Paraguay cancels British science expedition

[Judi Lynn]

Paraguay cancels British science expedition
Associated Press | Posted: Monday, November 15, 2010 4:18 pm

Paraguay denied authorization Monday for a British-led scientific expedition to catalog plants and animals in the country's remote northern corner, saying there isn't enough time to consult with relatives of nomadic Indians who try to remain isolated as they pass through the area.

The non-governmental Amotocoide Initiative, an advocacy group for native Ayoreo Indians who live in the dry forests of northern Paraguay, had warned that scientists might carry European diseases to the Indians, leave trash or otherwise suffer violent encounters.

Isabel Basualdo, director of the biodiversity office of Paraguay's environmental ministry, said in a statement that the decision follows the recommendation of the Interamerican Human Rights Commission that public hearings and all other legal requirements are complied with before such a visit.

Richard Lane, the British Natural History museum's director of science, said the expedition had been suspended while consultations take place.

More:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/world/article_8bc064fc-5555-5efe-9d61-09ab9d736a79.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Good

:thumbsup:

How odd - I must've rec'd this just as another unrec'd it.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Damn weird, that anybody would unrec such a thread!

I can't help but suspect our RW posters who likely resent the awesome leftist democracy movement that has swept Latin America, with even Paraguay (Paraguay!) electing a leftist government. Leftists tend to be more informed, more enlightened, more attuned to human rights and more respectful of Indigenous tribes. Lula da Silva, for instance, used the "rule by fiat" powers that are so common in Latin America to protect a wide swatch of the Amazon where there is an uncontacted tribe. RWers tend to run over the Indigenous with a bulldozer. They don't want to be informed, they wish that the the Enlightenment had never happened, they think human rights are for the rich cuz only the rich are human, and, as for respect, they respect nothing but the no-longer-almighty dollar, which their "dear leaders" destroyed.

So, unrecommending a thread about a leftist government protecting an uncontacted tribe is just the sort of damn weird thing they would do.