Bogota “The rich families in Cali just fired at random in unity with the police,” reports Feliciano Valencia, stunned by the disturbing scenes in the Colombian metropolis a few days ago.
Valencia is one of the most influential indigenous politicians in the Colombian Congress, reporting on the clashes between the indigenous peoples and the predominantly white wealthy armed population of Cali.
Before that, a protest march by the indigenous people from the surrounding area had come into the city and was received with such brutal violence that the Archbishop of Cali, Darío de Jesus Monsalve, later asked the indigenous peoples for forgiveness on behalf of the city and its authorities. “I apologized for what happened to them in Cali,” said Monsalve in an interview with the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND).
New levels of violence
Although there were some violent demonstrators among the indigenous peoples and there were links to illegal groups, the fact that armed civilians hunted indigenous people and that a doctor called for the murder of indigenous peoples has a new quality.
The struggle on the street gives an idea of how great the social tensions are in the country. In an interview with the BBC, Cali’s ex-mayor Maurice Armitage said, referring to the ongoing unrest in the city and across the country: “It’s the first time I’ve seen the rich people scared – and that’s a good thing.” Because Armitage is convinced that the upper class has now also understood that something has to change.
In hardly any other country is the indigenous population exposed to such terror as in Colombia: from right-wing extremists, left-wing guerrilla groups, the drug mafia, the army and security forces, all of whom somehow want to earn money from the multi-billion dollar drug business, illegal mining, and an agricultural industry devouring land.
They all want what has been taken from the indigenous peoples piece by piece for centuries: land. The buyers for the wood, the gold and the agricultural products have not only been in the West for a long time, but also in China.
Dispute over the land
And now the centuries-old conflict is breaking out again between the Rio Bravo and Tierra del Fuego: Who actually belongs to America? The indigenous people, the descendants of the European colonial rulers, who are still at the controls of power and the economy almost everywhere to this day, or the Chinese, who are increasingly taking on the role of the new economic colonial rulers, while the USA and Europe are increasingly taking over lose influence.
Anyone who talks to the indigenous peoples in Brazil or Colombia, Chile or Argentina almost always hears: “We have actually been at war for 500 years.” That in the course of the unrest therefore also sculptures by European conquerors and “discoverers” such as Columbus being destroyed is an expression of this feeling.
Bolsonaro is downplaying fires in the Amazon
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has rejected criticism of his government’s environmental policy. © Reuters
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More than 1,500 kilometers further south, there are again shots that cause horror. This time it is illegal gold prospectors who attack a Yanomami settlement in the Brazilian state of Roraima. A video shows frightened indigenous families fleeing the gunfire.
The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) describes the scenario as follows: “According to information from the Hutukara Yanomami organization, seven gold-prospecting boats docked in Palimiu municipality on Monday at around 11.30 am local time. The intruders started shooting. In the subsequent exchange of fire, three of the attackers died, four gold seekers and one indigenous person were wounded. “
The fact that the invaders do not have to fear prosecution encourages them to further attacks the indigenous population.
Juliana Miyazaki, Consultant at the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP)
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At the end of April there was a shooting between gold seekers and indigenous people at the same location. “The fact that the intruders do not have to fear prosecution encourages them to carry out further attacks on the indigenous population,” fears Juliana Miyazaki, STP consultant for indigenous peoples.
Bolsonaro shares responsibility
The NGO also blames the government in Brasilia for the fact that these attacks can occur: “Bolsonaro’s anti-indigenous policy encourages invaders who want to illegally search for gold, fell wood or rob land to continue to penetrate indigenous areas,” criticizes Miyazaki.
In the Yanomami territory alone, illegal mining increased by 30 percent in the past year, according to the Brazilian media. From January to December 2020, 500 hectares were devastated. In total, illegal mining has already destroyed an area the size of 2,400 soccer fields.
The country’s authorities are doing little to remove the more than 20,000 invaders from the Yanomami territory. They are now taking their defense into their own hands because they cannot expect any help from the state.
Amazon fires are picking up again
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According to environmental groups, the forest fires in the Amazon rainforest are increasing again with reference to official information from the authorities. © Reuters
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Arson attacks in Chile
The churches and agricultural machinery burn even further to the south-west. In Chile, the struggle of the descendants of the “New World” against those of the “Old World” is also in full swing. Radical Mapuche, members of the dominant people among the various indigenous ethnic groups of Chile, are apparently behind the arson attacks.
They see the churches as a symbol of European-Christian colonization. In the countryside there are open power struggles between farms and farm workers on the one hand and violent indigenous peoples on the other.
Protests in Chile: massive police violence against demonstrators
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Since the protests against social inequality began in late 2019, observers have been criticizing massive police violence in the South American country. © Reuters
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Large agricultural equipment is flared, land and real estate are occupied. Mostly with the message “This land is ours”. The workers arm themselves in turn. It is always about one question: who is actually the rightful owner of the land: us or them?
New constitution for Chile
The Chilean people are now trying to clarify this central question as part of the drafting of a new constitution. The constituent assembly was elected a few days ago – with a historic shift to the left.
It is very gratifying that Chile is on the way to a new constitution with the establishment of a constitutional convention, in which 17 places are also provided for indigenous peoples.
Franz Hellinge, Chile expert from the Latin America Aid Organization Adveniat
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“It is very gratifying that Chile is on the way to a new constitution with the establishment of a constitutional convention, in which 17 places are also provided for indigenous peoples. In this way, the neoliberal legacy of the military dictatorship can finally be shaken off and basic social rights can be anchored, ”says Chile expert Franz Hellinge from the Latin America relief organization Adveniat.
The old constitution dates back to the time of the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973–1990) – and was used, among other things, to crack down on the Mapuche. The exciting question now is: How should one deal with the dispute over land ownership?
The spiritual Mapuche authority and human rights activist Machi Francisca Linconao announced that she would campaign for an end to discrimination against indigenous people – and for the return of land to the Mapuche to be set out in the new constitution.
Chile gets a new constitution
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People celebrated the outcome of the referendum in the capital, Santiago. The current constitution dates from the time of the military dictatorship. © Reuters
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Land and raw materials
But it is not just about the land, it is also about the distribution of the riches underground. It is about gold, copper, lithium, oil deposits and the question “Mining or leaving underground to protect the environment and the climate?”
Who gets the profits, the proceeds? China has quietly bought its way into the continent – whether it is about the sometimes brutal enforcement of economic interests in oil production in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest or the gigantic need for soy, which is covered by the Brazilian agricultural industry at the expense of deforestation.
Unlike in Europe, Canada or the USA, there are no NGOs in China that loudly protest against the country’s environmentally destructive machinations. That is why it is at least naive to believe that with the elimination of western-style capitalism, exploitation will be over.
China’s state capitalism and hunger for raw materials are no less ruthless. Despite the social upheaval, it is still a little too early to make overly optimistic forecasts.
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