URGENT ACTION: Support Kolla Indigenous People, Argentina
10/7/97
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Headline: URGENT ACTION: Support Kolla Indigenous People, Argentina
Source: The Peace and Justice Service, Argentina (Servicio Paz y Justicia,
Equipo Buenos Aires, Piedras 730, (CP 1070) Buenos Aires, Argentina,
tel/fax +54-1-361.5745, email: serpaj@wamani.apc.org
Date: 10/7/97
REQUEST FOR URGENT ACTION -- LETTERS AND EMAILS ON BEHALF OF INDIGENOUS
KOLLA PEOPLE OF ARGENTINA IN THEIR FIGHT AGAINST A USA-BASED LUMBER
COMPANY
The Kolla indigenous people of the province of Salta,
Argentina have seen their land invaded by the Kansas-based
lumber company, SEABOARD. The company has hired a thug, Miguel
Montalban, who has continually threatened the community and
destroyed community property to try to expel them from their
land.
The Kolla traditionally were semi-nomadic. As a result
of a long struggle, the Kolla have succeeded in having much of
their rights to traditional lands recognized. However, there
still is a section to which they have not received legal
recognition. A part of this disputed territory was sold to
SEABOARD, which put Sr. Montalban in charge of organizing
tourism activities in the highlands and to contract lumber
cutters to clear ancient forests in the region.
In August, 130 Kolla marched to the capital, Buenos
Aires to denounce the destruction of a stone mill, livestock
corrals, fields, and homes by Sr. Montalban on behalf of
SEABOARD. The Kolla also denounced the felling of native forests
by SEABOARD, without any reforestation plan. This has resulted
in soil erosion, the death of forests, and the disappearance of
wildlife.
Among those who have supported the Kolla are Nobel
prize-winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel.
PLEASE SEND LETTERS, FAXES, EMAILS TO SEABOARD, DEMANDING THAT
THEY RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF THE KOLLA:
Seaboard Corporation
9000 West 67th Street
(P. O. Box 2972)
Shawnee Mission, KS 66201
United States of America
E-Mail: seaboard@seaboardcorp.com
Phone: +1.913 676-8800
Fax: +1.913 676-8872
PLEASE SEND COPIES TO THE KOLLA PEOPLE:
Comunidad Tinkunaku. fax: +54.878.22432 (Oran)
address: calle 20 de febrero, 569, (CP 4530) Oran, prov. de Salta,
Argentina
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The following letter is from Eusebio Condori, spokesperson for
the Kollas, who came to the capital of Buenos Aires in August.
MY DEAR BROTHERS:
The members of the Tinkunaku community of Los Naranjos, San
Andres, Rio Blanquito de Santa Cruz y El Angosto de Parani, have
the great honor of contacting your organization to ask for your
solidarity in this long and unequal struggle we are facing in
our confrontation with the SEABOARD company of the United
States. This company plans to diminish the territories of the
800 Kolla families who live in a small space where there is no
longer enough territory for our communities to survive.
We come from a semi-nomadic culture, and our natural habitat is
129,000 hectares, of which only 20% are productive. That means
that if they succeed in further diminishing our land base, it
will mean the death warrant for our people. They are committing
genocide in their plans to install a tourist complex in our
ancestral territories, without recognizing the rights of
Indigenous peoples and the National Constitution of Argentina.
Since SEABOARD installed a mercenary, of Guatemalan nationality,
with a Texas accent, named Miguel Montalban Schimidt, in our
territories, a climate of tension has been created where he has
the power to do anything he wants with impunity. Property of the
inhabitants of the community has been destroyed, including an
old stone mill, community corrals, and community center.
Our community moblized beginning on May 12 to protect our
heritage. On August 6, some 130 people, among them 28 children,
came to the Federal Capital to make the public aware of the
human rights violations and racism we are suffering, so that the
national government may take urgent measures to guarantee the
survival of our community.
EXPECTING YOUR SOLIDARITY, WE SEND YOU OUR REGARDS