Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events
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The Law of Afro-descendants has been "at fault" since its creation
Published: July 2, 2018 | 17:41
8% of vacancies in the public sector should be occupied with people from this group. In 2017 it was only 2%. There are no planned sanctions.
Afro-Uruguayan organizations were not surprised by the data on state admissions in 2017 released by the National Civil Service Office (ONC) which reflected a presence of members of this group that is barely a quarter of what was stipulated by law. The fact that there are no sanctions for the government body that violates this norm is used as one of the factors that explain it. But they also point to the lack of interest and the overlapped racism they notice in society.
"Uruguay has been — in a Machiavellian manner — brilliant in the implementation of racism", said Néstor Silva, national director of Organizaciones Mundo Afro, to ECOS.
According to the ONC report released this Monday by La Diaria, in 2017, 361 Afro-descendants were admitted into state jobs. This is 2.06% of all public sector admissions. According to Law 19.122, the Law of Afro-descendants, in order to boost their participation in the educational and labor areas, the percentage should be 8%.
"Since this law's implementation some parties have been at fault. The employers are at fault and also, regardless of whether this law is an achievement, there is no sanction for the government bodies that do not comply with it. This must be solved", indicates Fabiana Míguez, member of the Coordination of Afro-descendants.
Silva and Míguez are part of the advisory board that monitors the compliance with this law approved in 2013.
"Also, there is no specific protocol or unified criteria among the different public bodies", says Míguez.
The only state agency that met the quota in 2017 was the Department Board of Cerro Largo, in which three Afro-descendants were admitted into last year; this was 25% of all occupied vacancies. In the Banco República state-owned bank the percentage was 7.69%, in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport it was 7.58%, in the Intendancy of Cerro Largo it was 7.48% and in the Presidency of the Republic it was 7.16%. Of all Afro-descendant admissions, 162 (slightly less than half) were into the Army. According to Míguez, the high presence of members of the collective in the subordinate personnel of the Armed Forces is not surprising either.
The Coordination member is not encouraged to affirm if there is disinterest or not in the compliance with the law. "I want to be optimistic: perhaps there is lack of information. And what there is is an overlapped racism, some people think that affirmative action for labor inclusion is not welcomed", she noted.
Néstor Silva, of Mundo Afro, is more emphatic. "There is a central reason why this is not being fulfilled and it is the current structural racism. There are very deep cultural issues that are not going to be fixed in a short period of time regardless of legislation". He said that in Uruguay "it is a custom that some people cannot be in certain places". One example is "a black man handling customers in a bank".
Among the numbers that show the reality of this group, which is believed to represent 8.1% of the population, it is indicated that more than half (51.3%) have at least one unfulfilled basic need, 40% is poor and three out of every four young people do not finish high school.
For Silva, in some places there is no interest in complying with this law. For example, she pointed out that the law states that a commission shall be created in the Executive Power to monitor compliance, integrated with a representative of the Ministries of Social Development (Mides), Education and Culture (MEC) and Labor and Social Security (MTSS). The director of Mundo Afro has no complaints to make about Mides and MEC. "But if you ask me about Ministry of Labor, you will notice that it is missing, it is not there". At the same time, he indicates that, at the directorial level, the affirmations and intentions can point towards inclusion. "The managers, the mid-level managers do not comply".
According to La Diaria, since the implementation of this law, 1,117 Afro-descendants took up state jobs.
The Law of Afro-descendants has been "at fault" since its creation
Published: July 2, 2018 | 17:41
8% of vacancies in the public sector should be occupied with people from this group. In 2017 it was only 2%. There are no planned sanctions.
Afro-Uruguayan organizations were not surprised by the data on state admissions in 2017 released by the National Civil Service Office (ONC) which reflected a presence of members of this group that is barely a quarter of what was stipulated by law. The fact that there are no sanctions for the government body that violates this norm is used as one of the factors that explain it. But they also point to the lack of interest and the overlapped racism they notice in society.
"Uruguay has been — in a Machiavellian manner — brilliant in the implementation of racism", said Néstor Silva, national director of Organizaciones Mundo Afro, to ECOS.
According to the ONC report released this Monday by La Diaria, in 2017, 361 Afro-descendants were admitted into state jobs. This is 2.06% of all public sector admissions. According to Law 19.122, the Law of Afro-descendants, in order to boost their participation in the educational and labor areas, the percentage should be 8%.
"Since this law's implementation some parties have been at fault. The employers are at fault and also, regardless of whether this law is an achievement, there is no sanction for the government bodies that do not comply with it. This must be solved", indicates Fabiana Míguez, member of the Coordination of Afro-descendants.
Silva and Míguez are part of the advisory board that monitors the compliance with this law approved in 2013.
"Also, there is no specific protocol or unified criteria among the different public bodies", says Míguez.
The only state agency that met the quota in 2017 was the Department Board of Cerro Largo, in which three Afro-descendants were admitted into last year; this was 25% of all occupied vacancies. In the Banco República state-owned bank the percentage was 7.69%, in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport it was 7.58%, in the Intendancy of Cerro Largo it was 7.48% and in the Presidency of the Republic it was 7.16%. Of all Afro-descendant admissions, 162 (slightly less than half) were into the Army. According to Míguez, the high presence of members of the collective in the subordinate personnel of the Armed Forces is not surprising either.
The Coordination member is not encouraged to affirm if there is disinterest or not in the compliance with the law. "I want to be optimistic: perhaps there is lack of information. And what there is is an overlapped racism, some people think that affirmative action for labor inclusion is not welcomed", she noted.
Néstor Silva, of Mundo Afro, is more emphatic. "There is a central reason why this is not being fulfilled and it is the current structural racism. There are very deep cultural issues that are not going to be fixed in a short period of time regardless of legislation". He said that in Uruguay "it is a custom that some people cannot be in certain places". One example is "a black man handling customers in a bank".
Among the numbers that show the reality of this group, which is believed to represent 8.1% of the population, it is indicated that more than half (51.3%) have at least one unfulfilled basic need, 40% is poor and three out of every four young people do not finish high school.
For Silva, in some places there is no interest in complying with this law. For example, she pointed out that the law states that a commission shall be created in the Executive Power to monitor compliance, integrated with a representative of the Ministries of Social Development (Mides), Education and Culture (MEC) and Labor and Social Security (MTSS). The director of Mundo Afro has no complaints to make about Mides and MEC. "But if you ask me about Ministry of Labor, you will notice that it is missing, it is not there". At the same time, he indicates that, at the directorial level, the affirmations and intentions can point towards inclusion. "The managers, the mid-level managers do not comply".
According to La Diaria, since the implementation of this law, 1,117 Afro-descendants took up state jobs.
The Law of Afro-descendants has been "at fault" since its creation
Pending policies for dignification of the Afro-Mexican population
by BLANCA ESTELA BOTELLO | 07/03/2018 - 00:24:13
Alexandra Haas Paciuc, president of Conapred, spoke about the pending policies in favor of this sector of Mexican society
cronica.com.mx
In Mexico, there are 1,4 million Afro-descendants, who in three years went from being invisible to having recognition as a sector of the country's population, noted Alexandra Haas Paciuc, president of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred).
In an interview with Crónica, Haas Paciuc said that with the 2015 Intercensus Estimate there was a recognition of the Afro-Mexican population in the country, which is mainly concentrated in Guerrero and Oaxaca, although they are also in Coahuila.
"For Mexico it was a very important transformation, because we went from having the Afro-descendant population absolutely invisible to suddenly having knowledge of their lives in various parts of the country.
It is not a small population; they are really almost a million and a half, it is a much larger size than what we previously thought", she said.
This population, according to the head of Conapred, faces inequality gaps, where the illiteracy rate is higher than the non-black population's.
There is also a higher percentage of Afro-Mexicans in the Seguro Popular public health insurance program compared to the rest of the population, because they do not have access to another health service.
"We noticed that in certain communities where there is a high representation of Afro-descendant people, there is an inequality gap with other communities", said the human rights lawyer.
The indigenous and Afro-Mexican populations, she said, face similar conditions, "with an aggravating circumstance for Afro-Mexicans, which is invisibility".
Two pending issues with the Afro-descendant population, said Haas Paciuc, are their constitutional recognition as a part of society's pluri-ethnic diversity, as well as incorporating Afro-Mexican identity into the educational policy, that is, including it in textbooks and curricula.
She regretted that although there have been initiatives in the Congress of the Union to officialize the constitutional recognition of Afro-Mexicans, no progress on the subject has been made.
The new Legislature, which takes office in September, could be a good opportunity to advance the issue, and "without a doubt it will be part of the agenda that we are going to take to the new legislators."
She stressed that the contribution of Afro-Mexicans to the history of Mexico must be recognized, but also their current conditions require specific attention.
"It is nothing more than a matter of historical recognition, which is very important, but also realizing that they have specific problems hence the need to develop institutions and specific public policies to address their needs", said the former consultant of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Being present in Mexico since the colonial period, not all Afro-descendants identify as indigenous, although 60 percent of Afro-Mexicans are also indigenous, she said.
"There is a very distinct Afro-Mexican identity, which is recognized by the constitutions of Guerrero and Oaxaca as a Mexican root of Mexico's ethnic diversity and cannot be subsumed in a generic way under indigenous ethnic groups; they have a distinct identity.
What has happened in Mexico is that over time we have understood our country as one that is basically mestizo, and with this comes the idea that there are no diverse identities, and the truth is that this has invisibilized the specific situation of certain groups", said the Professor of Law graduated from New York University.
She emphasized that the recognition of diversity should not mean a division in racist terms.
"On the contrary, it is the recognition that there is diversity in Mexico, and that diversity deserves specific attention, especially when there are gaps in access to rights, as is the case of Afro-Mexicans, because at the same time we have to live in a country where ethnic and cultural diversity should not mean a difference in access to rights", she said.
She considers that Mexico, compared to other countries, is late to the agenda of recognition of people of African descent.
"In other countries, Afro-descendants have long had specific institutions. This is the case of Colombia, which has not only worked to recognize the historical legacy of these groups, but also for the advancement of their rights and their political articulation", said the president of Conapred.
Pending policies for dignification of the Afro-Mexican population
by BLANCA ESTELA BOTELLO | 07/03/2018 - 00:24:13
Alexandra Haas Paciuc, president of Conapred, spoke about the pending policies in favor of this sector of Mexican society
cronica.com.mx
In Mexico, there are 1,4 million Afro-descendants, who in three years went from being invisible to having recognition as a sector of the country's population, noted Alexandra Haas Paciuc, president of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred).
In an interview with Crónica, Haas Paciuc said that with the 2015 Intercensus Estimate there was a recognition of the Afro-Mexican population in the country, which is mainly concentrated in Guerrero and Oaxaca, although they are also in Coahuila.
"For Mexico it was a very important transformation, because we went from having the Afro-descendant population absolutely invisible to suddenly having knowledge of their lives in various parts of the country.
It is not a small population; they are really almost a million and a half, it is a much larger size than what we previously thought", she said.
This population, according to the head of Conapred, faces inequality gaps, where the illiteracy rate is higher than the non-black population's.
There is also a higher percentage of Afro-Mexicans in the Seguro Popular public health insurance program compared to the rest of the population, because they do not have access to another health service.
"We noticed that in certain communities where there is a high representation of Afro-descendant people, there is an inequality gap with other communities", said the human rights lawyer.
The indigenous and Afro-Mexican populations, she said, face similar conditions, "with an aggravating circumstance for Afro-Mexicans, which is invisibility".
Two pending issues with the Afro-descendant population, said Haas Paciuc, are their constitutional recognition as a part of society's pluri-ethnic diversity, as well as incorporating Afro-Mexican identity into the educational policy, that is, including it in textbooks and curricula.
She regretted that although there have been initiatives in the Congress of the Union to officialize the constitutional recognition of Afro-Mexicans, no progress on the subject has been made.
The new Legislature, which takes office in September, could be a good opportunity to advance the issue, and "without a doubt it will be part of the agenda that we are going to take to the new legislators."
She stressed that the contribution of Afro-Mexicans to the history of Mexico must be recognized, but also their current conditions require specific attention.
"It is nothing more than a matter of historical recognition, which is very important, but also realizing that they have specific problems hence the need to develop institutions and specific public policies to address their needs", said the former consultant of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Being present in Mexico since the colonial period, not all Afro-descendants identify as indigenous, although 60 percent of Afro-Mexicans are also indigenous, she said.
"There is a very distinct Afro-Mexican identity, which is recognized by the constitutions of Guerrero and Oaxaca as a Mexican root of Mexico's ethnic diversity and cannot be subsumed in a generic way under indigenous ethnic groups; they have a distinct identity.
What has happened in Mexico is that over time we have understood our country as one that is basically mestizo, and with this comes the idea that there are no diverse identities, and the truth is that this has invisibilized the specific situation of certain groups", said the Professor of Law graduated from New York University.
She emphasized that the recognition of diversity should not mean a division in racist terms.
"On the contrary, it is the recognition that there is diversity in Mexico, and that diversity deserves specific attention, especially when there are gaps in access to rights, as is the case of Afro-Mexicans, because at the same time we have to live in a country where ethnic and cultural diversity should not mean a difference in access to rights", she said.
She considers that Mexico, compared to other countries, is late to the agenda of recognition of people of African descent.
"In other countries, Afro-descendants have long had specific institutions. This is the case of Colombia, which has not only worked to recognize the historical legacy of these groups, but also for the advancement of their rights and their political articulation", said the president of Conapred.
Pending policies for dignification of the Afro-Mexican population
Pending policies for dignification of the Afro-Mexican population
by BLANCA ESTELA BOTELLO | 07/03/2018 - 00:24:13
Alexandra Haas Paciuc, president of Conapred, spoke about the pending policies in favor of this sector of Mexican society
cronica.com.mx
In Mexico, there are 1,4 million Afro-descendants, who in three years went from being invisible to having recognition as a sector of the country's population, noted Alexandra Haas Paciuc, president of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred).
In an interview with Crónica, Haas Paciuc said that with the 2015 Intercensus Estimate there was a recognition of the Afro-Mexican population in the country, which is mainly concentrated in Guerrero and Oaxaca, although they are also in Coahuila.
"For Mexico it was a very important transformation, because we went from having the Afro-descendant population absolutely invisible to suddenly having knowledge of their lives in various parts of the country.
It is not a small population; they are really almost a million and a half, it is a much larger size than what we previously thought", she said.
This population, according to the head of Conapred, faces inequality gaps, where the illiteracy rate is higher than the non-black population's.
There is also a higher percentage of Afro-Mexicans in the Seguro Popular public health insurance program compared to the rest of the population, because they do not have access to another health service.
"We noticed that in certain communities where there is a high representation of Afro-descendant people, there is an inequality gap with other communities", said the human rights lawyer.
The indigenous and Afro-Mexican populations, she said, face similar conditions, "with an aggravating circumstance for Afro-Mexicans, which is invisibility".
Two pending issues with the Afro-descendant population, said Haas Paciuc, are their constitutional recognition as a part of society's pluri-ethnic diversity, as well as incorporating Afro-Mexican identity into the educational policy, that is, including it in textbooks and curricula.
