Twenty-four of Venezuela’s 28 indigenous groups live in the Guayana region. These groups make up 11.5 percent of the regional population and occupy and use 80 percent of the region (see Figure 6: Overlap between mineral deposits and traditional indigenous territories).[167] Some groups, such as the Yanomami and the Hoti, have lived in relative isolation until very recently. Many of Venezuela’s Amerindians depend on forest resources for their survival. One study of the Piaroa indigenous people in Amazonas state concluded that communities received far more nutritional and economic benefit from the consumption of forest resources than they could possibly afford to purchase if they were to become low-skilled day laborers in the nearby capital of Amazonas state, Puerto Ayacucho.[168]
Indigenous communities are not well protected under Venezuelan law. Because most indigenous peoples live in areas considered “unoccupied” or protected, they are vulnerable to having their lands opened for development projects, mining and timber concessions, and tourism lodges. [169] Furthermore, national government policies and access to urban markets have led some communities to become more sedentary and to undertake nontraditional activities, such as mining. [170] In addition, extractive activities and tourism on indigenous lands have had a noticeable impact on Venezuela’s indigenous communities.
Indigenous peoples’ policy
Article 77 of the Venezuelan constitution states that the nation is committed to bettering the lives of the rural population, with specific reference to “the protection of indigenous communities and their progressive incorporation into the Nation.”171 The importance of this article is that it assigns special preference for indigenous communities (regimen de excepci¢n) in the administration of their areas. Several other references to the rights of indigenous peoples exist in Venezuela’s legal framework. Article 2 of the Agrarian Reform Law states that indigenous communities have a right to benefit from the land, forests, and water where they live.172 In addition, a Special Law creating the state of Amazonas in July 1992 stated that indigenous peoples’ culture, languages, traditions, and lands were to be respected. The law also called on state officials to delimit indigenous lands “in accordance with their settlement patterns to award collective title to them.” [173]
Nonetheless, much of the legislation referring to Venezuela’s indigenous peoples tends to focus on assimilating indigenous cultures into mainstream Venezuelan society, and progressive legislation recognizing indigenous land tenure patterns has not been implemented. On August 3, 1983, Venezuela passed legislation recognizing the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 107 and establishing that indigenous peoples have the “right of ownership, collective or individual, of the members of the populations concerned over the lands which these populations traditionally occupy.” [174] This legislation, however, established no mechanisms whereby it can be put into effect. In 1989, the ILO replaced Convention 107 with the more far-reaching Convention 169, but Venezuela has yet to ratify this new treaty.
In practice, implementing the limited legislation that exists regarding indigenous human and territorial rights has been difficult. Agrarian reform titles are generally not given out in protected areas, but 55 percent of Amazonas state is defined as falling into some category of protection. Consequently, indigenous peoples living in Venezuela are among the most unprotected in Latin America in terms of land rights. According to the 1992 census, over 70 percent of communities have no title whatsoever.175 In comparison, Brazil recognizes land rights for over 60 percent of its indigenous groups. [176]
In 1989, the Venezuelan Congress began debating a proposed Organic Law on Indigenous Communities, Peoples, and Cultures. After years of inaction, the bill was finally approved in the Senate in 1995 and is now being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies. Among other things, the bill seeks to consolidate and update the scant legislation on indigenous peoples’ rights. It would also establish land rights and prohibit mining that displaces indigenous peoples from their ancestral land, although indigenous communities would be allowed to practice artisanal mining. While the bill clearly improves on existing legislation, indigenous groups have criticized it, primarily because they say they were not consulted. [177]
References and notes
168. M. Melnyk, “The Direct-Use Values of Tropical Moist Forest Foods: A Case Study of the Huottuja (Piaroa) Amerindians of Venezuela” Ambio (vol. 26(7): November 1997).
169. PROVEA, Situaci¢n de los derechos humanos en Venezuela: informe anual, octubre de 1995-septiembre de 1996 (Programa Venezolano de Educaci¢n-Acci¢n en Derechos Humanos: Caracas, 1996), p. 212.
170. A. Mansutti Rodr¡guez, “Una mirada al futuro de los ind¡genas de guayana,” Bolet¡n Antropol¢gico (Centro De Investigaciones del Museo Arqueol¢gico: M‚rida, no. 29, September-December 1993).
171. GOV, “Constituci¢n de la Rep£blica de Venezuela” (Gaceta Oficial no. 3357 Extraordinario, 8/12/83).
172. GOV, “Ley de Reforma Agraria” (Gaceta Oficial no. 611 Extraordinario, 3/19/60, article 2).
173. M. Colchester, “Conservation Politics: The Upper Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve,” case study prepared for the International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs and the Forest Peoples Programme for the Conference on Indigenous Rights and Nature Conservation, March 1997, Pucallpa, Peru.
174. GOV, “Ley Aprobatoria del Convenio 107 relativo a la Protecci¢n e Integraci¢n de las Poblaciones Ind¡genas y de otras Poblaciones Tribales y Semitribales en los Pa¡ses ndependientes” (Gaceta Oficial no. 3235 Extraordinario, 8/3/83); M. Colchester, Venezuela: Violations of Indigenous Rights (World Rainforest Movement: London, 1995).
175. M. Colchester, Venezuela: Violations of Indigenous Rights (World Rainforest Movement: London, 1995).
176. Instituto Socioambiental, Aconteceu: Povos Indigenas no Brasil (ISA: Brasilia, Oct. 3, 1996).
177. PROVEA, Situaci¢n de los derechos humanos en Venezuela: Informe Anual (PROVEA, Caracas, October 1996).
