"Caminando hacia la Convergencia por la Unidad, Dignidad y Derechos del Pueblo Maya". It's the 3rd Continental Summit of 'Pueblos y Nacionalidades Indígenas de ABYA YALA (Latin America)' in Iximulew, Guatemala from 26-30 March 2007. There's a website that's live now and will be covering the event. On 8th Feb there was a special press conference to publicise the summit and its aims and objectives.
There is a definite sense that the indigenous peoples across Latin America are making very definite strides towards reclaiming real power- and Evo Morales's presence as Bolivian President will be a hugely significant event- particularly as it will come in the wake of George Bush's visit to Guatemala. Evo Morales visited Guatemala last year in September 2006.
Background
There's a central question behind this summit about the changing nature of political power in Latin America towards a situation that's potential much more favourable to indigenous peoples. Here's some related further reading:
It's interesting considering this article published in Nicaraguan online magazine Envio: could the "Evo" phenomenon happen any time soon in Guatemala, another country with a majority indigenous population?
Are we at some kind of irrevocable change in US-Latin America relations? Here's economist Mark Weisbrot's view from the Centre for Economic and Policy Research via Justin Delacour's Latin America News Review.
UK blogger Nick Buxton, based in Bolivia, has just written an interesting article on how the Bolivian example should be making us in the UK rethink democracy.
"El objetivo de la Cumbre es: contribuir al reconocimiento y ejercicio de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas de Abya Yala, así como la visibilización de las demandas de las organizaciones hermanas del continente, contribuyendo a la refundación de los Estados, a nivel nacional y continental, para que los pueblos indígenas tengan un poder real."
There is a definite sense that the indigenous peoples across Latin America are making very definite strides towards reclaiming real power- and Evo Morales's presence as Bolivian President will be a hugely significant event- particularly as it will come in the wake of George Bush's visit to Guatemala. Evo Morales visited Guatemala last year in September 2006.
Background
There's a central question behind this summit about the changing nature of political power in Latin America towards a situation that's potential much more favourable to indigenous peoples. Here's some related further reading:
It's interesting considering this article published in Nicaraguan online magazine Envio: could the "Evo" phenomenon happen any time soon in Guatemala, another country with a majority indigenous population?
Are we at some kind of irrevocable change in US-Latin America relations? Here's economist Mark Weisbrot's view from the Centre for Economic and Policy Research via Justin Delacour's Latin America News Review.
UK blogger Nick Buxton, based in Bolivia, has just written an interesting article on how the Bolivian example should be making us in the UK rethink democracy.