She regretted that although there have been initiatives in the Congress of the Union to officialize the constitutional recognition of Afro-Mexicans, no progress on the subject has been made.
The new Legislature, which takes office in September, could be a good opportunity to advance the issue, and "without a doubt it will be part of the agenda that we are going to take to the new legislators."
She stressed that the contribution of Afro-Mexicans to the history of Mexico must be recognized, but also their current conditions require specific attention.
"It is nothing more than a matter of historical recognition, which is very important, but also realizing that they have specific problems hence the need to develop institutions and specific public policies to address their needs", said the former consultant of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Being present in Mexico since the colonial period, not all Afro-descendants identify as indigenous, although 60 percent of Afro-Mexicans are also indigenous, she said.
"There is a very distinct Afro-Mexican identity, which is recognized by the constitutions of Guerrero and Oaxaca as a Mexican root of Mexico's ethnic diversity and cannot be subsumed in a generic way under indigenous ethnic groups; they have a distinct identity.
What has happened in Mexico is that over time we have understood our country as one that is basically mestizo, and with this comes the idea that there are no diverse identities, and the truth is that this has invisibilized the specific situation of certain groups", said the Professor of Law graduated from New York University.
She emphasized that the recognition of diversity should not mean a division in racist terms.
"On the contrary, it is the recognition that there is diversity in Mexico, and that diversity deserves specific attention, especially when there are gaps in access to rights, as is the case of Afro-Mexicans, because at the same time we have to live in a country where ethnic and cultural diversity should not mean a difference in access to rights", she said.
She considers that Mexico, compared to other countries, is late to the agenda of recognition of people of African descent.
"In other countries, Afro-descendants have long had specific institutions. This is the case of Colombia, which has not only worked to recognize the historical legacy of these groups, but also for the advancement of their rights and their political articulation", said the president of Conapred.
Pending policies for dignification of the Afro-Mexican population
The story of the quilombo that helped to build Brasília — and fears losing land to luxury condominiums
João Fellet | 07/01/2018
Workers in Cidade Livre (present-day Núcleo Bandeirante), the working-class neighborhood that built Brasília, in 1959. PUBLIC ARCHIVE OF THE FEDERAL DISTRICT
Before hosting the most important buildings in Brasília, Esplanada dos Ministérios was an open field where descendants of slaves used to graze cattle.
They were residents of Quilombo Mesquita, installed in the region since the 18th century and played an important — and little known — role in the city's founding.
272 years after its founding, the quilombo is now threatened by the capital's expansion and the accelerated land valorization in the region — the target of a real estate company that has former president José Sarney as one of its partners.
"Quilombolas had a direct participation in the city's construction, but, unfortunately, they are rarely portrayed as main characters in its history", says researcher Manoel Barbosa Neves, author of the book Quilombo Mesquita - História, Cultura e Resistência and resident of the community, on the border of the Federal District with Goiás.
He says quilombolas helped erect the canteens, lodgings and dining rooms that received the first waves of candangos, as the migrant workers who got Brasília off the drawing board became known.
Everyday, they filled wagons and ox carts with fruits, vegetables, meat, milk and sweets produced in the community and transported them to the construction sites, when food production in Brasília was nil.
Catetinho
Older residents say that, even before the arrival of the candangos, eight residents of Mesquita helped build Catetinho, the residence designed by Oscar Niemeyer so that the then president Juscelino Kubitschek could follow the works of the capital from the beginning, in 1956. And women from the community worked as cooks in Catetinho.
According to the quilombo's Technical Report of Land Identification and Demarcation, published in 2011 by the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), residents of Mesquita also helped build in 1958 the Saia Velha plant, the first hydroelectric power plant to serve the capital.
Sinfrônio Lisboa da Costa, a carpenter that worked on Catetinho and died at 90 years old in 2015, used to say he let Kubitschek in his house several times and helped him identify strategic points for the capital's construction.
Honored by the Federal District's government in 2012, he lamented in the ceremony that other quilombolas who accompained him in the works had already died. "They also had to be recognized, but they could not wait", he said.
Gold rush
The origins of Quilombo Mesquita go back to the gold rush in the 18th century. The rush led to the creation of several villages in the interior of Goiás — one of them being Santa Luzia, founded in 1746 by São Paulo bandeirante Antônio Bueno de Azevedo. Enslaved black people made up the majority of the population in the region.
It is said in the quilombo that, as mining declined, Portuguese captain Paulo Mesquita decided to leave Santa Luzia and left a farm for three freed slave women.
Manoel Neres says that, in time, others joined the community headed by women — many of them slaves in search of refuge who, in order to get there, traveled cattle trails that linked Goiás to Salvador and Rio de Janeiro.
Marriages between pioneer residents and those who came later gave birth to four family trees. These four trunks cover almost all of the nearly 1,200 families who now live in Mesquita, according to Neres.
Religious festivals such as Folia de Reis and Festa do Divino Espírito Santo are the main events in Mesquita's calendar. AGÊNCIA BRASIL
The construction of Brasília
Until the construction of Brasília, the community lived relatively isolated from the outside world. Most of the families were engaged in agriculture, cattle raising and the production of quince cheese, marketed in Luziânia, the city built on where Santa Luzia used to be.
With the capital's inauguration in 1960, their routine began to change.
Manoel Neres says that, on one hand, the residents "began to have access to elements of modern life, such as electricity and telephones". The capital's transfer facilitated the sale of food grown and created jobs for many quilombolas.
On the other hand, the village started dealing with previously non-existent problems, such as armed violence and drug trafficking. And they began to lose land.
One resident interviewed during the elaboration of the Incra report said quilombolas abandoned areas in Santa Maria, in the present-day Federal District, "fearing the city that was arriving there".
"Our house was near the Navy, but that was government land, so we had to move", said another resident.
According to Manoel Neres, the movement of airplanes and military on the eve of construction made the community relive a trauma from the time of World War II (1939–1945) when residents were forcibly recruited for combat.
"Many ended up leaving places close to the capital and retreating back into the core of Mesquita", says the researcher.
Others were expelled for failing to prove ownership of land destined for the construction of satellite towns. "The quilombola territory was disregarded in the Federal District's demarcation process", states the Incra report.
After the capital's construction, community land began to be coveted by outsiders.
"There was a lot of harassment for the sale of properties. Due to necessity, many villagers ended up disposing of them for ridiculous prices. They sold their land in order to buy medicine and clothes", says Neres.
Often land purchased from the quilombolas was soon resold. One of these transactions brought to the territory Maranhão politician José Sarney.
According to Incra's report, Sarney bought in the 1980's two land lots that had been expropriated from the community in the past. One of them gave rise to the Pecurimã farm he visited during the weekends while he was president.
In 2004, he sold the properties to Divitex Pericumã Empreendimentos Imobiliários, the real estate company of which he became a shareholder. Another partner of the company is attorney Antônio Carlos de Almeida Castro, known as Kakay, whose clients include several illustrious politicians in Brasília.
The periphery comes to Mesquita
In 1990, urbanization in the region increased with the creation of the Cidade Oriental municipality, a subdivision of Luziânia that received a habitation nucleus.
At one point quince cheese production was one of the main sources of income for Quilombo Mesquita. ANA CAROLINA A. FERNANDES
With the expansion of urban space, one housing project for low-income families — Jardim Edite — was built within the area originally claimed by the quilombo. In 2011, Incra excluded the public housing project from the territory in process of demarcation.
There are still several small farms within the territory claimed by the community. According to Incra, about 100 non-quilombola families lived in the area in 2011. Residents say the number is much higher now.
Demarcation
After the Constitution of 1988 determined the demarcation of quilombos, several communities mobilized to obtain land titles.
In Mesquita, the first step occured in 2006, when Fundação Cultural Palmares (the government body designed for promotion and preservation of Afro-Brazilian art and culture under the Ministry of Culture) recognized it as a remaining quilombo community.
Five years later, Incra published the community's Technical Report of Land Identification and Demarcation, defining its extension as 4300 hectares — the equivalent to 4000 football fields. According to Incra, the land claimed "represents only a fraction of the community's ancestral lands" and was delimited in order to guarantee the group's physical, social and cultural reproduction.
Then began the stage — which is not yet overcome — where non-quilombola residents and others interested in the territory can contest the report.
In order for the demarcation to be completed, the Presidency of the Republic must expropriate real estate within the territory and indemnify the owners. Only then can Incra give the community the collective and imprescriptible land title.
Sandra Braga says quilombolas still have not been recognized for their role in Brasília's founding. AGÊNCIA BRASIL
Of the approximately 3200 quilombos already recognized in Brazil, just over 200 have received land titles. Like in Mesquita's case, several processes are held back by impasses regarding expropriation and indemnification of non-quilombolas.
Reduction of the quilombo
The demarcation of the quilombo had an unfolding at the end of May, when Incra's Board of Directors issued a resolution authorizing the president of the government body to reduce the size of the territory to 971 hectares, 22% of the area originally planned.
The announcement was harshly criticized by quilombola associations. According to the National Coordination of Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Conaq), the manoeuvre set a precedent for the reduction of other quilombos.
The resolution was also condemned by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), which recomended its repeal. According to the government body, the decision "completely disregarded" studies conducted by Incra itself during the identification of the quilombo.
The oldest house in Quilombo Mesquita; with Brasília's founding, the value of land in the region has gone up. AGÊNCIA BRASIL
Last week, Incra announced that it would abide by MPF's suggestion and revoke the resolution while it rediscussed the case.
In a statement to BBC News Brasil, Incra said the reduction had been proposed by Quilombo Mesquita Renewal Association, a community organization of the quilombolas.
President of the association, Valcinei Batista Silva says the reduction would unlock the demarcation process and it is supported by the majority of the residents.
According to him, Incra's first intention to reserve 4300 hectares for the community proved to be unfeasible, since the government does not have the resources to expropriate all the non-quilombolas that live in the area.
Silva states that, should the proposed reduction be applied, the quilombolas would maintain all the territories they occupy now. "It is a proposal that allows Incra to work, send resources for expropriation and nobody would have to leave the land they're currently in."
Former president of the association, Sandra Pereira Braga says the current management's proposal does not have the support of the community and was articulated "in collusion with companies, farmers and speculators" interested in the territory.
"I have no doubt that there are powerful interests behind this", she says. "Most people in the community are totally against the reduction of territory — this is what Incra would find out had it consulted us before making any decisions."
Braga mentions, among those who would benefit from the reduction, Divitex Pecurimã — a company that has Sarney and Kakay as shareholders and would be, according to her, interested in building luxury condominiums in the territory.
With the growth of Brasília, a lot of areas around the capital began to host high-end housing complexes. At 40 km from the center of Brasília and near a highway that gives access to the city, the quilombo region would have huge potential for such enterprises, says Braga.
One of Sarney's press officers said the former president would not speak on the case. Kakay said he has never been to the region and does not follow the real estate company's administration, only acting as a "silent partner".
In a statement to BBC News Brasil, Divitex Pericumã Empreendimentos Imobiliários' attorney, Orlando Diniz Pinheiro, said that the company bought land in the region two years before the regularization of the quilombo began, and therefore "was not aware of the dispute (in relation to the territory)".
According to Pinheiro, quilombolas never inhabited the areas belonging to Divitex Pericumã. He says the company questions in court the land's inclusion in the area defined by Incra as the ancestral territory of the community.
The attorney says the land in process of demarcation "far exceeds the actual area where the Mesquita community resides". He says, however, that the company never exerted any pressure on government bodies for the quilombo to be reduced.
Pinheiro says the land possessed by the company is being leased for grain farming, but nothing prevents it from harboring real estate investments in the future — the activity mentioned in the company's corporate purpose.
"The families that are seeking demarcation have all purchased land in the region, they are not landowners in the quilombola area", states the attorney.
Quilombola Sandra Pereira Braga disputes the statement and says her ancestors have lived in the region for almost 300 years.
A line of candangos, the migrant workers that helped erect Brasília; city was built in less than four years. PUBLIC ARCHIVE OF THE FEDERAL DISTRICT
She says the quilombo celebrated the announcement that Incra would repeal the proposal to reduce the territory while the case was rediscussed, but the community will continue to mobilize until the withdrawal is definitive.
Braga says that, 58 years after Brasília's founding, the quilombo still fights for the recognition of its role in the construction of the city and, most importantly, for it to simply continue existing in the outskirts of the capital.
"If it wasn't for Mesquita, Brasília would not exist", she says.
The story of the quilombo that helped to build Brasília — and fears losing land to luxury condominiums
João Fellet | 07/01/2018
Workers in Cidade Livre (present-day Núcleo Bandeirante), the working-class neighborhood that built Brasília, in 1959. PUBLIC ARCHIVE OF THE FEDERAL DISTRICT
Before hosting the most important buildings in Brasília, Esplanada dos Ministérios was an open field where descendants of slaves used to graze cattle.
They were residents of Quilombo Mesquita, installed in the region since the 18th century and played an important — and little known — role in the city's founding.
272 years after its founding, the quilombo is now threatened by the capital's expansion and the accelerated land valorization in the region — the target of a real estate company that has former president José Sarney as one of its partners.
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"Quilombolas had a direct participation in the city's construction, but, unfortunately, they are rarely portrayed as main characters in its history", says researcher Manoel Barbosa Neves, author of the book Quilombo Mesquita - História, Cultura e Resistência and resident of the community, on the border of the Federal District with Goiás.
He says quilombolas helped erect the canteens, lodgings and dining rooms that received the first waves of candangos, as the migrant workers who got Brasília off the drawing board became known.
Everyday, they filled wagons and ox carts with fruits, vegetables, meat, milk and sweets produced in the community and transported them to the construction sites, when food production in Brasília was nil.
Catetinho
Older residents say that, even before the arrival of the candangos, eight residents of Mesquita helped build Catetinho, the residence designed by Oscar Niemeyer so that the then president Juscelino Kubitschek could follow the works of the capital from the beginning, in 1956. And women from the community worked as cooks in Catetinho.
According to the quilombo's Technical Report of Land Identification and Demarcation, published in 2011 by the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), residents of Mesquita also helped build in 1958 the Saia Velha plant, the first hydroelectric power plant to serve the capital.
Sinfrônio Lisboa da Costa, a carpenter that worked on Catetinho and died at 90 years old in 2015, used to say he let Kubitschek in his house several times and helped him identify strategic points for the capital's construction.
Honored by the Federal District's government in 2012, he lamented in the ceremony that other quilombolas who accompained him in the works had already died. "They also had to be recognized, but they could not wait", he said.
Gold rush
The origins of Quilombo Mesquita go back to the gold rush in the 18th century. The rush led to the creation of several villages in the interior of Goiás — one of them being Santa Luzia, founded in 1746 by São Paulo bandeirante Antônio Bueno de Azevedo. Enslaved black people made up the majority of the population in the region.
It is said in the quilombo that, as mining declined, Portuguese captain Paulo Mesquita decided to leave Santa Luzia and left a farm for three freed slave women.
Manoel Neres says that, in time, others joined the community headed by women — many of them slaves in search of refuge who, in order to get there, traveled cattle trails that linked Goiás to Salvador and Rio de Janeiro.
