Paraguay's Indigenous Slam Columbus Day, Demand Ancestral Lands

[Judi Lynn]

Paraguay's Indigenous Slam Columbus Day, Demand Ancestral Lands



Some 75 percent of Paraguayan Indigenous live in extreme poverty, the majority because
they were stripped of their ancestral lands during Gen. Alfredo Stroessner's 1954-1989
dictatorship and the first decade of democracy. | Photo: CLIBCh

Published 12 October 2016



Indigenous peoples make up less than 2 percent of Paraguay's population and are divided into nearly 20 different ethnic groups.


Paraguayan Indigenous groups on Wednesday expressed their rejection of an Oct. 12 national holiday marking the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas and also denounced the expulsion of Indigenous communities from their ancestral lands.

Leaders of 75 Indigenous communities who are part of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Leaders of the Lower Chaco, or CLIBCH, protested outside the Paraguayan Congress building in the capital of Lima.

Milciades Gonzalez, a member of the Sanapana community, said the "plundering and massacre of the Indigenous communities began with the supposed discovery of America."

"For us, there's nothing to celebrate" on Oct. 12, a holiday known in Paraguay as the Day of the Race, he said.

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Paraguays-Indigenous-Slam-Columbus-Day-Demand-Ancestral-Lands-20161012-0032.html