8.

He has a longstanding history of standing up for the interests of powerless indigenous people.

[MasonJar]

2. He is also a great man and a solid leader. This is the opposite

of U.S. policy, which has always been to take, seize, violate in its relations with our own native Indians. Of course we do the same to everybody, especially now with idiot in charge (in his own mind at least.)

[applegrove]

3. Will help the people a great deal. This is capitalism. DeSoto type

capitalism. Where when people have title to their land..they have the ability to participate economically. I cannot wait for the WH responce!!

[Joanne98]

4. What a good man! Watch the "wealthy" protesters come unglued!

[Judi Lynn]

7. They should have been pouring in here to post already!

Must have been held up in traffic.

They do seem to go wild over events like this, what with their fixation upon earthly possessions at the expense of everything else.

[emcguffie]

5. Today is International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

This is my second set of goosebumps, all because of indigenous peoples, and their "resistance".

Anyone ever seen the Peruvian "Dance of the Scissors"?

Quechua competitive break dancing, about resistance. Awesome.

[AuntiBush]

16. Cultural Anthropology: Everyone should take the class.

Breaks one's heart when you learn what we and many big take-over country's have done to the "indigenous" people.

How we can take away their culture, their beliefs and shove even our religion on them is way beyond true humanitarian thinking.

Excellent post!

[mom cat]

6. He is walking the walk! Congradulations!

[1932]

8. From Aleida Guevara's book on Chavez (it's a transcribed interview):

She tells a story about Chavez and indigenous people in the afterward.

She interviews the equivalent of the speaker of the house (IIRC) who is an indigenous woman from a tiny town out in the jungle. She tells a story about how Chavez, years earlier, was in command of a small outpost near her town. He drove around to meet the people. When they saw his military vehicle the first time, all the adults in the town ran for cover. The kids remained in view. Chavez got out of his car and talked to them. When the adults saw that he was friendly, they came out and talked to him.

They all became friends.

It turns out that there were white hunters who, for sport, killed these indigenous people. Chavez intervened on their behalf to stop that from happening.

In other words, they guy seens ti be a decent person who takes the plight of the powerless seriously and it's not an issue that he only started caring about recently for political reasons. It's apparently a long-standing conviction.

[Roland99]

27. I think America would shit a collective brick if that happened here.

[justjones]

28. Folks here can't even understand why Native American tribe names....

for college mascots is insulting.

American presidents can't even apologize for crimes against indigenous people let alone hand over deeds to the land they stole. That will happen when donkeys fly and Bush gets prosecuted for the war criminal that he is.

[VegasWolf]

10. What a non - American, err Capitalist, approach. Give something away

for free.

[phusion]

11. What a badass!

Righting wrongs left and right. YAY Chavez!

[Nothing Without Hope]

12. this is great. I've bookmarked it under my "hopeful stories" heading. n/t

[wli]

13. Bushler is sure to invade now

Reminds me of Guatemala in 1948.

[1932]

14. The US didn't object to Castro until the land reform proposals came up.

Cuba set a maximum acreage restricition of (IIRC) about 350 acres (and was going to impose citizenship requirements for ownership which would have been bad for US companies that owned land in Cuba).

When the US went ballistic, Castro and Guevara pointed out that the US did the same thing in Japan after WWII, except the US imposed a maximum acreage that one person could own at 3 acres. (In Japan, a few very rich families owned everything, so the US (run by Democrats) got really progressive and democratic with their reforms to eliminate fascist imperialism there).

Castro and Guevara said that if three acres was good for the US in Japan, then 350 shouldn't raise anyone's eyebrows.

This is from Richard Gott's book Cuba.

[sintax]

15. As it should be n/t

[Zorra]

17. "We're here to ask for justice for indigenous people."

Wow. Chavez sure makes Bu*h look like a fascist shithead.

Oh, yeah....Bu*h really is a fascist shithead.

[nosmokes]

18. viva chavez!

compare this to another DU subject line:

Bush Protests NCAA Ban on Seminoles Name or sumpin like that. light years apart.

[Moderator]

19. kick

[cubschicago]

20. Chavez Gives Land Titles to the Indigenous

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050810/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_indigenous_lands

'KARI'NA LA ISLA, Venezuela - Six of Venezuela's indigenous communities received title to their ancestral lands on Tuesday in a ceremony that Venezuela's president said reversed centuries of injustice.

President Hugo Chavez said he hoped the government would be able to turn over titles to 15 other indigenous communities by the end of the year.

"What we're recognizing is the original ownership of these lands," Chavez said during the ceremony. "Now no one will be able to come and trample over you in the future."

He was joined by Kari'na Indians wearing traditional dress, face paint and strings of colored beads.'

[arcane1]

21. fuck hell YES!!!!

Can you IMAGINE this happening in the US? Even people who are sympathetic to the plight of the REAL natives would raise utter hell

you go, Hugo!! :toast:

[Mairead]

22. This is wonderful!

Centuries of colonialism finally starting to be toppled.

[leftofcool]

23. Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, why can't we do that for our own indigenous tribal people??????? Oh wait, I know, we have to keep all that stolen land just in case there is oil on it.

Left of Cool

[Kipling]

24. OH, THE MONSTROUS INJUSTICE!

Think of the poor corporations trampled over by this vicious endorsement of wicked scheming darkies! THINK OF THE CHILDREN! Think of the horrific smiles of security and hope that will spread across their little faces! NUUUUUKKKEEEEMMM!!!

[getmeouttahere]

25. I love it!!! And I love the responses....

here on DU. You folks are beautiful.

www.handsoffvenezuela.org

[sintax]

29. Partial Timeline of Venezuela

Timeline: Venezuela
A chronology of key events

1498-99 - Christopher Columbus and Alonso de Ojeda visit Venezuela, which is inhabited by Carib, Arawak and Chibcha peoples.

CARACAS
Founded as Santiago de Leon de Caracas in 1567
Became administrative centre in 1577
Population: Circa five million

1521 - Spanish colonisation begins on the northeast coast.

1749 - First rebellion against Spanish colonial rule.

1810 - Venezuelan patriots take advantage of Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Spain to declare independence.

<snip>

1908-35 - Dictator Juan Vicente Gomez governs at a time when Venezuela becomes world's largest exporter of oil.

1947-48 - President Romulo Gallegos, Venezuela's first democratically elected leader, overthrown within eight months in military coup led by Marcos Perez Jimenez, who forms government with backing from the armed forces and the US.

Democratic rule

1958 - Admiral Wolfgang Larrazabal ousts Marcos Perez Jimenez; leftist Romulo Betancourt of the Democratic Action Party (AD) wins democratic presidential election.

1960 - Movement of the Revolutionary Left splits from AD and commences anti-government work.

1964 - Venezuela's first presidential handover from one civilian to another takes place when Dr Raul Leoni (AD) is elected president.

Boom and bust

1973 - Venezuela benefits from oil boom and its currency peaks against the US dollar; oil and steel industries nationalised.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1229348.stm

[meganmonkey]

26. Goddamn heathen commies!

We should bomb the crap out of them!!!!

(Yes that's sarcasm. VIVA CHAVEZ!!!)