Marriages between pioneer residents and those who came later gave birth to four family trees. These four trunks cover almost all of the nearly 1,200 families who now live in Mesquita, according to Neres.
Religious festivals such as Folia de Reis and Festa do Divino Espírito Santo are the main events in Mesquita's calendar. AGÊNCIA BRASIL
The construction of Brasília
Until the construction of Brasília, the community lived relatively isolated from the outside world. Most of the families were engaged in agriculture, cattle raising and the production of quince cheese, marketed in Luziânia, the city built on where Santa Luzia used to be.
With the capital's inauguration in 1960, their routine began to change.
Manoel Neres says that, on one hand, the residents "began to have access to elements of modern life, such as electricity and telephones". The capital's transfer facilitated the sale of food grown and created jobs for many quilombolas.
On the other hand, the village started dealing with previously non-existent problems, such as armed violence and drug trafficking. And they began to lose land.
One resident interviewed during the elaboration of the Incra report said quilombolas abandoned areas in Santa Maria, in the present-day Federal District, "fearing the city that was arriving there".
"Our house was near the Navy, but that was government land, so we had to move", said another resident.
According to Manoel Neres, the movement of airplanes and military on the eve of construction made the community relive a trauma from the time of World War II (1939–1945) when residents were forcibly recruited for combat.
"Many ended up leaving places close to the capital and retreating back into the core of Mesquita", says the researcher.
Others were expelled for failing to prove ownership of land destined for the construction of satellite towns. "The quilombola territory was disregarded in the Federal District's demarcation process", states the Incra report.
After the capital's construction, community land began to be coveted by outsiders.
"There was a lot of harassment for the sale of properties. Due to necessity, many villagers ended up disposing of them for ridiculous prices. They sold their land in order to buy medicine and clothes", says Neres.
Often land purchased from the quilombolas was soon resold. One of these transactions brought to the territory Maranhão politician José Sarney.
According to Incra's report, Sarney bought in the 1980's two land lots that had been expropriated from the community in the past. One of them gave rise to the Pecurimã farm he visited during the weekends while he was president.
In 2004, he sold the properties to Divitex Pericumã Empreendimentos Imobiliários, the real estate company of which he became a shareholder. Another partner of the company is attorney Antônio Carlos de Almeida Castro, known as Kakay, whose clients include several illustrious politicians in Brasília.
The periphery comes to Mesquita
In 1990, urbanization in the region increased with the creation of the Cidade Oriental municipality, a subdivision of Luziânia that received a habitation nucleus.
At one point quince cheese production was one of the main sources of income for Quilombo Mesquita. ANA CAROLINA A. FERNANDES
With the expansion of urban space, one housing project for low-income families — Jardim Edite — was built within the area originally claimed by the quilombo. In 2011, Incra excluded the public housing project from the territory in process of demarcation.
There are still several small farms within the territory claimed by the community. According to Incra, about 100 non-quilombola families lived in the area in 2011. Residents say the number is much higher now.
Demarcation
After the Constitution of 1988 determined the demarcation of quilombos, several communities mobilized to obtain land titles.
In Mesquita, the first step occured in 2006, when Fundação Cultural Palmares (the government body designed for promotion and preservation of Afro-Brazilian art and culture under the Ministry of Culture) recognized it as a remaining quilombo community.
Five years later, Incra published the community's Technical Report of Land Identification and Demarcation, defining its extension as 4300 hectares — the equivalent to 4000 football fields. According to Incra, the land claimed "represents only a fraction of the community's ancestral lands" and was delimited in order to guarantee the group's physical, social and cultural reproduction.
Then began the stage — which is not yet overcome — where non-quilombola residents and others interested in the territory can contest the report.
In order for the demarcation to be completed, the Presidency of the Republic must expropriate real estate within the territory and indemnify the owners. Only then can Incra give the community the collective and imprescriptible land title.
Sandra Braga says quilombolas still have not been recognized for their role in Brasília's founding. AGÊNCIA BRASIL
Of the approximately 3200 quilombos already recognized in Brazil, just over 200 have received land titles. Like in Mesquita's case, several processes are held back by impasses regarding expropriation and indemnification of non-quilombolas.
Reduction of the quilombo
The demarcation of the quilombo had an unfolding at the end of May, when Incra's Board of Directors issued a resolution authorizing the president of the government body to reduce the size of the territory to 971 hectares, 22% of the area originally planned.
The announcement was harshly criticized by quilombola associations. According to the National Coordination of Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Conaq), the manoeuvre set a precedent for the reduction of other quilombos.
The resolution was also condemned by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), which recomended its repeal. According to the government body, the decision "completely disregarded" studies conducted by Incra itself during the identification of the quilombo.
The oldest house in Quilombo Mesquita; with Brasília's founding, the value of land in the region has gone up. AGÊNCIA BRASIL
Last week, Incra announced that it would abide by MPF's suggestion and revoke the resolution while it rediscussed the case.
In a statement to BBC News Brasil, Incra said the reduction had been proposed by Quilombo Mesquita Renewal Association, a community organization of the quilombolas.
President of the association, Valcinei Batista Silva says the reduction would unlock the demarcation process and it is supported by the majority of the residents.
According to him, Incra's first intention to reserve 4300 hectares for the community proved to be unfeasible, since the government does not have the resources to expropriate all the non-quilombolas that live in the area.
Silva states that, should the proposed reduction be applied, the quilombolas would maintain all the territories they occupy now. "It is a proposal that allows Incra to work, send resources for expropriation and nobody would have to leave the land they're currently in."
Former president of the association, Sandra Pereira Braga says the current management's proposal does not have the support of the community and was articulated "in collusion with companies, farmers and speculators" interested in the territory.
"I have no doubt that there are powerful interests behind this", she says. "Most people in the community are totally against the reduction of territory — this is what Incra would find out had it consulted us before making any decisions."
Braga mentions, among those who would benefit from the reduction, Divitex Pecurimã — a company that has Sarney and Kakay as shareholders and would be, according to her, interested in building luxury condominiums in the territory.
With the growth of Brasília, a lot of areas around the capital began to host high-end housing complexes. At 40 km from the center of Brasília and near a highway that gives access to the city, the quilombo region would have huge potential for such enterprises, says Braga.
One of Sarney's press officers said the former president would not speak on the case. Kakay said he has never been to the region and does not follow the real estate company's administration, only acting as a "silent partner".
In a statement to BBC News Brasil, Divitex Pericumã Empreendimentos Imobiliários' attorney, Orlando Diniz Pinheiro, said that the company bought land in the region two years before the regularization of the quilombo began, and therefore "was not aware of the dispute (in relation to the territory)".
According to Pinheiro, quilombolas never inhabited the areas belonging to Divitex Pericumã. He says the company questions in court the land's inclusion in the area defined by Incra as the ancestral territory of the community.
The attorney says the land in process of demarcation "far exceeds the actual area where the Mesquita community resides". He says, however, that the company never exerted any pressure on government bodies for the quilombo to be reduced.
Pinheiro says the land possessed by the company is being leased for grain farming, but nothing prevents it from harboring real estate investments in the future — the activity mentioned in the company's corporate purpose.
"The families that are seeking demarcation have all purchased land in the region, they are not landowners in the quilombola area", states the attorney.
Quilombola Sandra Pereira Braga disputes the statement and says her ancestors have lived in the region for almost 300 years.
A line of candangos, the migrant workers that helped erect Brasília; city was built in less than four years. PUBLIC ARCHIVE OF THE FEDERAL DISTRICT
She says the quilombo celebrated the announcement that Incra would repeal the proposal to reduce the territory while the case was rediscussed, but the community will continue to mobilize until the withdrawal is definitive.
Braga says that, 58 years after Brasília's founding, the quilombo still fights for the recognition of its role in the construction of the city and, most importantly, for it to simply continue existing in the outskirts of the capital.
"If it wasn't for Mesquita, Brasília would not exist", she says.
The story of the quilombo that helped to build Brasília — and fears losing land to luxury condominiums
loyola llothta
☭☭☭
The Afro-descendant collective was the greatest beneficiary of this decade
In spite of the improvement of social indicators, they insist that there still is a "negrophobia"
TOMER URWICZ
According to the last national census, 8.1% of the population identifies as being of African descent. Photo: AFP
Behind the devotion for Negro Jefe, Negro Rada and Negro Ansina, Uruguay revealed its most racist facet: the terrible living conditions that gave birth to these three references and to many others. Ten years ago — almost nothing compared to three centuries of history — half of Afro-Uruguayans had at least one unmet basic need. At the end of 2017, however, they were one out of four.
It could be said that black people were discriminated against so much that any improvement would be significant. That is true. It may be justified that their living conditions — access to education, health and work — are still worse than those of the average Uruguayan. That is also true. But a report from the Ministry of Social Development (Mides), based on data provided by the Continuous Household Survey, shows that the Afro-descendant collective is the one that improved the most in the last decade if compared with itself.
In fact, in some indicators, the comparison is valid with regard to the rest of the population. At school completion, for example, Afro-Uruguayans have matched the national average; even when the completion of this educational level improved for all ethnicities and today is "almost universal".
Education is the field where improvement is most noticeable. In twelve years, this group doubled the percentage of its population that completes compulsory education. And according to nationalist deputy Gloria Rodríguez, the only Afro-descendant legislator, "today we find that many young people are continuing their tertiary studies and finishing them."
In addition to being a right, improving education for Afro-descendants "has a positive effect on global indicators of education", said Frederico Graña, director of Mides' Sociocultural Promotion. Particularly because Afro-Uruguayans "have, on average, more children than the average".
Some educational institutions, such as UTU, have set a particular incentive for people of African descent. Specifically, last November the Board of Professional Technical Education decided that at least 8% of scholarships would be destined for people belonging to this group.
According to the last national census, 8.1% of the Uruguayan population considers itself Afro-descendant. Hence the figure used for the minimum of scholarships as well as for the percentage of workers that government bodies must employ.
These proposals of "affirmative action are necessary, as a matter of fact it would be good to extend them to other fields", said deputy Rodríguez. However, the Mides data do not allow us to conclude whether the improvement in the quality of life of the Afro-descendant population is the result of "specific policies" or a "rebound effect" of improvements in the general population.
In the last three years, for example, the decline in poverty has been more significant among Afro-descendants than among non-blacks; this suggests something specific has happened in the collective. But health indicators, on the other hand, show that more and more Afro-descendants can be served by private mutual funds thanks to Fonasa (National Health Fund) and not a specific policy.
In this sense, the access of Afro-descendants to private healthcare providers had a behavior similar to that of the completion of compulsory education: it doubled in twelve years. Today, four out of ten Afro-Uruguayans are served by the Collective Medical Care Institutions (IAMC).
Whatever the reason for the improvement may be, Graña insists that "there is still a gap we haven't been able to eliminate". And the reason why the differences have not diminished with greater speed is because "society does not acknowledge racism".
The director of Sociocultural Promotion is taking advantage of this Afro-descendancy month to demonstrate how "Uruguay denies the existence of racism".
One evidence, he says, in Rivera's "duty-free shops there are no Afro-descendants serving the public, but an investigation by the University of the Republic did find many working inside the warehouses". This, according to Graña, makes it clear that "part of society defines good looking categories that are, in essence, racist".
Not to mention the cases of more direct discrimination, such as the attack an Afro-descendant worker received at a gas station at the end of June, Rodríguez recalled.
For the deputy there is no doubt: even if the quality of life is improved, "in Uruguay there still is negrophobia".
Only one government body met the inclusion quota
The law: Department of Cerro Largo hired 25% of Afro-descendant workers. Photo: Gerardo Pérez
Admission into government jobs for people of African descent and people with disabilities seems to suffer the same fate: government bodies fail to comply with quota regulations. Law 19.122 establishes that state institutions are obliged to allocate 8% of job vacancies to be filled in a year to be occupied by people of African descent by public call. But at the end of 2017, government agencies had only allocated 2.06%; according to the summary presented by the National Civil Service Office.
Percentage.
Only the Departmental Government of Cerro Largo complied with the law. Of all people admitted into the government body, one out of four were of African descent —in pratice this meant the hiring of three Afro-descendants. The other institutions that were close to reaching the goal were Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay (7.69%), the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (7.58%) and the Presidency of the Republic (7.16%).
In the legislative and judicial branches, the breach was huge, close to 100%. Something similar happened to Banco de Seguros, the state insurance company mentioned by Gloria Rodríguez to the Human Rights Commission of Deputies for alleged discrimination. What happened was they had made a public call but divided the applicants between black and non-black, ascribing each group to a different color. "It is clear that Afro-descendants are not being given the opportunities that were talked about so much".
"The same party (Broad Front) that promoted the law of Afro-descendants does not have any Afro-descendants occupying decision-making positions", said the nationalist deputy Gloria Rodríguez, the only black legislator holding office. This detail is, for her, a sign that "there is a need for positive discrimination... for a quota law". The idea would be similar to what already happens with the representation of women, but at a scale commensurate with the Afro-descendant population. Rodríguez has discussed the matter with other legislators, although she recognizes that there is no elaborate project "nor is it on the agenda". Rodríguez is convinced that a law of this type "should be only for a specific period of time, as an impulse and nothing more". The director of Sociocultural Promotion of Mides, Frederico Graña, is not convinced of the need for a quota law because, he says, that must come from the Afro-descendant community itself. But he said that in other countries, such as Colombia, there already are rules of this type.
A place beyond sports
In some departments of Uruguay, such as Artigas and Rivera, people of African descent exceed 17% of the local population. But the collective's visibility, says Graña, "almost always comes down to sports and culture". At most there is a third field of prominence, but it is linked to job opportunities: the military. In fact, the Ministry of Defense admitted last year 163 soldiers of African descent. And the percentage of this group that is treated in the military hospital exceeds the national average. The discrimination on the place assigned to Afro-descendants, says Graña, "is not a matter of the government in office, but that society does not manage to get rid of prejudices and with the expected place this population is supposed to develop".
The Afro-descendant collective was the greatest beneficiary of this decade
In spite of the improvement of social indicators, they insist that there still is a "negrophobia"
TOMER URWICZ
According to the last national census, 8.1% of the population identifies as being of African descent. Photo: AFP
Behind the devotion for Negro Jefe, Negro Rada and Negro Ansina, Uruguay revealed its most racist facet: the terrible living conditions that gave birth to these three references and to many others. Ten years ago — almost nothing compared to three centuries of history — half of Afro-Uruguayans had at least one unmet basic need. At the end of 2017, however, they were one out of four.
It could be said that black people were discriminated against so much that any improvement would be significant. That is true. It may be justified that their living conditions — access to education, health and work — are still worse than those of the average Uruguayan. That is also true. But a report from the Ministry of Social Development (Mides), based on data provided by the Continuous Household Survey, shows that the Afro-descendant collective is the one that improved the most in the last decade if compared with itself.
In fact, in some indicators, the comparison is valid with regard to the rest of the population. At school completion, for example, Afro-Uruguayans have matched the national average; even when the completion of this educational level improved for all ethnicities and today is "almost universal".
Education is the field where improvement is most noticeable. In twelve years, this group doubled the percentage of its population that completes compulsory education. And according to nationalist deputy Gloria Rodríguez, the only Afro-descendant legislator, "today we find that many young people are continuing their tertiary studies and finishing them."
