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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2001)
8 OCTOBER 15, 2001 Smoke Signals Poverty, Disease, Oil Exploration and Logging Drive Warao Indians to Venezuela's Cities Indigenous people in South America are in need; their lives are changing. CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AP) Alquino Rivero's six children are growing up barefoot in a dirty city park. His wife begs and sells jew elry. Fellow Warao Indians live among foul mattresses, broken toys and food scraps. Yet Rivero said life is better here than in his ancestral homeland of eastern Venezuela's Orinoco Delta, where activists say hunger, disease, logging and oil projects have driven thousands to head for the cities. Warao Indians began leaving Delta Amacuro State, where most of the estimated 30,000 Warao live, decades ago. But the trickle has become a flood. "What we're seeing, unfortu nately, is a microcosm of what's happening around the world, where the majority of the last large remaining oil reserves are in low income or indigenous communities," said Michael Brun, an Environ mentalist with the Los Angeles based Rainforest Action Network. Others are reluctant to blame only big oil. "We can't say that oil exploration is what is making the Warao mi grate," said Rosa Trujillo, a Con gressional Aide on Indian affairs. "Industry brings a new model of thought (to indigenous peoples), which is based on a society of con sumption." Indian leaders agree, saying Warao often are prompted to head to cities when fellow Indians come home with fistfuls of cash. Activ ists estimate 2,000 to 7,000 Warao are in constant migration to and from the cities. "Warao" means "canoe people" in 4 the Warao language and "Delta Amacuro" means, "quilt of water." Rivero, 41, grew up in a typical Warao village in the heart of the delta, dotted with thatch homes built on stilts. Warao fish in a labyrinth of small rivers and tributaries that form the Switzerland-sized delta. From moriche palms, they extract flour and wine and weave baskets and hammocks. But it's been years since Rivero cast a fishing net into the dark, fast flowing Orinoco. His life consists of traveling back and forth be tween Caracas and his village, 400 miles away. He stays in the capital until he saves up about 200,000 bolivars, or about $270, which is enough money to feed his family for a few months. "We don't have work to pay for clothes, food, soap. If we had jobs we wouldn't live like this," Rivero said as he sat on a cot with one of . his sons on his lap. "The govern ment says it will help, but I don't know when." The remote Orinoco Delta has long suffered industrial exploitation and government neglect. Logging has shrunk its forests and demand for palm hearts is depleting the moriche palms. More than 90 percent of Warao communities are hundreds of miles from a hospital. More than 70 per cent lack schools, telephones or roads. . At least 50 percent of Warao chil dren suffer from tuberculosis or di arrhea caused in part by river pol lution. Most of the state lacks po table water. Environmentalists say the surge in Warao migration began after the government's decision in 1996 to open Venezuela's oil industry to for eign investment. Exploratory drill ing began; forest plots were cleared; some fish-bearing river flows were interrupted. But Indian rights activists say oil exploration has been too small to explain the migration. They note BP Amoco abandoned its three delta exploration projects last year, al though environmentalists accuse the company of leaving behind bur ied toxic waste. The state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, which took over BFs two other projects, did not return calls seeking comment. Rep. Noheli Pocaterra, a Wayuu Indian, and other Indian lawmak ers are drawing up a plan to de velop agriculture and fishing in the delta, bring doctors in, install a sew age system and encourage Warao to become involved in politics. For the first time, a Warao is the mayor of the Antonio Diaz district of Delta Amacuro, where 70 percent of Warao live. But Pocaterra ac knowledges it could take years to reverse the migration trend. "I've received reports that things are the same: hunger, disease," President Hugo Chavez said in a recent speech. "There is a group of aboriginal people that come here ... I've asked Noheli to help us con vince them to return but we have to accompany that by projects, pro grams to allow them to develop their own land." While downtown Caracas has its share of unlicensed street vendors and homeless, the sight of Warao families living on the streets has been unnerving for many "Caraquenos." . Indians had been rare in urban areas of Venezuela, unlike some South American countries such as Ecuador and Bolivia where Indians make up almost half the population. Indians represent only three per cent of Venezuela's 24 million people and largely live in the delta, the southern Amazon and the northern desert frontier with Co lombia. In Paseo Vargas Parkj Indian women give birth on soiled mat tresses, cook over open fires and hang beaded necklaces from tree branches in hopes of attracting sales from passers-by. Children play, sleep and defecate among the trees. Most residents hurry past, shaking their heads. Culture shock, hardship and heartbreak aren't enough to get Rivero to abandon the capital's smoggy streets and return home. "People die there," he said. "I don't want to go back." Nakoda Freelance Photographer Will Call Oregon Home For Now A rookie to Smoke Signals, Peta Tinda brings wealth of experience. By Justin Phillips Fort Peck Tribal member Peta Tinda is the latest rookie to be added to the award winning Smoke Signals team and he brings a tal ent to the job. Tinda is freelancing as a photojournalist for the Tribal newspaper. Born and raised on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana, Tinda comes from a family of jour nalism. His mom, Minnie Two-Shoes and his three aunts all work for their Tribal newspaper. Tinda said one of his biggest in fluences has been his mother. Wotani Wowapi the paper's name is in Lakota language. Wotani meaning, "pay attention, or "book or paper." Tinda's great-uncle was once the His uncle was also the Tribal Chair 'Working It" Peta Tinda cruises the Craps & Chrome Auto Show. listen here," and Wowapi meaning Vice-Chair of the Fort Peck Tribe, of his Tribe. Tinda has been an avid photo journalist in the past years. In 2000, he took first place in the Native American Journalist Association's (NAJA) photo shootout in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Tinda now lives in Salem where he will be attending school at Western Oregon University in Monmouth. "Right now I'm studying history," said Tinda. "I also studied journal ism at Montana State University." Tinda has worked for the Associ ated Press, done several intern ships and has a lot of experience in mainstream media, but enjoys working in Indian Country. Tinda said he enjoys reading, snowboarding, Japanese anime and of course photography. "I love my job," said Tinda. "I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. I believe that keeping people informed about things that affect them is one of the most important jobs there is." m lm& 9$ , - ll , "f ;