III Continental Encounter of the Guarani People opens
Dance, joy and prayers to the god Ñanderu marked the beginning of the Third Continental Meeting of the Guarani people in the Metropolitan Seminary, in Asuncion, Paraguay. The theme of the meeting is “Land, territory, autonomy and governance”. Aproximately 350 Guarani of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay participate. The event runs until Friday, November 19.
After the initiation rituals of the event, the notes of the I and II Continental Summit of the Guarani People were read. These were held in Rio Grande do Sul, in the years 2006 and 2007, respectively.
The meeting is an initiative to create more cooperation and articulation among the Guarani communities spread over the four countries. This is much needed, considering the dramatic situation of most of them.
Dramatic
The overall objective of the meeting is to address the rights of indigenous people, constituted in national constitutions and also in international conventions ratified by these countries. The problem is that these laws are not put in practice. The battle flag of the indigenous movement are the guaranteeing of the rights to their traditional land.
“The main purpose is to better coordination at the continental level,” explains Bernardo Bendites Rivarola, or Karaipoty in Guarani. He is a teacher of the indigenous culture in a Guarani village near Assunción, Paraguay. As in the other countries, the Paraguayan government does not respect national and international laws, among them those concerning the demarcation of land. "Many communities are fighting for their traditional lands. In our case, we live with forty families in a kind of settlement of one and a halve hectare.”
Destroyed
Over the last Five decades, the traditional lands of the Guarani people have aroused the greed of big businessmen and landowners. They took their lands, employing the Guarani as cheap labor. The Guarani territory, today, is almost totally destroyed by large soy plantations, sugar cane and eucalyptus. These territories are also threatened by huge infrastructural works such as hydroelectric dams.
Battle
Even living in totally adverse conditions and often inhuman, such as the Guarani Kaiowá of Mato Grosso do Sul, the Guarani people have shown great potential to reorganize and strengthen their daily struggles recovery of their traditional lands and guarantee their rights.
To Toribio Gomez, of the Itapuã in Rio Grande do Sul, this type of continental meetings is very important. “These meetings help us strengthen the fight even more. Here we will talk about how to help each other, how to give strength. If we fight together with the whole community Guarani we can win the battle. We want our land back, with woods and everything, with clean water.”
Main topics
During the meeting will discuss topics such as land / territory: fighting for roads rehabilitation and construction to transform reality, self-determination, rights of indigenous peoples, indigenous territories, sovereignty and self-determination, indigenous peoples, legal tools for defending the land / territory, self governance and the indigenous Guarani, Guarani historical antecedents in the nation, autonomy and political participation since the worldview Guarani in Bolivia; continental articulation of the Guarani nation.
Culture
There are delegations of Brazil, Guarani and Ava Guarani Mbya, Guarani Kaiowá and Ñandeva, from Paraguay the Guarani Ñandeva, Ava Guarani, Mbya, Pai, Ache and Guarani Ocidental. From Argentina the Mbya, Ava Guarani and Chane and from Bolivia, another group of Guarani Ocidental.
Support
The meeting has the support of the following Indian organizations: Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), National Coordination of Indigenous Pastoral Paraguay (Conapi) Team National Aboriginal Pastoral Argentina (Endepa), Network of Private Entities in the Service of Indigenous Peoples ( PAR).
History
The First Continental Guarani was held on the occasion of the 250 years of the death of Sepe Tiaraju and its thousand and five hundred soldiers. This great leader Guarani resisted the occupation and subsequent division of land by the Spanish and Portuguese empires. They united to fight against the resistance mounted by Sepé Guarani. Dying fighting, he became an icon of resistance fighters. In fact, only ecently, the Brazilian government has recognized as a national hero.
From the comemoration of the struggle and death of Sepe Tiaraju emerged the Guarani Campaign (www.guarani-campaign.eu and www.campanhaguarani.org.br).
The second meeting, held in Porto Alegre, also in Rio Grande do Sul, had na important political meaning, a mark in history. Over 800 people participated from Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia. The main theme was "Land and Territory Ywy Rupa", the traditional territory of the Guarani that was cut by the boundaries between countries and states.
Another important theme became crucial importance of the ancestral culture, the education and spirituality. From this meeting began a major international campaign called Guarani People, Great People – Life, land and future.
For more information on the Continental Encounter:
Angel Vera – 0971 461 212 (Paraguay)
Lorenza Benítez – 0981 631 200 (Paraguay)
Shop Conapi – 021443752 (Paraguay)