In addition to being a right, improving education for Afro-descendants "has a positive effect on global indicators of education", said Frederico Graña, director of Mides' Sociocultural Promotion. Particularly because Afro-Uruguayans "have, on average, more children than the average".
Some educational institutions, such as UTU, have set a particular incentive for people of African descent. Specifically, last November the Board of Professional Technical Education decided that at least 8% of scholarships would be destined for people belonging to this group.
According to the last national census, 8.1% of the Uruguayan population considers itself Afro-descendant. Hence the figure used for the minimum of scholarships as well as for the percentage of workers that government bodies must employ.
These proposals of "affirmative action are necessary, as a matter of fact it would be good to extend them to other fields", said deputy Rodríguez. However, the Mides data do not allow us to conclude whether the improvement in the quality of life of the Afro-descendant population is the result of "specific policies" or a "rebound effect" of improvements in the general population.
In the last three years, for example, the decline in poverty has been more significant among Afro-descendants than among non-blacks; this suggests something specific has happened in the collective. But health indicators, on the other hand, show that more and more Afro-descendants can be served by private mutual funds thanks to Fonasa (National Health Fund) and not a specific policy.
In this sense, the access of Afro-descendants to private healthcare providers had a behavior similar to that of the completion of compulsory education: it doubled in twelve years. Today, four out of ten Afro-Uruguayans are served by the Collective Medical Care Institutions (IAMC).
Whatever the reason for the improvement may be, Graña insists that "there is still a gap we haven't been able to eliminate". And the reason why the differences have not diminished with greater speed is because "society does not acknowledge racism".
The director of Sociocultural Promotion is taking advantage of this Afro-descendancy month to demonstrate how "Uruguay denies the existence of racism".
One evidence, he says, in Rivera's "duty-free shops there are no Afro-descendants serving the public, but an investigation by the University of the Republic did find many working inside the warehouses". This, according to Graña, makes it clear that "part of society defines good looking categories that are, in essence, racist".
Not to mention the cases of more direct discrimination, such as the attack an Afro-descendant worker received at a gas station at the end of June, Rodríguez recalled.
For the deputy there is no doubt: even if the quality of life is improved, "in Uruguay there still is negrophobia".
Only one government body met the inclusion quota
The law: Department of Cerro Largo hired 25% of Afro-descendant workers. Photo: Gerardo Pérez
Admission into government jobs for people of African descent and people with disabilities seems to suffer the same fate: government bodies fail to comply with quota regulations. Law 19.122 establishes that state institutions are obliged to allocate 8% of job vacancies to be filled in a year to be occupied by people of African descent by public call. But at the end of 2017, government agencies had only allocated 2.06%; according to the summary presented by the National Civil Service Office.
Percentage.
Only the Departmental Government of Cerro Largo complied with the law. Of all people admitted into the government body, one out of four were of African descent —in pratice this meant the hiring of three Afro-descendants. The other institutions that were close to reaching the goal were Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay (7.69%), the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (7.58%) and the Presidency of the Republic (7.16%).
In the legislative and judicial branches, the breach was huge, close to 100%. Something similar happened to Banco de Seguros, the state insurance company mentioned by Gloria Rodríguez to the Human Rights Commission of Deputies for alleged discrimination. What happened was they had made a public call but divided the applicants between black and non-black, ascribing each group to a different color. "It is clear that Afro-descendants are not being given the opportunities that were talked about so much".
"The same party (Broad Front) that promoted the law of Afro-descendants does not have any Afro-descendants occupying decision-making positions", said the nationalist deputy Gloria Rodríguez, the only black legislator holding office. This detail is, for her, a sign that "there is a need for positive discrimination... for a quota law". The idea would be similar to what already happens with the representation of women, but at a scale commensurate with the Afro-descendant population. Rodríguez has discussed the matter with other legislators, although she recognizes that there is no elaborate project "nor is it on the agenda". Rodríguez is convinced that a law of this type "should be only for a specific period of time, as an impulse and nothing more". The director of Sociocultural Promotion of Mides, Frederico Graña, is not convinced of the need for a quota law because, he says, that must come from the Afro-descendant community itself. But he said that in other countries, such as Colombia, there already are rules of this type.
A place beyond sports
In some departments of Uruguay, such as Artigas and Rivera, people of African descent exceed 17% of the local population. But the collective's visibility, says Graña, "almost always comes down to sports and culture". At most there is a third field of prominence, but it is linked to job opportunities: the military. In fact, the Ministry of Defense admitted last year 163 soldiers of African descent. And the percentage of this group that is treated in the military hospital exceeds the national average. The discrimination on the place assigned to Afro-descendants, says Graña, "is not a matter of the government in office, but that society does not manage to get rid of prejudices and with the expected place this population is supposed to develop".
The Afro-descendant collective was the greatest beneficiary of this decade
Afro-Ecuadorian association supports the opening of three enterprises
Redacción Ecuador Regional - July 17 2018 - 00:00
Aída Quintero directed the event for the celebration of the first year of the Cámara Afro de Economía Popular y Solidaria association. Photo: William Orellana / EL TELÉGRAFO
This Saturday, the Cámara Afro de Economía Popular y Solidaria association celebrated the first anniversary of its founding with the inclusion of 20 organizations and the opening of three enterprises which employ about 70 Afro-Ecuadorians.
Aída Quintero, president of the association, explained that the institutioned was formed with the initiative of five members, facing the need for information regarding the creation of micro-enterprises.
"We did not know how the Government could help us or if we could work on our own to install productive businesses", said the leader.
The association began working with 14 organizations and currently there are 20, in addition to 2 natural persons. "We are all Afro-Ecuadorians from different parts of Guayaquil".
Quintero said that in these 12 months the main achievement of the institution has been remaining active not only with productive businesses, but also with the revival of Afro-descendant traditions through its members.
As far as the enterprises are concerned, she said that two organizations opened three businesses. One caterer, one cleaning business and one cleaning product selling business. She pointed out that this has been made possible with the sale of traditional products (cocada, coconut sweets, among others) at fairs.
"Before working as an association, our organizations took many years to establish themselves. We are self-employed people".
After this year, the goal of the institution is to continue helping its members. "We are not given opportunities, they declared an international decade for us but our activities are giving life to this decade".
Quintero expressed her wish that the organizations be given access loans to facilitate the opening of micro-enterprises. "We demand our right and we will wait for the doors to be opened, especially to the youth because many of them are unemployed".
Afro-Ecuadorian association supports the opening of three enterprises
Redacción Ecuador Regional - July 17 2018 - 00:00
Aída Quintero directed the event for the celebration of the first year of the Cámara Afro de Economía Popular y Solidaria association. Photo: William Orellana / EL TELÉGRAFO
This Saturday, the Cámara Afro de Economía Popular y Solidaria association celebrated the first anniversary of its founding with the inclusion of 20 organizations and the opening of three enterprises which employ about 70 Afro-Ecuadorians.
Aída Quintero, president of the association, explained that the institutioned was formed with the initiative of five members, facing the need for information regarding the creation of micro-enterprises.
"We did not know how the Government could help us or if we could work on our own to install productive businesses", said the leader.
The association began working with 14 organizations and currently there are 20, in addition to 2 natural persons. "We are all Afro-Ecuadorians from different parts of Guayaquil".
Quintero said that in these 12 months the main achievement of the institution has been remaining active not only with productive businesses, but also with the revival of Afro-descendant traditions through its members.
As far as the enterprises are concerned, she said that two organizations opened three businesses. One caterer, one cleaning business and one cleaning product selling business. She pointed out that this has been made possible with the sale of traditional products (cocada, coconut sweets, among others) at fairs.
"Before working as an association, our organizations took many years to establish themselves. We are self-employed people".
After this year, the goal of the institution is to continue helping its members. "We are not given opportunities, they declared an international decade for us but our activities are giving life to this decade".
Quintero expressed her wish that the organizations be given access loans to facilitate the opening of micro-enterprises. "We demand our right and we will wait for the doors to be opened, especially to the youth because many of them are unemployed".
Afro-Ecuadorian association supports the opening of three enterprises
Are the Caribbean's wealthy new citizens a lifeline or a liability?
JULY 19, 2018 / 12:02 PM
ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Investing in the tropical Mount Cinnamon Resort in Grenada, with its white sand beaches, buys more than a slice of paradise - it comes with citizenship and a passport with visa-free entry to almost 130 countries.
People lounge at Mount Cinnamon Resort's beach club on Grand Anse beach in St. George's, the capital of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, June 1, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sophie Hares
Few who take up the offer may ever visit their new homeland but for cash-strapped Caribbean states such as Grenada, “citizenship by investment” is a lucrative way to bankroll development and smart hotels, while chipping away at huge debts.
Grenada is one of a growing list of countries, including four others in the Caribbean, cashing in on a booming industry that offers citizenship or residency in return for investment as more people look for political and economic safe havens.
But the trend is also sparking concerns over global security and illicit financial activities, especially as small nations cut the price of citizenship as competition heats up and disasters hit their economies, boosting the need for fast funds.
Grenada’s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell said his country had gained massively since starting a program in 2014 whereby people can acquire citizenship for an investment from $150,000.
Applications rose 50 percent in 2017, according to a budget statement.
“It’s bringing in an enormous amount of money, and it’s helping us to reduce our debt burden in a very serious way,” said Mitchell, whose government is using 40 percent of citizenship revenues to pay off its debts.
“It’s making a significant contribution to the solutions to the problems in our country,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a recent interview.
Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Lucia are also tapping into the global citizenship market estimated by international advisory firms at $2 billion a year.
All those countries’ passports allow visa-free travel to the European Union.
But moves by several Caribbean nations to cut the price of citizenship late last year after hurricanes ravaged the region in September has raised concerns about the practice.
A string of scandals - including Iranians trying to evade sanctions, caught with Saint Kitts passports - has flagged the need to tighten checks and regulation otherwise countries in these schemes could see the money dry up, experts say.
“For those engaged in illicit finance or other forms of illegal activity, the new passport gives them, partially speaking, a new identity,” said Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at U.S.-think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
That raises a potential “conflict of interest between the duty to do due diligence and the desire to leverage these programs for revenue” on the part of governments, he noted.
Government officials from Saint Kitts and Antigua were not available to comment, despite repeated requests.
People walk along a street in downtown St. George's, the capital of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, June 1, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sophie Hares
Nationals of China and the Middle East are the biggest buyers of Caribbean citizenship, often sought by wealthy individuals seeking ease of travel or a “plan B” enabling a sharp exit for political reasons, said industry experts.
Various European nations including Britain, Spain and Malta, as well as New Zealand, Singapore and the United States have similar, albeit more expensive schemes, some of which require residency.
The relatively low cost of Caribbean citizenship, promoted at international fairs and advertised in glossy in-flight magazines, sets the islands apart from other countries.
Dominica charges $100,000, and Saint Kitts - which has the region’s longest-running program set up in 1984 - until recently offered citizenship for a family of four for a $150,000 donation to a hurricane relief fund.
In Grenada, to gain citizenship, investors can buy a $350,000 stake in a development like Mount Cinnamon, or donate $150,000 to a national transformation fund for the island.
“Ethically, morally, they’re investing in helping a developing nation ... creating jobs, creating tourism,” said Mark Scott, director of development at de Savary Properties, which owns Mount Cinnamon and wants to expand the resort.
‘RAINY DAY’
For some countries, citizenship programs have proved a cash lifeline. At one stage, they made up about a quarter of Saint Kitts’ income, allowing it to slash debt levels while financing the construction of luxury hotels.
The harbour is seen in St. George's, the capital of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, June 1, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sophie Hares
Range Developments, which built a five-star hotel on Saint Kitts and is now working on a new resort, said citizenship-by-investment funds covered about 65 percent of the cost of putting up the Park Hyatt, which has employed hundreds of local people.
“These programs are a major reason why we’re looking at the Caribbean,” Range director Mohammed Asaria told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Dubai.
Given the vulnerability of the region to extreme weather such as hurricanes and economic shocks, the Caribbean Development Bank wants governments to funnel a chunk of the revenue into “rainy day” sovereign wealth funds.
“These revenue flows can tend to fluctuate, so countries really shouldn’t become reliant on them for current expenditure,” said Justin Ram, the bank’s economics director.
LOOPHOLES
Brokers say applicants go through a rigorous three-stage process designed to weed out those on an international watch list, or looking to duck sanctions or launder money.
But others argue checks must be tighter to avoid scandals that could effectively slam the lid on the practice.
The U.S. State Department last year described Antigua’s citizenship program as “among the most lax in the world”.
In 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department warned banks that passports from Saint Kitts could be used for “illicit financial activity”.
The Iranian chairman of a Maltese bank, now awaiting trial in the United States on charges linked to a $115-million sanctions evasion scheme, was identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as using a passport from Saint Kitts.
Separately, Canada slapped visa requirements on Saint Kitts’ passport holders in 2014, after it said an Iranian entered the country on a diplomatic passport sold by the island state.
After that, Saint Kitts reprinted its passports to include the holder’s place of birth.
“If any jurisdiction from a regional perspective is not doing the highest due diligence standards ... there tends to be a concern that the Caribbean region as a whole will be cast with the same brush,” said Andrea St. Bernard, managing partner in Grenada for citizenship advisor Henley & Partners.
Armand Arton, president of advisory firm Arton Capital, said Caribbean states should ramp up cooperation and transparency, and share information with U.S. and European law enforcement.
He said a database of “refusal shoppers” - who apply to different countries after a rejection - could help tighten up programs in the Caribbean, which may soon face competition from new European entrants such as Moldova and Albania.
Meanwhile, countries should avoid cutting prices in “a race to the bottom”, and find new ways to entice investors to continue “to attract these much-needed investments”, he added.
Reporting by Sophie Hares; editing by Megan Rowling, Laurie Goering and Belinda Goldsmith. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit news.trust.org/
Are the Caribbean's wealthy new citizens a lifeline or a liability?
JULY 19, 2018 / 12:02 PM
ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Investing in the tropical Mount Cinnamon Resort in Grenada, with its white sand beaches, buys more than a slice of paradise - it comes with citizenship and a passport with visa-free entry to almost 130 countries.
People lounge at Mount Cinnamon Resort's beach club on Grand Anse beach in St. George's, the capital of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, June 1, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sophie Hares
Few who take up the offer may ever visit their new homeland but for cash-strapped Caribbean states such as Grenada, “citizenship by investment” is a lucrative way to bankroll development and smart hotels, while chipping away at huge debts.
Grenada is one of a growing list of countries, including four others in the Caribbean, cashing in on a booming industry that offers citizenship or residency in return for investment as more people look for political and economic safe havens.
But the trend is also sparking concerns over global security and illicit financial activities, especially as small nations cut the price of citizenship as competition heats up and disasters hit their economies, boosting the need for fast funds.
Grenada’s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell said his country had gained massively since starting a program in 2014 whereby people can acquire citizenship for an investment from $150,000.
Applications rose 50 percent in 2017, according to a budget statement.
“It’s bringing in an enormous amount of money, and it’s helping us to reduce our debt burden in a very serious way,” said Mitchell, whose government is using 40 percent of citizenship revenues to pay off its debts.
