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Press
Release
Rama Territorial Government Indict
the President of the Regional Council in the SAAR
On October 18, 2005 Mr. Sebastian McCrea Ruiz,
President and Mrs. Pearl Marie Watson, First Secretary of the Board of
Directors of the Rama Territorial Government (GTR) located on the island
of Rama Cay, Municipality of Bluefields, South Autonomous Atlantic Region
(SAAR) formally indicted Rev. Rayfield Hodgson Bobb, who in the capacity
of president of the Directive Board of the Regional Council of the SAAR
emitted “Certification” in favor of the directive board of the
supposedly “Authority of the Territory of the Rama
Indigenous People of San Juan del Norte” on July 20, 2005.
The afore mention indictors allege that Rev. Rayfield
Hodgson Bobb has facilitated the formation of a group of persons of
Miskito ethnicity and some Mestizos to whom he has extended a
certification, which they are using to invade the Biosphere Reserve of
Southeastern Nicaragua and eventually obtain the demarcation and title of
the lands within the Reserve and the Territory of the Rama Indigenous
People. This group goes by the name of “Authority of the Territory of
the Rama Indigenous People of San Juan del Norte” indigenous community
“Bartola,
San Juan o Indio Maíz.”
Nonetheless, in Nicaragua there exist only one Rama Indigenous People who
are recognized by historians and modern anthropologists and formerly
registered in the Autonomous Registry of the SAAR in compliance with the
criteria of Law 28 that the indictors represent. Thus, the Rama Indigenous
People by means of the recourse presented do not recognize as Ramas the
persons who were “certified” by Rev. Hodgson because they are not part
of the indigenous community; instead, they are individual who have form
associations to acquire land. The persons “certified” by Rev. Hodgson
don’t even inhabit the region. Some of them are ex-combatants who have
identified themselves to the authorities of MARENA (Ministry of the
Environment and Natural Resources) as representatives of the Resistance
with identity cards issued in Puerto Cabezas and who in the past have
received lands, which they sold. Now, they see the opportunity to obtain
more lands for commercialization. To obtain money from the Mestizos of
Nueva Guinea area, they affiliated themselves to their “associations”
for an amount between 200 and 500 Córdobas
at which time they issue an identification card contingent on a promise of
50 manzanas of land, housing, and food for six months. They claimed that
their “affiliates” total 5,000 persons.
The indictors allege that the illegal grant of
“certification” by Rev. Hodgson to the afore mention group violates
the rights established to protect the Rama Indigenous People and the
ethnic community of Monkey Point and specifically the right to protect its
communal properties under the sui generis (unique) regimen as defined by
articles 5, 89, and 180 of the Political Constitution of Nicaragua and
developed in the definition of indigenous lands by article 36 and article
11 numerals 3, 4, and 6 of Law 28 and its regulation; and the
representation of its Territorial Authorities as part of the customary
right protected by the Constitution in articles 5, 89, 180 and regulated
by Law 28. It also violates articles 128, 130, and 131 of the Political
Constitution of Nicaragua.
Hence, in conformity with Law 445, for an indigenous
community to exist, it is necessary for a “group of families of
Amerindian ascendance to be established in a territorial space,” and for
an ethnic community its “a group of families of Afro-Caribbean … tied
to their cultural roots and forms of possession of the land” which is
why the persons “certified” by Rev. Hodgson do not comply with legal
and constitutional rights to be considered members of an ethnic or
indigenous “community.” They are not a group of people with ties to
any predetermined communal land; and even though some of them may be of
Miskito ethnicity, they are not a part of the Rama Indigenous People as it
is expressed by the illegal certification. Instead, they are persons who
belong to other Miskito communities and Mestizos without any ties
whatsoever to the Biosphere Reserve of Nicaragua which they intend to
invade.
Though the primary settlement of the Rama Indigenous
People is Rama Cay, the rest of the territory is conformed by lands on the
main land which historically and traditionally have been occupied by the
Rama's overlapping the Natural Reserve of Cerro Silva, the Natural Reserve
of Punta Gorda, the Refuge of Vida Silvestre of Rio San Juan, and the
Biosphere Reserve of Indio-Maiz, which today form part of the Biosphere
Reserve of Southeastern Nicaragua and is protected by the UNESCO of the
United Nation. Reserves that if invaded by the persons “certified” by
Rev. Hodgson and the groups which they direct, would destroyed these
protected areas. The amount of people that they intend to introduce into
the areas would be detrimental to the preservation of the environment and
the natural resources. And that is why the minister and prosecutor of
MARENA, and the Nicaraguan Army have evacuated these persons from the
Reserve of Indio-Maiz on various occasions. Nevertheless, Rev. Hodgson
with his so-called “certification” facilitates the invasion not only
of the Reserve of Indio-Maiz but also the Reserve of Cerro Silva, which
from immemorial times have been inhabited by the Rama communities.
For more information contact the office of the Rama
Territorial Government in front of the office of the Electoral Council on
Averdeen Street, Bluefields. Tel (505) 572-1441
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