15 October 1998 Edition
Colombian Indians denounce Smurfit's land policy
``We just want what is ours''
By Soledad Galiana
Indigenous communities in Latin America have suffered invasion, oppression, ethnic cleansing and discrimination under the name of colonisation. In the past, Spanish and Portuguese colonial regimes were their enemies. Today, they have to confront a more subtle but no less dangerous enemy - multinationals - in their struggle for the right to the ownership of the land that they have historically inhabited.
The history of the Paez Indians is not much different from the experiences of other indigenous communities in the American continent. It is a history of massacres, fear, discrimination and continuous struggle to survive. It is a history marked by the confrontation of the right to the indigenous to the land against the power and interest of their ``own'' governments and foreign agents.
Blanca Helli Conda Quitumbo, governnor of the Paez Reservation in Paila, South Colombia, together with Emilio Conda Cruz, former governor of the reservation, came to Dublin to highlight the struggle of their community to keep their land. This is a new step in their ongoing dispute with Smurfit, the Irish company that is taking over what they consider their land.
Before the Spanish came to Latin America, the Indians were already farming. Paper titles did not exist. Whoever worked the land, owned it. When the Spanish arrived to ``civilise'' America, they stole the land and other resources from the Indians. In the following centuries, the Indigenous population was reduced from 30 million to just one million people. The Indians were forced to retreat to poor, isolated areas to continue to grow their crops. One of these communities was known as the Paez Indians. Over the years, non-Indians farmers took over the Paez's lands. But the Paez Indians never gave up hope to get their land back.''Since 1978, the landowners have been selling the land to a company unknown to us at that moment, Cartón de Colombia,'' explained Blanca. In 1981 the Paez Indians walked into the farms. Soldiers and police beat them and destroyed their crops. But they returned, and they are still there.
In 1982, over 100 peasant delegates met in San José de la Selva to discuss the situation in relation to Cartón de Colombia. They declared themselves opposed to the planting of pine-trees in the area because it deprives them of arable land, creates unemployment, contaminates the water with nitrate (which causes cancer) and it results in the erosion of the soil, due to the lack of vegetation between the trees. They called on the government to intervene. ``We tried to come out with a plan to see what we could do with the large landowners who had occupied our reservation area,'' explained Emilio. ``We decided to contact the Colombian Institute for Agrarian Reform (INCORA) - an institution that buys land from the large landowners and resells it or gives it to small farmers - to ask them to buy the land and give it back to our community. It was then that we heard for the first time the name Smurfit''.
In September 1986, Jefferson Smurfit bought The Container Corporation from Mobil for $1.2 million. In doing so, Cartón de Colombia became Smurfit-Cartón de Colombia (SCDC). In 1989, the Paez Indians denounced SCDC who, with the help of the police, had destroyed their crops of banana, wheat, beans and yucca. ``Far from trying to resolve the issue, [Smurfit] made it worse, he came with the great idea of forming the Agro-Forestal Co-operative. Smurfit invited 80 farmers to take over this land and told them that if they were prepared to defend it [against the Indians] it will be theirs.''
Smurfits owns 100.000 acres of land in Colombia and the business is highly profitable, providing the best return on any of Smurfit's interests. ``At the moment Smurfits has five farms in the area sown with pine-tree seed. We have tried lots of different ways to approach him and establish dialogue, but he says that it is not his land anymore, that it is in the hands of this new cooperative. We have seen the documents by which the co-operative was set up. It is very carefully worded so the farmers would follow Smurfit's orders in relation to whatever they want to do with the land. Smurfit gave two hectares to each peasant family, but it has to be all sown with pine-trees, so they are not producing food for their community. The farmers said that in 12 years the land will be theirs. The document said it will take 65 years and there are no guarantees that after that the arrangement they have with Smurfit will become an ownership arrangement.''
Emilio explained that they do not want all Smurfit's land, but an area that it is historically their land, La Paila, around a river leading to the Pacific coast. ``We managed to get a sort of legal recognition for our reservation area, excluding a part Smurfit is sticking on.'' The Paez have occupped three farms in this area known as ``La Paila'' that add up to less land than Smurfit's golf course in Straffan. ``In all this time, Smurfit have not wanted to negotiate with the government. But we managed to take back from him a farm call El Diamante that is now farmed by the community although the legal title paper says it belongs to Smurfits'' Emilio pointed out that they are not saying they do not want to see Smurfit in the area at all. ``We just want Smurfit to give us back what is ours and then we will se about establishing a relationship with him''.
•Blanca and Emilio met with representatives of Smurfits on Tuesday morning and agreement was reached to continue talks between the two sides.
In Dublin on Tuesday Loren Arkotxa and Esther Agirre, members of the National Executive of Herri Batasuna, called for the support of Irish people in their efforts to bring self-determination for the Basque Country.
They were in Dublin this week to meet representatives from various political parties to explain the latest moves towards peace in the Basque Country.
Esther Agirre explained the influence of the Irish peace process in the latest developments in the Basque Country. ``All the nationalist parties sat down around a table, together with Izquierda Unida -that it is not a nationalist party - trade unions, social groups... to discuss the aspects that favour and push the peace process in Ireland. The Lizarra declaration has two parts. In the first part we analyse the reasons why the peace process was possible in Ireland and we applied the philosophy underneath that to our country.'' Esther Agirre highlighted that it has taken them 20 years to reach the present nationalist consensus.
Loren Arkotxa pointed out that as far as they know all ETA members are behind the decision that led to the ceasefire and that the Basque people are happy ``not only because of the ceasefire, but also because of the new political scenario created after the Lizarra Agreement.''