“It’s making a significant contribution to the solutions to the problems in our country,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a recent interview.
Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Lucia are also tapping into the global citizenship market estimated by international advisory firms at $2 billion a year.
All those countries’ passports allow visa-free travel to the European Union.
But moves by several Caribbean nations to cut the price of citizenship late last year after hurricanes ravaged the region in September has raised concerns about the practice.
A string of scandals - including Iranians trying to evade sanctions, caught with Saint Kitts passports - has flagged the need to tighten checks and regulation otherwise countries in these schemes could see the money dry up, experts say.
“For those engaged in illicit finance or other forms of illegal activity, the new passport gives them, partially speaking, a new identity,” said Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at U.S.-think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
That raises a potential “conflict of interest between the duty to do due diligence and the desire to leverage these programs for revenue” on the part of governments, he noted.
Government officials from Saint Kitts and Antigua were not available to comment, despite repeated requests.
People walk along a street in downtown St. George's, the capital of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, June 1, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sophie Hares
Nationals of China and the Middle East are the biggest buyers of Caribbean citizenship, often sought by wealthy individuals seeking ease of travel or a “plan B” enabling a sharp exit for political reasons, said industry experts.
Various European nations including Britain, Spain and Malta, as well as New Zealand, Singapore and the United States have similar, albeit more expensive schemes, some of which require residency.
The relatively low cost of Caribbean citizenship, promoted at international fairs and advertised in glossy in-flight magazines, sets the islands apart from other countries.
Dominica charges $100,000, and Saint Kitts - which has the region’s longest-running program set up in 1984 - until recently offered citizenship for a family of four for a $150,000 donation to a hurricane relief fund.
In Grenada, to gain citizenship, investors can buy a $350,000 stake in a development like Mount Cinnamon, or donate $150,000 to a national transformation fund for the island.
“Ethically, morally, they’re investing in helping a developing nation ... creating jobs, creating tourism,” said Mark Scott, director of development at de Savary Properties, which owns Mount Cinnamon and wants to expand the resort.
‘RAINY DAY’
For some countries, citizenship programs have proved a cash lifeline. At one stage, they made up about a quarter of Saint Kitts’ income, allowing it to slash debt levels while financing the construction of luxury hotels.
The harbour is seen in St. George's, the capital of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, June 1, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sophie Hares
Range Developments, which built a five-star hotel on Saint Kitts and is now working on a new resort, said citizenship-by-investment funds covered about 65 percent of the cost of putting up the Park Hyatt, which has employed hundreds of local people.
“These programs are a major reason why we’re looking at the Caribbean,” Range director Mohammed Asaria told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Dubai.
Given the vulnerability of the region to extreme weather such as hurricanes and economic shocks, the Caribbean Development Bank wants governments to funnel a chunk of the revenue into “rainy day” sovereign wealth funds.
“These revenue flows can tend to fluctuate, so countries really shouldn’t become reliant on them for current expenditure,” said Justin Ram, the bank’s economics director.
LOOPHOLES
Brokers say applicants go through a rigorous three-stage process designed to weed out those on an international watch list, or looking to duck sanctions or launder money.
But others argue checks must be tighter to avoid scandals that could effectively slam the lid on the practice.
The U.S. State Department last year described Antigua’s citizenship program as “among the most lax in the world”.
In 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department warned banks that passports from Saint Kitts could be used for “illicit financial activity”.
The Iranian chairman of a Maltese bank, now awaiting trial in the United States on charges linked to a $115-million sanctions evasion scheme, was identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as using a passport from Saint Kitts.
Separately, Canada slapped visa requirements on Saint Kitts’ passport holders in 2014, after it said an Iranian entered the country on a diplomatic passport sold by the island state.
After that, Saint Kitts reprinted its passports to include the holder’s place of birth.
“If any jurisdiction from a regional perspective is not doing the highest due diligence standards ... there tends to be a concern that the Caribbean region as a whole will be cast with the same brush,” said Andrea St. Bernard, managing partner in Grenada for citizenship advisor Henley & Partners.
Armand Arton, president of advisory firm Arton Capital, said Caribbean states should ramp up cooperation and transparency, and share information with U.S. and European law enforcement.
He said a database of “refusal shoppers” - who apply to different countries after a rejection - could help tighten up programs in the Caribbean, which may soon face competition from new European entrants such as Moldova and Albania.
Meanwhile, countries should avoid cutting prices in “a race to the bottom”, and find new ways to entice investors to continue “to attract these much-needed investments”, he added.
Reporting by Sophie Hares; editing by Megan Rowling, Laurie Goering and Belinda Goldsmith. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit news.trust.org/
Are the Caribbean's wealthy new citizens a lifeline or a liability?
Building the Caribbean’s climate resilience to ensure basic survival
July 24, 2018
Inter Press Service / Desmond Brown
Grenada has rebounded after being destroyed by Category 4 Hurricane Ivan in 2004 which destroyed 90 percent of homes. More than a decade later, the island’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell says adjusting to the new normal requires comprehensive and coordinated efforts to mainstream climate change considerations in development planning.
BY DESMOND BROWN
ST. GEORGE’S, July 23, 2018 (IPS) — In 2004, when the Category 4 Hurricane Ivan hit the tiny island nation of Grenada and its 151 mph winds stalled overhead for 15 hours — it devastated the country. But not before pummelling Barbados and other islands, killing at least 15 people.
And again last year, the destruction left behind in several Caribbean islands by Hurricanes Irma and Maria once again highlighted the vulnerability of these island countries.
It has also emphasised the need for a strong natural resource base to protect and make communities and ecosystems more resilient to the impacts of climate change, which are expected to become even more severe in the future.
“Building the region’s resilience to climate change, natural hazards and environmental changes is not only a necessary and urgent development imperative, but it is also a fundamental requirement to ensure our basic survival as a people,” Grenada’s prime minister Dr. Keith Mitchell told IPS.
“We have no choice as a region but to pursue climate-smart development, as we forge ahead to build a climate-resilient Caribbean.”
Grenada is among 10 Caribbean countries getting help from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to address water, land and biodiversity resource management as well as climate change.
Under the five-year Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (GEF-IWEco Project), countries are implementing national sub-projects at specific sites in order to enhance livelihood opportunities and socio-economic co-benefits for targeted communities from improved ecosystem services functioning.
Project sites include the upper reaches of the Soufriere Watershed in St. Lucia, the Cedar Grove and Cooks Watershed areas and McKinnons Pond in Antigua, and the Negril Morass in Jamaica.
“Adjusting to the new normal requires comprehensive and coordinated efforts to mainstream climate change considerations in development planning,” Mitchell said.
“In practice, this will require a shift in focus, from sustainable development to climate-smart sustainable development.”
In addition to Grenada, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago ―are also participating in the project, which also aims to strengthen policy, legislative and institutional reforms and capacity building.
Half of the 10 countries Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and; St. Vincent & the Grenadines belong to the sub-regional grouping, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Their participation in the project is being funded by the GEF to the tune of USD20 million.
IWEco is being co-implemented by United Nations Environment and the U.N. Development Programme and co-executed by U.N. Environment’s Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit (U.N. Environment CAR RCU), which is the secretariat to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (the Cartagena Convention).
All OECS countries are signatories to the Cartagena Convention, a comprehensive, umbrella agreement for the protection and development of the marine environment.
Fresh and coastal water resources management, sustainable land management and sustainable forest management are all challenges to Caribbean SIDS, and more so as the region’s economies face numerous demands and, inevitably, another hurricane season.
Addressing these challenges while improving social and ecological resilience to the impacts of climate change are objectives of the IWEco Project.
Stating that storms and hurricanes do not have to result in catastrophic disasters, Mitchell said in too many instances in the region this has been the case because of the prevailing susceptibilities of communities.
“We have seen first-hand how poverty and social weaknesses magnify natural disasters. This need not be the case,” he said.
“We must redouble our efforts to improve the conditions for the most vulnerable in our societies so that they are empowered and supported to manage disasters and climate risks.”
Grenada, along with all participating countries, will benefit from regional project activities aimed at strengthening policy, legislative and institutional frameworks, strengthening monitoring and evaluation, and public awareness.
At a recent meeting in Montserrat, the regional coordinator of the Cartagena Convention, Dr. Lorna Inniss noted that since the particularly destructive hurricane season of 2017, perhaps even as a consequence of it, the trend in the region towards consolidating several related areas of responsibility into single ministries seems to have grown.
Grenada, for instance, now has the combined ministry of climate resilience, the environment, forestry, fisheries, disaster management and information. Dominica now has the ministry of environment, climate resilience, disaster management and urban renewal.
The most recent projections in climate research all anticipate a significant increase in the frequency and / or intensity of extreme weather events, as well as slow onset climate-related changes, such as sea-level rise, less rainfall and increased sea surface temperatures.
These impacts can disrupt Grenada’s economy and critical economic sectors like agriculture and tourism and damage critical infrastructure and personal property.
The findings of a regional study concluded that climate change has the potential to increase the overall cost to local economies by one to three percent of GDP by 2030 in the Caribbean. It also alters the risk profile of the islands by impacting local sea levels, hurricane intensity, precipitation patterns and temperature patterns.
According to the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), in absolute terms, expected losses may triple between 2010 and 2030. Climate change adaptation is therefore critical for the economic stability of the tri-island state.
“Charting a course to 2030 is even more an urgent requirement as the impacts of climate change are increasingly affecting CCRIF’s Caribbean and Central American member countries,” CCRIF CEO, Isaac Anthony said.
Posted 12:00 am, July 24, 2018
Building the Caribbean’s climate resilience to ensure basic survival
July 24, 2018
Inter Press Service / Desmond Brown
Grenada has rebounded after being destroyed by Category 4 Hurricane Ivan in 2004 which destroyed 90 percent of homes. More than a decade later, the island’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell says adjusting to the new normal requires comprehensive and coordinated efforts to mainstream climate change considerations in development planning.
BY DESMOND BROWN
ST. GEORGE’S, July 23, 2018 (IPS) — In 2004, when the Category 4 Hurricane Ivan hit the tiny island nation of Grenada and its 151 mph winds stalled overhead for 15 hours — it devastated the country. But not before pummelling Barbados and other islands, killing at least 15 people.
And again last year, the destruction left behind in several Caribbean islands by Hurricanes Irma and Maria once again highlighted the vulnerability of these island countries.
It has also emphasised the need for a strong natural resource base to protect and make communities and ecosystems more resilient to the impacts of climate change, which are expected to become even more severe in the future.
“Building the region’s resilience to climate change, natural hazards and environmental changes is not only a necessary and urgent development imperative, but it is also a fundamental requirement to ensure our basic survival as a people,” Grenada’s prime minister Dr. Keith Mitchell told IPS.
“We have no choice as a region but to pursue climate-smart development, as we forge ahead to build a climate-resilient Caribbean.”
Grenada is among 10 Caribbean countries getting help from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to address water, land and biodiversity resource management as well as climate change.
Under the five-year Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (GEF-IWEco Project), countries are implementing national sub-projects at specific sites in order to enhance livelihood opportunities and socio-economic co-benefits for targeted communities from improved ecosystem services functioning.
Project sites include the upper reaches of the Soufriere Watershed in St. Lucia, the Cedar Grove and Cooks Watershed areas and McKinnons Pond in Antigua, and the Negril Morass in Jamaica.
“Adjusting to the new normal requires comprehensive and coordinated efforts to mainstream climate change considerations in development planning,” Mitchell said.
“In practice, this will require a shift in focus, from sustainable development to climate-smart sustainable development.”
In addition to Grenada, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago ―are also participating in the project, which also aims to strengthen policy, legislative and institutional reforms and capacity building.
Half of the 10 countries Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and; St. Vincent & the Grenadines belong to the sub-regional grouping, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Their participation in the project is being funded by the GEF to the tune of USD20 million.
IWEco is being co-implemented by United Nations Environment and the U.N. Development Programme and co-executed by U.N. Environment’s Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit (U.N. Environment CAR RCU), which is the secretariat to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (the Cartagena Convention).
All OECS countries are signatories to the Cartagena Convention, a comprehensive, umbrella agreement for the protection and development of the marine environment.
Fresh and coastal water resources management, sustainable land management and sustainable forest management are all challenges to Caribbean SIDS, and more so as the region’s economies face numerous demands and, inevitably, another hurricane season.
Addressing these challenges while improving social and ecological resilience to the impacts of climate change are objectives of the IWEco Project.
Stating that storms and hurricanes do not have to result in catastrophic disasters, Mitchell said in too many instances in the region this has been the case because of the prevailing susceptibilities of communities.
“We have seen first-hand how poverty and social weaknesses magnify natural disasters. This need not be the case,” he said.
“We must redouble our efforts to improve the conditions for the most vulnerable in our societies so that they are empowered and supported to manage disasters and climate risks.”
Grenada, along with all participating countries, will benefit from regional project activities aimed at strengthening policy, legislative and institutional frameworks, strengthening monitoring and evaluation, and public awareness.
At a recent meeting in Montserrat, the regional coordinator of the Cartagena Convention, Dr. Lorna Inniss noted that since the particularly destructive hurricane season of 2017, perhaps even as a consequence of it, the trend in the region towards consolidating several related areas of responsibility into single ministries seems to have grown.
Grenada, for instance, now has the combined ministry of climate resilience, the environment, forestry, fisheries, disaster management and information. Dominica now has the ministry of environment, climate resilience, disaster management and urban renewal.
The most recent projections in climate research all anticipate a significant increase in the frequency and / or intensity of extreme weather events, as well as slow onset climate-related changes, such as sea-level rise, less rainfall and increased sea surface temperatures.
These impacts can disrupt Grenada’s economy and critical economic sectors like agriculture and tourism and damage critical infrastructure and personal property.
The findings of a regional study concluded that climate change has the potential to increase the overall cost to local economies by one to three percent of GDP by 2030 in the Caribbean. It also alters the risk profile of the islands by impacting local sea levels, hurricane intensity, precipitation patterns and temperature patterns.
According to the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), in absolute terms, expected losses may triple between 2010 and 2030. Climate change adaptation is therefore critical for the economic stability of the tri-island state.
“Charting a course to 2030 is even more an urgent requirement as the impacts of climate change are increasingly affecting CCRIF’s Caribbean and Central American member countries,” CCRIF CEO, Isaac Anthony said.
Posted 12:00 am, July 24, 2018
Building the Caribbean’s climate resilience to ensure basic survival
The "whitewashed" legacy of Colombia's only black president
Juan José Nieto Gil, of African descent and humble origins, is known by few; despite having been the highest leader of the country with the people's support, his political and literal legacy was erased by Cartagena's elite
By Adriana Chica | July 22 2018
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Juan José Nieto Gil, the first and only president of African descent Colombia has had
Colombia was once ruled by an Afro-descendant, 157 years ago. The president was called Juan José Nieto Gil, a cartagenero of humble origins who counted with intellect and leadership to guide the people in times of civil war. But few people remember him, he does not appear in academic books. The elitist society of the time, tarnished in racism, ordered to whitewash his portrait in oil and hid the painting.
