2009-09-10 12:53:57 - Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister, Tarek El Aissami has announced that Yukpa indian communities living in the Perija Sierra (Zulia) will finally start receiving communal property rights in October.

VHeadline News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports:

The Minister made the statement after attending a meeting to assess and analyze a national integral security plan for people living in border areas. El Assaimi insisted that the Bolivarian revolution supports the ancestral peoples of Venezuela and confirmed that 20 integrals projects in the area are under way ... the government has restored almost 48 km of the mountain road system. The Public Works & Housing Ministry has donated two ambulances to the community of Tocuco.

As minister in charge of crime, El Aissami has revealed that he has assigned more detectives to clarify the homicide of Chief Sabino Romero’s father, who was shot in Machiques last July. Jose Manuel Romero, who was

hundred nine years old, was a founder of the Chaktapa community.

However, it would appear that there is still some debate and dissension about the extent of lands belonging to Yukpas and other indigenous groups in the area. According to Lusbi Portillo of the Homo et Natural Society, the regional commission for indigenous lands and habitat demarcation has not been transparent in its dealings with local communities and consultations have been taking place not in the communities but in pilot centers, much to the dismay and disagreement of indigenous peoples involved. Portillo claims that the reports and findings have not filtered down to the communities for debate.

The NGO states that in all meetings with chiefs and local leaders what they are demanding is to extend current lands to include ancestral demarcations and that assets of haciendas and invaded plots of land be purchased by the government. The group has also denounced heavy-handedness on the part of the military accused of firing on the Yukpa del Daza community and engaged in selective harassment of indigenous leaders, who have refused to negotiate their right to recognition of ancestral lands.

It seems that the situation has become more conflictive after local opposition to coal mining and a new military base. There was no mention of the conflict between local communities, the military and the demarcation committee in Minister El Assaimi's declarations to the press.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue
news.editor@vheadline.com

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