Caracas, Oct 12 (EFE).- Members of Venezuela’s indigenous communities and chavismo supporters marched Thursday in downtown Caracas to the Federal Legislative Palace to commemorate the “Day of Indigenous Resistance and Decolonization of all America” and called for the defense of the territory.
Thousands of people gathered in several points of the Venezuelan capital to walk to the Legislative Assembly, where indigenous leaders delivered a statement in which they rejected the “conditions of backwardness and subordination” in which, they claim, the peoples of Latin America are being kept, and demanded respect for the Venezuelan territory.
“There have been 531 years of resistance of the native and Afro peoples, of struggle to break the cultural, mental, economic and social chains inherited from the colony and perpetuated by neocolonialism”, stated the document read by an Indigenous leader who led the rally in which many wore the ancestral attire of their communities.
In addition, the group endorsed the recent consultative referendum by Parliament to “reinforce” the country’s “rights” over Essequiba Guiana, a 160,000-kilometer territory in dispute with Guyana.
“Count on the indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants to continue in the struggle until we achieve the final victory. Never before in our history have we been so close to achieving it,” said the spokeswoman before delivering the document.
The document was received by the first vice-president of the Parliament, Pedro Infante, who celebrated that the indigenous communities joined “the defense of the territory of the Essequibo Guyana” and praised the struggle of the Indigenous communities to maintain their traditions.
The Essequibo, an area rich in natural and mineral resources, has been at the center of a dispute between Venezuela and Guyana, each have claimed it as theirs for almost 200 years, and in a new episode of tension after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared itself competent to resolve the dispute, something Venezuela rejects.
Earlier, to commemorate the “Day of Indigenous Resistance,” officials of Nicolás Maduro’s Cabinet led a solemn act in the National Pantheon in Caracas, accompanied by more than 30 mechanized infantry brigades and the Martial Band of the Military Academy of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), according to state channel VTV.
The Minister for Indigenous Peoples, Clara Vidal, participated in the event and highlighted the need to keep active in the struggle to defend these peoples “for full freedom” and “mother earth.” EFE
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