He was a "husky man, of sallow, swarthy (or dark brown) skin, greenish eyes, straight and broad nose, thin lips, arched eyebrows and medium curly black hair". This is how he is described in the first book to reconstruct his life and legacy, 'El presidente Nieto', by historian Orlando Fals Borda (who died in 2008).
An aspect contrary to the white Spanish settlers preferred by the local elite. But typical of the indigenous town of Baranoa (1804), then province of Cartagena and now a municipality of the Atlántico department, which during the conquest received the blacks that came out of slavery. The son of a native and a Spaniard cotton wick manufacturers.
Nieto learned to outrun the racial and economic prejudices of the time. He learned how to read alone when he was sent as a child to Cartagena de Indias. With socialist literature he strengthened his fight for the rights of the poor. Thus he developed empathy — for his own history — to manage the poorer sectors of the port city, which since colonial times has been majority black-mulatto.
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Bust of Juan José Nieto in Cartagena
The Military Force to which he belonged — and his determination — gave him the necessary social mobility to marry twice with women of the high aristocracy. With the support of the masses, in times of partisan politics, he began his journey in the public sector.
In times of ideological divisions, and a limbo of power left by the government of conservative Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, Nieto Gil arrived by popular vote to the Presidency of the United States of New Grenada — as Colombia was then called. He ruled for six months, between January and July 1861, in support of the also liberal Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.
"When there is a crisis, the customs of the ways of living tend to relax, that gives emerging sectors the opportunity to insert themselves in the political landscape. This happened in Cartagena in the 19th century; in a country convulsed by civil war, it is possible that channels of political mobility are opened and Juan José Nieto knew how to take advantage of this", says Cartagena historian and academic Javier Ortiz Cassiani.
Fals Borda also points out in his book that at that time discomfort was felt by all social classes, who saw in Nieto the guarantee that their interests would be protected. His previous merits had given confidence to the people. Previously, he decreed the abolition of slavery in Cartagena in 1852, honoring his own race.
He had also been a member of the House of Representatives and a four-time governor of the State of Bolívar. In 1839 he participated in the War of the Supremes, the first internal conflict in Colombia after independence, which lasted three years after starting for religious reasons. His side lost, for which he was sentenced, first to remain in the Chagres prison in Panama and then to a five-year exile in Jamaica.
"This period of condemnation was beneficial for the development of his literature. During his stay in Panama he wrote 'Rosina o la prisión de Changres'. And in Jamaica he wrote 'Ingermina o la hija de Calamar', the first recorded novel in the country. In addition to that, in the capital, Kingston, there was a very strong Masonic tradition, to which he belonged. All of this helped him shape his political criteria", says Ortiz Cassiani.
He was also the author of the novel 'Los Mordiscos', of academic texts such as 'Derechos y deveres del hombre en sociedad' and 'Geografía histórica, estadística y local de la provincia de Cartagena', and even a play that alluded to his own history of humble origins. He died on July 16, 1866.
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'La Yngermina y la hija de Calamar', the first recorded Colombian novel, authored by Nieto.
The hidden portrait.
A portrait of Nieto painted in oil should have been the painting hung in the gallery with those of the other presidents. At that time, the elite in Cartagena sent it to France to be "fixed", and they ended up whitening his skin and refining his features. And it never came to be exhibited.
The painting was found decades later, in the 80's, when Orlando Fals Borda was investigating his life. He discovered it in the mazmorras (underground dungeons) of the Palace of Inquisition, now the Historical Museum of Cartagena (Muhca).
The director of the museum, Moisés Álvarez, sent it to Bogotá to be restored by experts from the Ministry of Culture, between 1984 and 1985. In the scientific process, the several layers of paint with which they had modified his appearance were removed in oil to recover the authentic version. It was later relocated to the Muhca facilities.
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On the left: oil painting of former Afro-Colombian president, Juan José Nieto Gil, which was modified in France to give him a Spanish look. On the right: the daguerreotype that is more faithful to the real aspect of the president.
"Cartagena, the main slave port, excludes and marginalizes, even today, the contributions and the value of the poorer sectors. And these prejudices are long lasting, their irrationality makes them difficult to eradicate, because they are in the collective unconscious, they are repeated until they become naturalized. That is why, Nieto was denied his importance before and now, because he was linked to the black race and the lower class", says Ortiz Cassiani.
Only two years ago, journalist Gonzalo Guillén, who filmed a documentary about his life, filed a class action suit to ask president Juan Manuel Santos to include the oil of the Afro-descendant in the Gallery of Presidents of Casa de Nariño. Only then began the recognition of Juan José Nieto Gil, in 2016.
The "whitewashed" legacy of Colombia's only black president
Juan José Nieto Gil, of African descent and humble origins, is known by few; despite having been the highest leader of the country with the people's support, his political and literal legacy was erased by Cartagena's elite
By Adriana Chica | July 22 2018
Juan José Nieto Gil, the first and only president of African descent Colombia has had
Colombia was once ruled by an Afro-descendant, 157 years ago. The president was called Juan José Nieto Gil, a cartagenero of humble origins who counted with intellect and leadership to guide the people in times of civil war. But few people remember him, he does not appear in academic books. The elitist society of the time, tarnished in racism, ordered to whitewash his portrait in oil and hid the painting.
He was a "husky man, of sallow, swarthy (or dark brown) skin, greenish eyes, straight and broad nose, thin lips, arched eyebrows and medium curly black hair". This is how he is described in the first book to reconstruct his life and legacy, 'El presidente Nieto', by historian Orlando Fals Borda (who died in 2008).
An aspect contrary to the white Spanish settlers preferred by the local elite. But typical of the indigenous town of Baranoa (1804), then province of Cartagena and now a municipality of the Atlántico department, which during the conquest received the blacks that came out of slavery. The son of a native and a Spaniard cotton wick manufacturers.
Nieto learned to outrun the racial and economic prejudices of the time. He learned how to read alone when he was sent as a child to Cartagena de Indias. With socialist literature he strengthened his fight for the rights of the poor. Thus he developed empathy — for his own history — to manage the poorer sectors of the port city, which since colonial times has been majority black-mulatto.
Bust of Juan José Nieto in Cartagena
The Military Force to which he belonged — and his determination — gave him the necessary social mobility to marry twice with women of the high aristocracy. With the support of the masses, in times of partisan politics, he began his journey in the public sector.
In times of ideological divisions, and a limbo of power left by the government of conservative Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, Nieto Gil arrived by popular vote to the Presidency of the United States of New Grenada — as Colombia was then called. He ruled for six months, between January and July 1861, in support of the also liberal Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.
"When there is a crisis, the customs of the ways of living tend to relax, that gives emerging sectors the opportunity to insert themselves in the political landscape. This happened in Cartagena in the 19th century; in a country convulsed by civil war, it is possible that channels of political mobility are opened and Juan José Nieto knew how to take advantage of this", says Cartagena historian and academic Javier Ortiz Cassiani.
Fals Borda also points out in his book that at that time discomfort was felt by all social classes, who saw in Nieto the guarantee that their interests would be protected. His previous merits had given confidence to the people. Previously, he decreed the abolition of slavery in Cartagena in 1852, honoring his own race.
He had also been a member of the House of Representatives and a four-time governor of the State of Bolívar. In 1839 he participated in the War of the Supremes, the first internal conflict in Colombia after independence, which lasted three years after starting for religious reasons. His side lost, for which he was sentenced, first to remain in the Chagres prison in Panama and then to a five-year exile in Jamaica.
"This period of condemnation was beneficial for the development of his literature. During his stay in Panama he wrote 'Rosina o la prisión de Changres'. And in Jamaica he wrote 'Ingermina o la hija de Calamar', the first recorded novel in the country. In addition to that, in the capital, Kingston, there was a very strong Masonic tradition, to which he belonged. All of this helped him shape his political criteria", says Ortiz Cassiani.
He was also the author of the novel 'Los Mordiscos', of academic texts such as 'Derechos y deveres del hombre en sociedad' and 'Geografía histórica, estadística y local de la provincia de Cartagena', and even a play that alluded to his own history of humble origins. He died on July 16, 1866.
'La Yngermina y la hija de Calamar', the first recorded Colombian novel, authored by Nieto.
The hidden portrait.
A portrait of Nieto painted in oil should have been the painting hung in the gallery with those of the other presidents. At that time, the elite in Cartagena sent it to France to be "fixed", and they ended up whitening his skin and refining his features. And it never came to be exhibited.
The painting was found decades later, in the 80's, when Orlando Fals Borda was investigating his life. He discovered it in the mazmorras (underground dungeons) of the Palace of Inquisition, now the Historical Museum of Cartagena (Muhca).
The director of the museum, Moisés Álvarez, sent it to Bogotá to be restored by experts from the Ministry of Culture, between 1984 and 1985. In the scientific process, the several layers of paint with which they had modified his appearance were removed in oil to recover the authentic version. It was later relocated to the Muhca facilities.
On the left: oil painting of former Afro-Colombian president, Juan José Nieto Gil, which was modified in France to give him a Spanish look. On the right: the daguerreotype that is more faithful to the real aspect of the president.
"Cartagena, the main slave port, excludes and marginalizes, even today, the contributions and the value of the poorer sectors. And these prejudices are long lasting, their irrationality makes them difficult to eradicate, because they are in the collective unconscious, they are repeated until they become naturalized. That is why, Nieto was denied his importance before and now, because he was linked to the black race and the lower class", says Ortiz Cassiani.
Only two years ago, journalist Gonzalo Guillén, who filmed a documentary about his life, filed a class action suit to ask president Juan Manuel Santos to include the oil of the Afro-descendant in the Gallery of Presidents of Casa de Nariño. Only then began the recognition of Juan José Nieto Gil, in 2016.
The "whitewashed" legacy of Colombia's only black president
Afro-Guyanese promised easier access to loans, grants; govt to be asked for more money
Posted by: Denis Chabrol | July 25, 2018
A section of the packed auditorium at the Critchlow Labour College where hundreds of persons attended a business conference that organisers said was aimed at fostering greater business development by Afro-Guyanese.
The Ministry of Business’ Small Business Bureau on Wednesday announced that it was offering up to 70 percent guarantee of loans with the expectation that supporting commercial banks would take the risk on the remaining 30 percent.
SSB Chief Executive Officer, Lowell Porter explained that at first the guarantee was 40 percent if borrowers fail to repay the banks, but after realising that banks in other Caribbean countries offer 70 and 80 percent guarantees, the Bureau revised its figure to 70 percent.
“That’s part of your interest you are losing maybe but you are not losing anything. These are the kinds of conversations that you need to have with your banks,” he said.
Porter, meanwhile, said all the monies allocated by government to provide grants of GY$300,000 each have dried up, prompting the Chairman of the International Decade for People of African Descent- Guyana (IDPAD-G), Vincent Alexander to state that the mission of his organisation is to ask government for more funds.
“Unfortunately, the grants have already been exhausted so there are no more grants available,” Porter said, adding that efforts would be found to assist persons who are enthusiastic about their business ideas.
“One of our tasks is to work with government to make sure they have more money to give more grants,” remarked Alexander.
The SBB provides training, policy review, mentoring and coaching as well as brainstorming business ideas and proposals.
Participants collecting information from one of the booths at the Afro-Guyanese business conference.
In the area of loans, Porter restated that only two of Guyana’s six commercial banks have said they would support small businesses. “Out of those two banks, only one is a locally owned bank. I personally think that that is ridiculous. If we are thinking about development and maybe the government should make it- I don’t want to say mandatory- but in some ways these banks come in and operate in Guyana, how many are here to support small businesses. We have to push that agenda,” he said. Also of concern to the SBB’s Chief Executive Officer is the fact that one commercial banks do not support businesses that are 0 to 2 years old. “So I said ‘why the hell are you here’ because those are the bulk of our businesses. Those are the clients that we have that are now starting up that need the most support, from 0 to 2 years old, and if you are telling me, as a bank, that you are not interested, then our conversation is ended,” Porter said. The Bureau’s boss urged businesses to insist on knowing what commercial businesses are doing for them.
The announcements were made at a conference aimed at stimulating Afro-Guyanese interest in accessing funds and understanding the rules of doing business, but a number of them said they expected more from the event.
“I came expecting to hear a bit more about loans and grants, but I did not. They should have allowed us to air our views more than just talking to us,” said one participant who has remigrated from Antigua.
Held under the auspices of the International Decade for People of African Descent- Guyana, the event brought together several government and private entities whose representatives interacted with attendees. They included the Small Business Bureau, Guyana Revenue Authority, Business Registry, Citizens Bank, Central Housing and Planning Authority, Credit Bureau , Institute of Private Enterprise Development and other entities.
After the just over one hour formal opening session, attendees milled around while others left. “Today, you are not going to get loans, you are not going to get grants but today your eyes will be opened,” he said.
Addressing the opening session, IPADA-G’s Alexander said Wednesday’s event was merely knowledge-sharing with the ultimate aim of getting loans and grants which have been a major obstacle for Afro-Guyanese businesses.
President of the African Business Roundtable, Eric Phillips remarked that economic power was key to political power in the same way that the Portuguese who make up 0.2 percent of Guyana’s population controls 10 percent of the economy and “wield a lot of political power because they have a lot of economic power”. He called on the attendees not to listen to people who tell them they could not succeed because history shows that Blacks have conducted successful businesses including purchasing the first village, Victoria, on the East Coast Demerara.
Phillips warned them against being dependent on an the oil economy because volatile oil prices could result in a crisis like in neighbouring oil-rich Venezuela. Instead, the Afro-Guyanese rights advocate said the must cease operating as small individual entrepreneurs but come to together to produce large amounts of agricultural produce to satisfy markets in the Caribbean and elsewhere. “We need to work in clusters. Too many of us are working individually. We can’t do that. Our culture in the village movement is about working in coops, working collectively,” he said.
Small business advocate, Patrick Zephyr singled out as a major weakness among Afro-Guyanese, the virtual lack of circulation of monies among themselves. In making out the case for a Black commercial bank, he likened such a financial institution unto a heart. “We need to have our monies circulating in the system and we need to have that heart to pump that money among ourselves,” said Zephyr of the Nile Valley Economic organisation.
The Small Business Bureau Act was passed in 2004 and the organisation began operations in 2010, with its first tranche of funds having been disbursed about four years ago.
Organisers said Wednesday’s event was organised by the IDPAD-G in keeping with President David Granger’s call for emphasis to be placed on economic and educational advancement in Guyana for the remainder of the decade that ends in 2025.
Afro-Guyanese promised easier access to loans, grants; govt to be asked for more money
Posted by: Denis Chabrol | July 25, 2018
A section of the packed auditorium at the Critchlow Labour College where hundreds of persons attended a business conference that organisers said was aimed at fostering greater business development by Afro-Guyanese.
The Ministry of Business’ Small Business Bureau on Wednesday announced that it was offering up to 70 percent guarantee of loans with the expectation that supporting commercial banks would take the risk on the remaining 30 percent.
SSB Chief Executive Officer, Lowell Porter explained that at first the guarantee was 40 percent if borrowers fail to repay the banks, but after realising that banks in other Caribbean countries offer 70 and 80 percent guarantees, the Bureau revised its figure to 70 percent.
