ISDS Case Map
indigenous peoples
Some 1,700 indigenous people participated in a July 23-27 caravan to Bogota from Santander de Quilichao in the southwestern Colombian department of Cauca to demand peace, to call for popular unity and to oppose a "free trade" agreement (TLC, from its initials in Spanish) that the government of President Alvaro Uribe has signed with the US.
The fight for land and territory and opposition to neoliberalism and free trade treaties (FTAs) with the United States are the main issues at the Indigenous People's Summit currently meeting in Iximché, Guatemala.
Under CAFTA, indigenous heritage becomes intellectual property for the United States.
“El texto del proyecto de ley que se tramita bajo el expediente No. 16.047, ‘Tratado de Libre Comercio República Dominicana - Centroamérica - Estados Unidos' (TLC), en virtud de contener disposiciones normativas que pueden afectar directamente a los pueblos indígenas, debe ser consultado a esas comunidades (...)”. Con este párrafo concluye un informe en el cual el Departamento de Servicios Técnicos de la Asamblea Legislativa se pronuncia sobre la obligatoriedad de consultar a las comunidades indígenas del país sobre el polémico tratado comercial.
Showing the door to Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) and scuttling US free trade negotiations have long been agenda priorities for Ecuadorian social movements and political sectors. But following government steps that have all but made these goals a reality, the atmosphere seems more anxious than celebratory.
Farmers and members of indigenous tribes clashed on Tuesday with police during protests against a free-trade agreement with the US and the re-election of President Alvaro Uribe, and protest leaders said an Indian farmer was killed.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is widely seen to be at the center of Latin America's transformation by building a regional trade bloc through the creation of ALBA and Venezuela's membership in Mercosur to oppose US dominance and its constant push for free trade agreements with Latin American governments. However, the true democratic debate has been silenced in this simplified two-sided fight between the projects of macho men.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) has demanded the government Sunday to suspend the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks with the US and hold a referendum on that deal.
Ecuadorian Indigenous organizations are in the leadership of the most recent uprising in that country, which began on March 13. Tired of being lied to, exploited and excluded, they have taken on the courageous road of challenging the Free Trade Agreement that is secretly, behind closed doors, being negotiated with the United States by President Alfredo Palacios.
Given the rejection by Ecuadorian president Alfredo Palacio of the demands made by the popular sector, the indigenous movement is today to assume power itself and convene a popular consultation on the Free Trade Agreement.
