Following the murder of indigenous Yukpa leader Sabino Romero three weeks ago, a committee of 17 Yukpa met yesterday with the minister for foreign affairs, Elias Jaua, who promised to make payments so their lands could be inhabited by them.
The assassination of indigenous Yukpa chief Sabino Romero on Saturday 3 March has led to public criticisms of the Venezuelan government’s handling of the land rights conflict in the Sierra de Perijá region.
Compañeros, the greatest libertarian teacher of the Venezuelan people has died, and two days earlier an equally important teacher… Chávez and Sabino show the way.
Indigenous Yupka chief and land rights activist Sabino Romero has been assassinated in an act which has generated public repudiation from social movements and the Venezuelan government alike. A high profile investigation into the killing has been launched.
What Venezuela currently faces is a dilemma also known and lived by many other neighbouring Latin countries, wherein the need for progress and development essential to guarantee national sovereignty and economic might is challenged by the equally important endeavour to safeguard the environment, natural resources and the indigenous populations that inhabit the same regions.
The Venezuelan government has announced that it will hold an assembly with the Yukpa indigenous group in order to resolve the ongoing conflict over land rights in the western region of Perijá.
More than sixty members of the Venezuelan indigenous ethnic group Yukpa arrived to the capital city on Wednesday to demand a resolution to ongoing violence and aggression from cattle ranchers on indigenous lands near the Colombian border.
Close to 2,000 representatives of communities from all over Venezuela arrived in Caracas last Monday to participate in the country’s 7th National Cultural Diversity Conference.
A massacre of up to 80 Yanomami indigenous people has taken place in the Venezuelan state of Amazonas, according to claims emerging from the region, prompting the government to send in investigators.