“That’s part of your interest you are losing maybe but you are not losing anything. These are the kinds of conversations that you need to have with your banks,” he said.
Porter, meanwhile, said all the monies allocated by government to provide grants of GY$300,000 each have dried up, prompting the Chairman of the International Decade for People of African Descent- Guyana (IDPAD-G), Vincent Alexander to state that the mission of his organisation is to ask government for more funds.
“Unfortunately, the grants have already been exhausted so there are no more grants available,” Porter said, adding that efforts would be found to assist persons who are enthusiastic about their business ideas.
“One of our tasks is to work with government to make sure they have more money to give more grants,” remarked Alexander.
The SBB provides training, policy review, mentoring and coaching as well as brainstorming business ideas and proposals.
Participants collecting information from one of the booths at the Afro-Guyanese business conference.
In the area of loans, Porter restated that only two of Guyana’s six commercial banks have said they would support small businesses. “Out of those two banks, only one is a locally owned bank. I personally think that that is ridiculous. If we are thinking about development and maybe the government should make it- I don’t want to say mandatory- but in some ways these banks come in and operate in Guyana, how many are here to support small businesses. We have to push that agenda,” he said. Also of concern to the SBB’s Chief Executive Officer is the fact that one commercial banks do not support businesses that are 0 to 2 years old. “So I said ‘why the hell are you here’ because those are the bulk of our businesses. Those are the clients that we have that are now starting up that need the most support, from 0 to 2 years old, and if you are telling me, as a bank, that you are not interested, then our conversation is ended,” Porter said. The Bureau’s boss urged businesses to insist on knowing what commercial businesses are doing for them.
The announcements were made at a conference aimed at stimulating Afro-Guyanese interest in accessing funds and understanding the rules of doing business, but a number of them said they expected more from the event.
“I came expecting to hear a bit more about loans and grants, but I did not. They should have allowed us to air our views more than just talking to us,” said one participant who has remigrated from Antigua.
Held under the auspices of the International Decade for People of African Descent- Guyana, the event brought together several government and private entities whose representatives interacted with attendees. They included the Small Business Bureau, Guyana Revenue Authority, Business Registry, Citizens Bank, Central Housing and Planning Authority, Credit Bureau , Institute of Private Enterprise Development and other entities.
After the just over one hour formal opening session, attendees milled around while others left. “Today, you are not going to get loans, you are not going to get grants but today your eyes will be opened,” he said.
Addressing the opening session, IPADA-G’s Alexander said Wednesday’s event was merely knowledge-sharing with the ultimate aim of getting loans and grants which have been a major obstacle for Afro-Guyanese businesses.
President of the African Business Roundtable, Eric Phillips remarked that economic power was key to political power in the same way that the Portuguese who make up 0.2 percent of Guyana’s population controls 10 percent of the economy and “wield a lot of political power because they have a lot of economic power”. He called on the attendees not to listen to people who tell them they could not succeed because history shows that Blacks have conducted successful businesses including purchasing the first village, Victoria, on the East Coast Demerara.
Phillips warned them against being dependent on an the oil economy because volatile oil prices could result in a crisis like in neighbouring oil-rich Venezuela. Instead, the Afro-Guyanese rights advocate said the must cease operating as small individual entrepreneurs but come to together to produce large amounts of agricultural produce to satisfy markets in the Caribbean and elsewhere. “We need to work in clusters. Too many of us are working individually. We can’t do that. Our culture in the village movement is about working in coops, working collectively,” he said.
Small business advocate, Patrick Zephyr singled out as a major weakness among Afro-Guyanese, the virtual lack of circulation of monies among themselves. In making out the case for a Black commercial bank, he likened such a financial institution unto a heart. “We need to have our monies circulating in the system and we need to have that heart to pump that money among ourselves,” said Zephyr of the Nile Valley Economic organisation.
The Small Business Bureau Act was passed in 2004 and the organisation began operations in 2010, with its first tranche of funds having been disbursed about four years ago.
Organisers said Wednesday’s event was organised by the IDPAD-G in keeping with President David Granger’s call for emphasis to be placed on economic and educational advancement in Guyana for the remainder of the decade that ends in 2025.
Afro-Guyanese promised easier access to loans, grants; govt to be asked for more money
Afro-descendants in times of the Bolivarian Revolution. No constitutional recognition
Diógenes Díaz | 08/01/2018
In order to understand the relationship between social movements, Afro-descendant communities and the Bolivarian process, we will arbitrarily divide three historical periods that will allow us to assimilate the structural and conjunctural complexity. The beginning of Hugo Chávez's government in 1998 until 2005 as the first stage, a second stage comprised between 2005-2011 and the recent years that from 2011 until the present day.
The first stage of the Bolivarian government's relationship with the people of African descent can be characterized by a relationship of exclusion in the first years, they were ignored by the leadership of Hugo Chávez and the highest levels of government. This could be justified by crass ignorance regarding the subject in the first two years. But there is no justification after the 2001 Durban Conference for a government that signed its declaration and action plan and brought an official delegation with representatives of social movements. "In Venezuela, after the discussion about the new constitution began, the Fundación Afroamérica and Unión de Mujeres Negras organizations made our proposals for the State to incorporate Afro-Venezuela into the multiethnic and culturally diverse character and as a founding element of the Republic. There, in those proposals that the new constitution should contain, we demanded the historical, political and cultural recognition of African men and women as well as their descendants, in addition to reviewing the collective ownership of the old Maroons' land." (García, Jesús, 2006:30) In the end these propositions were ignored as a way to say the fifth republic began with a discriminatory act against the descendants of enslaved Africans. The Afro-Venezuelan organizations with a higher level of political consciousness and experience in the struggles and international political debates made their proposals and the refusal must be considered no matter the viewing angle; the Bolivarian constitution was born with a discriminatory act, the proposals were ignored by an inherited racist mentality. Afro-descendants were not explicitly recognized in the new Bolivarian Constitution of Venezuela, considered to be the most advanced in the world, mainly for its principles of participatory democracy and active involvement of the people. Not even in the preamble where the sources of inspiration of what would be called V República or in any article of the Magna Carta, unlike the indigenous people who received a chapter on their rights in the new constitution.
Subsequently, relations were distant until the preparations for the Durban Conference began, which took place at a regional context of redefinitions of the black or Afro-Venezuelan social movements. In Venezuela the Network of Afro-Venezuelan Organizations (Red de Organizaciones Afrovenezolanas, ROA) emerged in June 2000. Headed by Jesús Chucho García, it became the political initiative of articulation of all willpower and organizations identified with Afro-Venezuelan issues, an action with greater conceptual maturity and awareness of the political differences, but meritoriously the most far-reaching collective proposal of Afro-descendants. Among its main goals is "to fight against any form of racism, xenophobia, intolerance and its related forms, exclusion, endo-racism and discrimination against Afro-Venezuelan citizens and any citizen in our country and the world that suffers from this type of aberration". Within its strategic courses of action we read; "To fight openly against any form of racial discrimination and to implement the action plan of the World Conference against Racism (South Africa 2001) signed by our country, in dialogue with the different levels of government and other Venezuelan social organizations to establish policies and actions". In order to highlight its contributions to the central theme of this writing, the fight against discrimination, we will show its articulation with similar social movements of the continent:
In September 2000, the Alianza Estratégica Afrolatinoamericana (Afro-Latin American Strategic Alliance) was created in San José, Costa Rica, constituted by NGO's, networks, leaderships and other groups from the continent to prepare a work agenda for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, Intolerance and its related forms, to be held in the city of Durban. (. . .) In December, the Afro-Latin American Strategic Alliance together with Chilean NPO Fundación Ideas, promoted before the United Nations Pre-Conference against Racism the Conference of Citizens against Racism, held in Santiago, Chile between 3–4 December 2000 where the new forms of racism were analyzed and the NGO's of the continent took a position: that racism had new forms and in addition it had become more acute in many countries of the continent. (García, 2001:85)
The creation of the Afro-descendant term as a social self-construction in the conference in Chile referred to above was previously developed in meetings such as the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1999, where Chucho García participated representing Afro-Venezuelans. It is a rupture with a domineering, colonialist and epistemologically racist and Eurocentric conception that was exercised to explain the presence of Africanness and its descendants. Its definition from the beginning has been a political tool for the struggle and positioning of descendants of Africans from a whole and complex conception, discarding the simplifications of highlighting a feature or a characteristic.
Durban became the main agenda for dialogue between the different Afro-descendant social movements of the continent. The participation of the Venezuelan delegation who signed this historic document in its official representation and representation of spokespersons of social movements was honorable, its implementation and subsequent evaluation is a matter of these reflections. Meanwhile the bureaucracy tries to find in the African diaspora a pretext for their pitiful, hypocritical and false pronouncements. In Durban, Africans and Afro-descendants met face-to-face and understood that racism was the same there or here. The Durban agenda became a political tool for Afro-descendant groups, a negotiation point with progressive governments and a demand point against reactionary governments. Although contradictory, progressive governments like in Venezuela carry a debt with this issue while governments like in Colombia took a step forward in affirmative action. The representation of the Afro-descendant movement was under the shoulders of Jorge Guerrero Veloz, Nirva Camacho and Chucho García, who played an active role in the historic conference.
Since its founding the Afro-descendant social movement in Venezuela has carried out different national initiatives to disseminate the agreements of the Durban Conference and the implementation of its action plan. The contradictory speech of Venezuelan Foreign Minister Luis Alfonzo Dávila García, who was an assistant in the historic conference in South Africa, reflected the inconsistency of his arguments; "Venezuela is a multiethnic and multicultural society, the result of a fusion of very diverse idiosyncrasies and cultures, in whose formation the three primal races of America took part and were amalgamated, the indian, the black and the white races and immigration from all nations of the world for several centuries". (A blatantly evolutionist speech) "Venezuelans are proud of this miscegenation. We have created a culture of respect for differences which has given us a better management of diversity" (the myth of racial equality through miscegenation). This conceptual, ambiguous segment of the speech contradicts commitments such as "Venezuela rejects any form of discrimination that undermines of annuls the enjoyment or exercise, under conditions of equality, of the fundamental rights and freedoms of every human being" . . . "we attend this conference because Venezuela wants to make its voice heard and ratify its traditional and historic position and commitment to fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and any form of intolerance that may exist on this world" . . . "Venezuela expects from this conference at least one declaration and an action plan that reflects the aspirations of the international community as a whole and the interests of the minority victims of forms of exclusion". To date, with Venezuela expressing its will, the National Committee of monitoring and the implementation of the declaration and action plan signed at Durban has not been created.
The Afro-Venezuelan social movement was unified in the year 2000 on the prospects of achieving greater inclusion in the public policies of the Venezuelan State. It was at the time, with the advance in the field of progressive ideas of the continent, highlighting the historical debt of the Venezuelan state towards Africans and their descendants in the Americas. Until April 11 2002, the date of the coup d'etat against president Chávez, the Bolivarian government did not take into account the moral, political, social, cultural and spiritual contributions of Afro-descendants. It was necessary to feel racism in the flesh as the far-right sectors did against the president and his government. We must all remember the public attacks directed at then Minister of Education Aristóbulo Isturiz.
In this moment, president Chávez understood that racism and discrimination were in force in Venezuela. With a conscious attitude and a historical agenda accumulated over time, a process of realization for the Bolivarian government began, on behalf of the Afro-Venezuelan movement, starting with the president who proclaims himself as "Afro-descendant" in a public event in Veroes (Yaracuy-11-de enero del 2004), and in the following year approves the presidential decree, suggested by us, to create the presidential commission against racial discrimination, then professors Fulvia Polanco and Juan Ramón Lugo (both Afro-descendant leaders of the Falcón state) propose that the day of the insurrection lead by José Leonardo Chirino be declared the day of Afrovenezolanidad, a decree issued by current president Nicolás Maduro Moros, who at the time was president of the National Assembly of Venezuela.
In 2004, before the referendum, and with the presence of progressive African-American organization Africanforum, we held a meeting in Palmarejo, Veroes (Yaracuy state) to inaugurate the Andresote Cultural Center, there Miguel Charum said "...it was time for a president to notice us", Chávez answered "With your struggle, well our strugle, because I include myself, as Afro-descendants...we will advance the rights of Afro-Venezuelans". It was there where Chávez declared himself Afro-descendant, on January 11, 2004, then he reaffirmed it on May 8, 2005 on Aló Presidente in the East of the country where he raises the issues of Afro-descendants with a comprehensive vision in the Americas and the Caribbean:
"Some ideas are already on my desk, we would have to calculate the details more precisely, I have the general idea and I want it to be worked on. But beyond Venezuela I am thinking about the integration of Latin America, of this Afro-America that is dispersed throughout these lands and these waters and with Cuba we have been advancing in this job, with Jamaica, with the Eastern Caribbean and although more than 90% of those brothers speak English they are Afro-descendants." The last texts are reflections of Chucho García.
Diógenes Díaz | 08/01/2018
In order to understand the relationship between social movements, Afro-descendant communities and the Bolivarian process, we will arbitrarily divide three historical periods that will allow us to assimilate the structural and conjunctural complexity. The beginning of Hugo Chávez's government in 1998 until 2005 as the first stage, a second stage comprised between 2005-2011 and the recent years that from 2011 until the present day.
The first stage of the Bolivarian government's relationship with the people of African descent can be characterized by a relationship of exclusion in the first years, they were ignored by the leadership of Hugo Chávez and the highest levels of government. This could be justified by crass ignorance regarding the subject in the first two years. But there is no justification after the 2001 Durban Conference for a government that signed its declaration and action plan and brought an official delegation with representatives of social movements. "In Venezuela, after the discussion about the new constitution began, the Fundación Afroamérica and Unión de Mujeres Negras organizations made our proposals for the State to incorporate Afro-Venezuela into the multiethnic and culturally diverse character and as a founding element of the Republic. There, in those proposals that the new constitution should contain, we demanded the historical, political and cultural recognition of African men and women as well as their descendants, in addition to reviewing the collective ownership of the old Maroons' land." (García, Jesús, 2006:30) In the end these propositions were ignored as a way to say the fifth republic began with a discriminatory act against the descendants of enslaved Africans. The Afro-Venezuelan organizations with a higher level of political consciousness and experience in the struggles and international political debates made their proposals and the refusal must be considered no matter the viewing angle; the Bolivarian constitution was born with a discriminatory act, the proposals were ignored by an inherited racist mentality. Afro-descendants were not explicitly recognized in the new Bolivarian Constitution of Venezuela, considered to be the most advanced in the world, mainly for its principles of participatory democracy and active involvement of the people. Not even in the preamble where the sources of inspiration of what would be called V República or in any article of the Magna Carta, unlike the indigenous people who received a chapter on their rights in the new constitution.
