(posted Feb. 25, 5:30 p.m.)- The Mosquito Coast’s ancestral Council of Elders is calling on indigenous communities to “organize against the aggression and neutralize the actions of invasion, occupation, destruction of forests, land sales and illegal concession that the State of Nicaragua is promoting as a new form of neo-colonialization.”
In response to the recent indigenous uprising in the community of Lapan, which has taken 12 outsiders prisoner in a tense standoff between indigenous and non-indigenous residents on the Caribbean coast, the Council of Elders today released a five-point declaration blaming the situation on Sandinistas’ political and economic interests in the region.
The elder council’s declaration denounces the “powerful business interests of the Venezuelan ALBA (group) of Hugo Chávez that is claiming ownership of our natural resources,” and calls for solidarity “with the just cause of the community of Lapan for defending themselves against this aggression.”
The indigenous council, which represents the Communitarian Nation of the Moskitia, says it also refuses to recognize “any title, transaction, or illegal payment for indigenous lands.”
“The international treaties of the Moskitia and the Sacred Writings recognize that each national or people has the right to defend its territories,” the declaration reads. “The Sumos Mayangnas, Ramas and Miskitus are the Original Nations with historic rights to the Moskitia.”
The declaration is signed by Otis Lam Hoppington, the eldest living member of the Council of Elders, as well as council directors Alejandro Barquero and Roberto Thomas.
The declaration comes one day after the separatists political leader, the Wihta Tara—or great judge—told The Nicaragua Dispatch that the Communitarian Nation of the Moskitia is not behind the recent uprising in Lapan.
The Council of Elders announced its support for the rebirth of the Communitarian Nation of the Moskitia in 2006, but has been relatively quiet for several years. The government of Nicaragua does not recognize the group’s claim to independence.
In other words… the Miskitos are saying
Those lands are not apt for cattle ranching. Back off.
They have every right to ask for their Independence and away from the Managua crap represented today by the clowns Chayo and the Bachi.
As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, ALBA is responsible for most of the deforestation in the RAAN area. They dont even have to deal with INAFOR (Nicaraguas useless and corrupt forestry authority). I regularly fly from Managua to Rosita and notice that the plane is full of Sandinista so called social workers out to influence the indigenous communities. They are gaining ground, several local groups are selling out. Also the Sandinista colonization is massive. In the end they will win, the desperately poor and ignorant indigenous community is no match for the well organized Sandinista interest.
And what is the ‘Communitarian Nation of the Moskitia’? And who are the Council of Elders? Who voted for them and when? The Council of Elders is an unrepresentative group of old men who think that writing letters to the Queen of England will lead to an armed British intervention on their behalf. The Autonomy Law of 1987 and the subsequent Demarcation Law and it’s implementation under the FSLN government have all led to the one of the most radical and generous communal property regimes in the world. This is yet another example of Tim Rogers and his State Department-backed publication, posting stories to destabilise the government of Nicaragua
The Most Important Election of Our Lifetime:
Is the world slipping off into global chaos? Will our debt crush us to death? Yes, if we do nothing, but House Republicans can already decline to raise the debt ceiling. The residual wealth of our nation is as vast as our natural entrepreneurial spirit. The remarkable thing about our nation when it recovers is how much faster and more grandly we restore the dream of our nation when we want to do so.
So is this election the most important in our lifetime? It can be if a ticket of strong conservatives leads the Republican Party in November to a big enough victory to push dramatic changes through Congress (especially the Senate). That is the key. Obama already is a spent force, a puerile nonentity whose legacy will last as long as Carter’s legacy lasted after Reagan began to lead us.
Is this a Republican forum? Rita, your comment has nothing to do with the article. Apart of trying to get Republican mobilized with your nonsense propaganda…. Are you related to Dr. J. Goebels?
Nicaragua with the FSLN in power has approved one of the most progressive laws in world in favor of these indigenous communities. I guess that’s not the point of the article or ND.
Really disappointed in ND reporting.
Another do gooder…
Las celebraciones en toda Latinoamerica de millones de personas celebrando la pronta e inevitable muerte de su unica excusa dizque socialista: Hugo Chavez y segun ellos ungidos por el mismo Cristo tal y como su Grafiti testifica y que no fue mas que la justificación de unos pocos para beneficiarse de los petrodolares Venezolanos, la llamada “merienda de negros”. He recibido cientos de correos con una frase que se menciona cuando de Chavez se trata:” a todo chancho le llega su sábado”