By Soledad Galiana
Indigenous communities in Latin America have suffered invasion, oppression, ethnic cleansing and discrimination under the name of colonisation. In the past, Spanish and Portuguese colonial regimes were their enemies. Today, they have to confront a more subtle but no less dangerous enemy - multinationals - in their struggle for the right to the ownership of the land that they have historically inhabited.
The history of the Paez Indians is not much different from the experiences of other indigenous communities in the American continent. It is a history of massacres, fear, discrimination and continuous struggle to survive. It is a history marked by the confrontation of the right to the indigenous to the land against the power and interest of their ``own'' governments and foreign agents.
Blanca Helli Conda Quitumbo, governnor of the Paez Reservation in Paila, South Colombia, together with Emilio Conda Cruz, former governor of the reservation, came to Dublin to highlight the struggle of their community to keep their land. This is a new step in their ongoing dispute with Smurfit, the Irish company that is taking over what they consider their land.
Before the Spanish came to Latin America, the Indians were already farming. Paper titles did not exist. Whoever worked the land, owned it. When the Spanish arrived to ``civilise'' America, they stole the land and other resources from the Indians. In the following centuries, the Indigenous population was reduced from 30 million to just one million people. The Indians were forced to retreat to poor, isolated areas to continue to grow their crops. One of these communities was known as the Paez Indians. Over the years, non-Indians farmers took over the Paez's lands. But the Paez Indians never gave up hope to get their land back.''Since 1978, the landowners have been selling the land to a company unknown to us at that moment, Cartón de Colombia,'' explained Blanca. In 1981 the Paez Indians walked into the farms. Soldiers and police beat them and destroyed their crops. But they returned, and they are still there.
In 1982, over 100 peasant delegates met in San José de la Selva to discuss the situation in relation to Cartón de Colombia. They declared themselves opposed to the planting of pine-trees in the area because it deprives them of arable land, creates unemployment, contaminates the water with nitrate (which causes cancer) and it results in the erosion of the soil, due to the lack of vegetation between the trees. They called on the government to intervene. ``We tried to come out with a plan to see what we could do with the large landowners who had occupied our reservation area,'' explained Emilio. ``We decided to contact the Colombian Institute for Agrarian Reform (INCORA) - an institution that buys land from the large landowners and resells it or gives it to small farmers - to ask them to buy the land and give it back to our community. It was then that we heard for the first time the name Smurfit''.
In September 1986, Jefferson Smurfit bought The Container Corporation from Mobil for $1.2 million. In doing so, Cartón de Colombia became Smurfit-Cartón de Colombia (SCDC). In 1989, the Paez Indians denounced SCDC who, with the help of the police, had destroyed their crops of banana, wheat, beans and yucca. ``Far from trying to resolve the issue, [Smurfit] made it worse, he came with the great idea of forming the Agro-Forestal Co-operative. Smurfit invited 80 farmers to take over this land and told them that if they were prepared to defend it [against the Indians] it will be theirs.''
Smurfits owns 100.000 acres of land in Colombia and the business is highly profitable, providing the best return on any of Smurfit's interests. ``At the moment Smurfits has five farms in the area sown with pine-tree seed. We have tried lots of different ways to approach him and establish dialogue, but he says that it is not his land anymore, that it is in the hands of this new cooperative. We have seen the documents by which the co-operative was set up. It is very carefully worded so the farmers would follow Smurfit's orders in relation to whatever they want to do with the land. Smurfit gave two hectares to each peasant family, but it has to be all sown with pine-trees, so they are not producing food for their community. The farmers said that in 12 years the land will be theirs. The document said it will take 65 years and there are no guarantees that after that the arrangement they have with Smurfit will become an ownership arrangement.''
Emilio explained that they do not want all Smurfit's land, but an area that it is historically their land, La Paila, around a river leading to the Pacific coast. ``We managed to get a sort of legal recognition for our reservation area, excluding a part Smurfit is sticking on.'' The Paez have occupped three farms in this area known as ``La Paila'' that add up to less land than Smurfit's golf course in Straffan. ``In all this time, Smurfit have not wanted to negotiate with the government. But we managed to take back from him a farm call El Diamante that is now farmed by the community although the legal title paper says it belongs to Smurfits'' Emilio pointed out that they are not saying they do not want to see Smurfit in the area at all. ``We just want Smurfit to give us back what is ours and then we will se about establishing a relationship with him''.
•Blanca and Emilio met with representatives of Smurfits on Tuesday morning and agreement was reached to continue talks between the two sides.
Herri Batasuna delegation visits Dublin
In Dublin on Tuesday Loren Arkotxa and Esther Agirre, members of the National Executive of Herri Batasuna, called for the support of Irish people in their efforts to bring self-determination for the Basque Country.
They were in Dublin this week to meet representatives from various political parties to explain the latest moves towards peace in the Basque Country.
Esther Agirre explained the influence of the Irish peace process in the latest developments in the Basque Country. ``All the nationalist parties sat down around a table, together with Izquierda Unida -that it is not a nationalist party - trade unions, social groups... to discuss the aspects that favour and push the peace process in Ireland. The Lizarra declaration has two parts. In the first part we analyse the reasons why the peace process was possible in Ireland and we applied the philosophy underneath that to our country.'' Esther Agirre highlighted that it has taken them 20 years to reach the present nationalist consensus.
Loren Arkotxa pointed out that as far as they know all ETA members are behind the decision that led to the ceasefire and that the Basque people are happy ``not only because of the ceasefire, but also because of the new political scenario created after the Lizarra Agreement.''