Subsequently, relations were distant until the preparations for the Durban Conference began, which took place at a regional context of redefinitions of the black or Afro-Venezuelan social movements. In Venezuela the Network of Afro-Venezuelan Organizations (Red de Organizaciones Afrovenezolanas, ROA) emerged in June 2000. Headed by Jesús Chucho García, it became the political initiative of articulation of all willpower and organizations identified with Afro-Venezuelan issues, an action with greater conceptual maturity and awareness of the political differences, but meritoriously the most far-reaching collective proposal of Afro-descendants. Among its main goals is "to fight against any form of racism, xenophobia, intolerance and its related forms, exclusion, endo-racism and discrimination against Afro-Venezuelan citizens and any citizen in our country and the world that suffers from this type of aberration". Within its strategic courses of action we read; "To fight openly against any form of racial discrimination and to implement the action plan of the World Conference against Racism (South Africa 2001) signed by our country, in dialogue with the different levels of government and other Venezuelan social organizations to establish policies and actions". In order to highlight its contributions to the central theme of this writing, the fight against discrimination, we will show its articulation with similar social movements of the continent:
In September 2000, the Alianza Estratégica Afrolatinoamericana (Afro-Latin American Strategic Alliance) was created in San José, Costa Rica, constituted by NGO's, networks, leaderships and other groups from the continent to prepare a work agenda for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, Intolerance and its related forms, to be held in the city of Durban. (. . .) In December, the Afro-Latin American Strategic Alliance together with Chilean NPO Fundación Ideas, promoted before the United Nations Pre-Conference against Racism the Conference of Citizens against Racism, held in Santiago, Chile between 3–4 December 2000 where the new forms of racism were analyzed and the NGO's of the continent took a position: that racism had new forms and in addition it had become more acute in many countries of the continent. (García, 2001:85)
The creation of the Afro-descendant term as a social self-construction in the conference in Chile referred to above was previously developed in meetings such as the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1999, where Chucho García participated representing Afro-Venezuelans. It is a rupture with a domineering, colonialist and epistemologically racist and Eurocentric conception that was exercised to explain the presence of Africanness and its descendants. Its definition from the beginning has been a political tool for the struggle and positioning of descendants of Africans from a whole and complex conception, discarding the simplifications of highlighting a feature or a characteristic.
Durban became the main agenda for dialogue between the different Afro-descendant social movements of the continent. The participation of the Venezuelan delegation who signed this historic document in its official representation and representation of spokespersons of social movements was honorable, its implementation and subsequent evaluation is a matter of these reflections. Meanwhile the bureaucracy tries to find in the African diaspora a pretext for their pitiful, hypocritical and false pronouncements. In Durban, Africans and Afro-descendants met face-to-face and understood that racism was the same there or here. The Durban agenda became a political tool for Afro-descendant groups, a negotiation point with progressive governments and a demand point against reactionary governments. Although contradictory, progressive governments like in Venezuela carry a debt with this issue while governments like in Colombia took a step forward in affirmative action. The representation of the Afro-descendant movement was under the shoulders of Jorge Guerrero Veloz, Nirva Camacho and Chucho García, who played an active role in the historic conference.
Since its founding the Afro-descendant social movement in Venezuela has carried out different national initiatives to disseminate the agreements of the Durban Conference and the implementation of its action plan. The contradictory speech of Venezuelan Foreign Minister Luis Alfonzo Dávila García, who was an assistant in the historic conference in South Africa, reflected the inconsistency of his arguments; "Venezuela is a multiethnic and multicultural society, the result of a fusion of very diverse idiosyncrasies and cultures, in whose formation the three primal races of America took part and were amalgamated, the indian, the black and the white races and immigration from all nations of the world for several centuries". (A blatantly evolutionist speech) "Venezuelans are proud of this miscegenation. We have created a culture of respect for differences which has given us a better management of diversity" (the myth of racial equality through miscegenation). This conceptual, ambiguous segment of the speech contradicts commitments such as "Venezuela rejects any form of discrimination that undermines of annuls the enjoyment or exercise, under conditions of equality, of the fundamental rights and freedoms of every human being" . . . "we attend this conference because Venezuela wants to make its voice heard and ratify its traditional and historic position and commitment to fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and any form of intolerance that may exist on this world" . . . "Venezuela expects from this conference at least one declaration and an action plan that reflects the aspirations of the international community as a whole and the interests of the minority victims of forms of exclusion". To date, with Venezuela expressing its will, the National Committee of monitoring and the implementation of the declaration and action plan signed at Durban has not been created.
The Afro-Venezuelan social movement was unified in the year 2000 on the prospects of achieving greater inclusion in the public policies of the Venezuelan State. It was at the time, with the advance in the field of progressive ideas of the continent, highlighting the historical debt of the Venezuelan state towards Africans and their descendants in the Americas. Until April 11 2002, the date of the coup d'etat against president Chávez, the Bolivarian government did not take into account the moral, political, social, cultural and spiritual contributions of Afro-descendants. It was necessary to feel racism in the flesh as the far-right sectors did against the president and his government. We must all remember the public attacks directed at then Minister of Education Aristóbulo Isturiz.
In this moment, president Chávez understood that racism and discrimination were in force in Venezuela. With a conscious attitude and a historical agenda accumulated over time, a process of realization for the Bolivarian government began, on behalf of the Afro-Venezuelan movement, starting with the president who proclaims himself as "Afro-descendant" in a public event in Veroes (Yaracuy-11-de enero del 2004), and in the following year approves the presidential decree, suggested by us, to create the presidential commission against racial discrimination, then professors Fulvia Polanco and Juan Ramón Lugo (both Afro-descendant leaders of the Falcón state) propose that the day of the insurrection lead by José Leonardo Chirino be declared the day of Afrovenezolanidad, a decree issued by current president Nicolás Maduro Moros, who at the time was president of the National Assembly of Venezuela.
In 2004, before the referendum, and with the presence of progressive African-American organization Africanforum, we held a meeting in Palmarejo, Veroes (Yaracuy state) to inaugurate the Andresote Cultural Center, there Miguel Charum said "...it was time for a president to notice us", Chávez answered "With your struggle, well our strugle, because I include myself, as Afro-descendants...we will advance the rights of Afro-Venezuelans". It was there where Chávez declared himself Afro-descendant, on January 11, 2004, then he reaffirmed it on May 8, 2005 on Aló Presidente in the East of the country where he raises the issues of Afro-descendants with a comprehensive vision in the Americas and the Caribbean:
"Some ideas are already on my desk, we would have to calculate the details more precisely, I have the general idea and I want it to be worked on. But beyond Venezuela I am thinking about the integration of Latin America, of this Afro-America that is dispersed throughout these lands and these waters and with Cuba we have been advancing in this job, with Jamaica, with the Eastern Caribbean and although more than 90% of those brothers speak English they are Afro-descendants." The last texts are reflections of Chucho García.
Since 2005–2011 a close dialogue is established between the Afro-Venezuelan social movement and the Bolivarian Government, which inaugurates a new vision of the State with inclusion and visibility. We can take as a reference the International Meeting of Afro-descendants and Public Policies in the Americas and the Caribbean held in 2005. From there, the direct proposals of the social sectors begin with the creation of a set of spaces that we can list in order of appearance and political importance. First, the creation of the Presidential Commission for the Prevention and Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination and other distinctions in the Venezuelan education system ascribed to the Ministry of Education, the liasion office with the Afro-descendant communities in the Ministry of Culture, the creation of the sub-committee of Afro-descendant statistics for the execution of this variable in the 2011 national census and the Vice Ministry for the attention of Afro-descendant women, within the Ministry of Popular Power for women and gender equality as institutional spaces of greater importance, together with May 10 being declared as the national day of Afrovenezolanidad by the National Assembly and the executive order. Not to mention the creation of coordinations for Afro-descendant issues in the Institute of Youth.
A period full of contradictions because progress was certainly made in the conquest of spaces mentioned above, but budget cuts and the bureaucratic machinery did not allow the execution of concrete policies and plans. Within the social movement there is a debate about its profile of maintaining its own autonomous agenda and those that thought reaching important positions was a priority task that would allow us to advance. Unfortunately its weakness allowed co-option to defeat legitimate initiatives and we receded. The best example was seen at the time of the constitutional reform of 2007 promoted by the national government, the Afro-descendant social movement with greater political clarity not only proposed the inclusion of Afro-descendant issues, but also elaborated a proposal for a whole chapter on the rights of people of African descent, said proposal was not incorporated in the final draft and was only named in a few articles, this reform was defeated in December 2007. This gesture, repeated 10 years later, left a bitter taste in the social collectives.
This period was really contradictory for the social movement's internal relations which led to its fragmentation, the debate on relations with the government had much weight. Some bet on its consolidation and others were diluted in the positions offered by the government with no administrative obstacles. A tragedy that meant a setback in a matter of 6 years, when in 2011, the International Year for People of African Descent declared by the UN, the IV International Meeting of People of African Descent and the Revolutionary Transformations in Latin America and the Caribbean was held in Caracas, preceded by the one held in 2005 that set this historic stage for two meetings with the same profile: uniting the progressive and revolutionary sectors of the continent's social movements. In 2009 Red de Afrodescendientes de Venezuela (Network of Venezuelan Afro-descendants, RAV) is created, claiming the intellectual autonomy and agenda of Afro-descendant social movements in Venezuela. We participated in the organization of the international meeting in 2011.
The IV meeting proposed the creation of the National Council for the Development of Afro-descendant Communities (Consejo Nacional para el desarrollo de las comunidades Afrodescendientes –CONADECAFRO) to support the need for stronger public policies of the Bolivarian government towards people of African descent, approved and signed months laters by Hugo Chávez himself, as well as the Law against Racial Discrimination and the creation of the Institute against Racial Discrimination in the same year, but concretized in 2013. The emergence of these institutions as government bodies of greater hierarchy than the previous ones that would allow more initiatives of inclusion and participation and its influence in the construction of public policies has been practically null, instead of contributing to direct approach of the government with the communities, the social movement received a distancing and its interal division was stimulated.
In a report presented to the UN, the RAV depicts in its demands the exclusion and regression in the year 2016. In said report, it is briefly described in its considerations and recommendations: Spaces for political participation such as the newly created ones because they were closed, the constituencies for the election of parliamentary representatives of Afro-descendants, the restructuring of CONADECAFRO, a reform on the Law of Racial Discrimination and the reorganization of INCODIR, the revision of intercultural education policies and the definitive incorporation of Afro-descendant issues established in the Education Law of 2009, the consolidation of the cultural policy agency in the respective ministry, the health of Afro-descendants should be taken as a course of action of public policies and finally the National Government was required to decree the Decade of People of African Descent.
The title of this article indicates the contradictory nature of the inclusion of Afro-descendant issues in the public policies of the Bolivarian government, contradictions that have not been overcome and that definitely require debate and responses from both the Venezuelan State and social movements, both responsible for this problem. Recently in 2018 the government of Nicolás Maduro signed the declaration of the Decade of People of African Descent of Venezuela on March 24 and on the same day called a world summit for reparations and justice for Afro-descendants. An event that called for various sectors of different continents. Up until now, no sector of social movements has been called to make contributions to create an action plan for the Decade or consulted on reparations and justice.
The incoherence of specific public policies for people of African descent and the institutional spaces created without a presence in the Venezuelan State does not mean that Afro-descendant communities have not benefited from the social inclusion policies that the Venezuelan government has promoted. Our communities do not have programs or plans in particular that respond to our situation. The Bolivarian process is, in our opinion, the only context of inclusion and recognition of people of African descent despite obvious mistakes, but a rectification is urgently needed.
Afro-descendants in times of the Bolivarian Revolution. No constitutional recognition
A period full of contradictions because progress was certainly made in the conquest of spaces mentioned above, but budget cuts and the bureaucratic machinery did not allow the execution of concrete policies and plans. Within the social movement there is a debate about its profile of maintaining its own autonomous agenda and those that thought reaching important positions was a priority task that would allow us to advance. Unfortunately its weakness allowed co-option to defeat legitimate initiatives and we receded. The best example was seen at the time of the constitutional reform of 2007 promoted by the national government, the Afro-descendant social movement with greater political clarity not only proposed the inclusion of Afro-descendant issues, but also elaborated a proposal for a whole chapter on the rights of people of African descent, said proposal was not incorporated in the final draft and was only named in a few articles, this reform was defeated in December 2007. This gesture, repeated 10 years later, left a bitter taste in the social collectives.
This period was really contradictory for the social movement's internal relations which led to its fragmentation, the debate on relations with the government had much weight. Some bet on its consolidation and others were diluted in the positions offered by the government with no administrative obstacles. A tragedy that meant a setback in a matter of 6 years, when in 2011, the International Year for People of African Descent declared by the UN, the IV International Meeting of People of African Descent and the Revolutionary Transformations in Latin America and the Caribbean was held in Caracas, preceded by the one held in 2005 that set this historic stage for two meetings with the same profile: uniting the progressive and revolutionary sectors of the continent's social movements. In 2009 Red de Afrodescendientes de Venezuela (Network of Venezuelan Afro-descendants, RAV) is created, claiming the intellectual autonomy and agenda of Afro-descendant social movements in Venezuela. We participated in the organization of the international meeting in 2011.
The IV meeting proposed the creation of the National Council for the Development of Afro-descendant Communities (Consejo Nacional para el desarrollo de las comunidades Afrodescendientes –CONADECAFRO) to support the need for stronger public policies of the Bolivarian government towards people of African descent, approved and signed months laters by Hugo Chávez himself, as well as the Law against Racial Discrimination and the creation of the Institute against Racial Discrimination in the same year, but concretized in 2013. The emergence of these institutions as government bodies of greater hierarchy than the previous ones that would allow more initiatives of inclusion and participation and its influence in the construction of public policies has been practically null, instead of contributing to direct approach of the government with the communities, the social movement received a distancing and its interal division was stimulated.
In a report presented to the UN, the RAV depicts in its demands the exclusion and regression in the year 2016. In said report, it is briefly described in its considerations and recommendations: Spaces for political participation such as the newly created ones because they were closed, the constituencies for the election of parliamentary representatives of Afro-descendants, the restructuring of CONADECAFRO, a reform on the Law of Racial Discrimination and the reorganization of INCODIR, the revision of intercultural education policies and the definitive incorporation of Afro-descendant issues established in the Education Law of 2009, the consolidation of the cultural policy agency in the respective ministry, the health of Afro-descendants should be taken as a course of action of public policies and finally the National Government was required to decree the Decade of People of African Descent.
The title of this article indicates the contradictory nature of the inclusion of Afro-descendant issues in the public policies of the Bolivarian government, contradictions that have not been overcome and that definitely require debate and responses from both the Venezuelan State and social movements, both responsible for this problem. Recently in 2018 the government of Nicolás Maduro signed the declaration of the Decade of People of African Descent of Venezuela on March 24 and on the same day called a world summit for reparations and justice for Afro-descendants. An event that called for various sectors of different continents. Up until now, no sector of social movements has been called to make contributions to create an action plan for the Decade or consulted on reparations and justice.
The incoherence of specific public policies for people of African descent and the institutional spaces created without a presence in the Venezuelan State does not mean that Afro-descendant communities have not benefited from the social inclusion policies that the Venezuelan government has promoted. Our communities do not have programs or plans in particular that respond to our situation. The Bolivarian process is, in our opinion, the only context of inclusion and recognition of people of African descent despite obvious mistakes, but a rectification is urgently needed.
Afro-descendants in times of the Bolivarian Revolution. No constitutional recognition