Legal battle over forest is victory for Paraguayan Indians

[amyrose2712]

By Arthur Brice

(CNN) -- A small tribe of Indians in Paraguay who have had virtually no contact with the outside world won a legal battle this week when rights groups stopped a Brazilian company from continuing to bulldoze the forest to clear land for cattle ranches.
About 2,000 members of the Ayoreo ethnic group live in 13 settlements in Bolivia and Paraguay.

About 2,000 members of the Ayoreo ethnic group live in 13 settlements in Bolivia and Paraguay.

The Totobiegosode tribe, said to number no more than 300, is the last group of uncontacted Indians in South America outside the Amazon River basin, indigenous rights groups say.

The Totobiegosode, who are part of the larger Ayoreo ethnic group, are nomadic Indians who hunt and fish, as well as gather fruit and honey and cultivate small temporary plots during the rainy season. They live communally, four to six families to a dwelling, in the dense forests of northwestern Paraguay.

Two Brazilian companies have been rapidly clearing land the Totobiegosode live on, and the tribe has lost nearly 15,000 acres (about 6,000 hectares) this year, according to British-based Survival International, an advocacy organization for the rights of tribal people.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/11/14/paraguay.indians/index.html

One tiny win for the little guy!

[Peace Patriot]

1. And you can bet that Paraguay and Bolivia now having leftist governments makes

all the difference in the world, as to saving these tribes and the rainforest they are part of.

From the above article: "A ruling Thursday by Paraguay's secretary of the environment canceled a special permit for one of the companies, Yaguarete Pora S.A., to clear the land."

Paraguay elected leftist Fernando Lugo--the beloved "bishop of the poor"--as president of Paraguay this year, overturning 61 years of highly corrupt rightwing rule, including a long a heinous dictatorship (during which Lugo's brothers were tortured). Lugo is aligned with the most forward-looking, progressive governments in South America--Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia--and is strong allies also with the center-left governments of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay--all of which form a very large contingent for regional self-determination and social justice. (Chile is center-left but more of a waffler on items like "free trade," and seems to be less heartfelt in its commitment to the poor; though Chile played a crucial role in fending off a U.S.-Bush backed fascist coup recently in Bolivia.) (Bolivia elected Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia--Morales, a thorough-going leftist is very popular; nearly 70% approval rating.)

Fernando Lugo (92% approval rating!) appointed an indigenous woman to oversee the indigenous affairs office--a first in Paraguay--and it was his new appointee to the position of secretary of the environment who just canceled the permit for the rapacious Brazilian timber corporations that were destroying this rainforest.

Leftist governments MATTER. Transparent vote counting MATTERS.

Additionally, this year, Lula da Silva used his presidential decree powers to preserve a large swath of the Amazon rainforest where other uncontacted tribes live. (Funny, we don't hear about the decree powers of OTHER South American presidents--just Chavez, in Venezuela, who gets demonized as a "dictator" because Venezuela has so much oil that the Bushwhacks want to get their hands on).

In an article from Oct 08:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0810/S00413.htm

"Survival's director, Stephen Corry, said today, 'Just look at the sat photos! It's impossible not to see what is going on there - the flagrant destruction of the Totobiegosode's home, right 'before our eyes'. How can president Lugo ignore this?'

Satellite photos taken from May to October this year

Well, President Lugo didn't ignore it. He and his environment secretary took action as soon as they were able to. (He's only been in office since August.)

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Other environmental news--re the overwhelming leftist trend in South America...

Ecuador's new, young leftist president, Rafael Correa, just presided over a re-write of the Constitution--which was passed by nearly 70% of the voters--that grants legal status to Mother Nature ("Pachamama," in the indigenous language), and acknowledges the right of Nature and her critters and ecosystems to exist, and to function properly, apart from human interests. A first in the world.

Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, halted dreadful coal mining operations in Zulia

http://www.honorearth.org/whatsnew/chavezdecree.htm

"By Presidential Decree, the Environmental Minister Prohibits New Coal Mines in Zulia State

"Caracas, March 21, 2007. By presidential decree, the Environmental Minister Yubiri Ortega de Carrizalez announced yesterday to the Yukpa and Wayuu indigenous peoples of the Sierra de Perija that opening new coal mines in the state of Zulia is prohibited, as well as the expansion of the existing Guasare and Paso Diablo mines."

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Go, Pachamama! Viva la revolución!