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Clem chastized

Author

Anne George

Volume

4

Issue

1

Year

1986

Page 2

Clem Chartier has been virtually stripped of all but his title as president of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples "WCIP).

Chartier was relieved of his responsibilities by the Executive Council of WCIP in Geneva, Switzerland, in an emergency meeting March 7 to 8 called specially to discuss the issue. The Executive Council was reacting to Chartier's illegal entrance into Nicaragua in January.

Chartier admits to being somewhat shocked at the negative reaction he received from the council. Quite frankly, he says, he expected them to be fully supportive of his clandestine activity intended to promote the rights of indigenous people. He says he had no qualms about entering Nicaragua without a visa.

"I have been hearing people for years now stating that Indian nations and people are a sovereign people. On this particular trip I was invited by the leader of three Indian nations and I accompanied him through their methods of transportation. So I did not go through with a government passport. But I did go into Indian communities along the Atlantic coast at the invitation of the leader of these three Indian nations."

While visiting the villages, Chartier collected information from Indian people who spoke freely to him about their concerns. Only days before his underground expedition, Chartier had been in Nicaragua officially. He says he was allowed to visit only two Indian communities for one day, accompanied by three government officials and 200 soldiers. His decision to re-enter Nicaragua with Brooklyn Rivera, leader of the political Indian organization Misurasata, was in keeping with WCIP's mandate to protect and promote indigenous self-determination according to Chartier.

But the majority of the WCIP Executive Council believes Chartier has put the WCIP in jeopardy both politically and economically. ".. politically that people are labelling us as Contras and also that the Nicaraguan government may not continue to invite us to take some kind of role in the resolution of the conflict between them and the Indian people; economically, as one of them (Executive Council member) so eloquently stated, that organizations in South and Central America are undeveloped and unfortunately they are 'milking the same cow' the Sandinista's are and the cow might not like what I did to

the Sandinista's, Chartier explains.

Chartier has brought to light the abuses of the Sandinista government against Nicaraguan Indians that have been acknowledged by Amnesty International. While visiting the Indian Villages of Nicaragua's east coast he heard stories about the rape, murder and torture of Indians by the Sandinista soldiers.

When the popular 1979 Sandinista revolution swept Nicaragua, the isolated east coast Indians were told that they were free. They were encouraged to adopt policies of

the new government. In 1980 they were given a seat in the state advisory body. Indian languages were taught in schools as part of a literacy campaign implemented by the Sandinistas.

But in 1981, when the Sandinista government obtained Indian plans to negotiate Aboriginal land claims and self-determination, they interpreted it as counter revolutionary and arrested 30 Indians leaders. Several days later, while Indian people were celebrating the end of the first phase of the literacy campaign, securities forces arrived to arrest more leaders. Fighting erupted, people were killed and armed struggle was born. Soon after, Indian communities were forcibly relocated to fracture any resistance to government policies. Homes and farmlands were destroyed.

In 1984, Sandinista President Daniel Ortega met with Rivera and the two agreed to initiate peace talks. Although talks have since been stalled, there is relative calm between the Misurasata and Sandinista security forces. Indians are being resettled in their homelands. But random outbursts do occur.

Chartier says that towards the end of his stay in Nicaragua, the airforce began rocketing and machine gunninga village he was in. Chartier suspects the artillery was aimed at his group.

He says the Nicaraguan Indian people are being abandoned for political reasons. They are being overlooked because many left wing-oriented funding organizations will not accept that they resisted the Leftist Sandinista government.

"There are funding agencies that are leftist and are full supporters of the Sandinista government. By strong persuasive terminology they have made it known that if the Council doesn't do anything about my activities and continues supporting me in my stand against the Nicaraguan government on this particular issue, they'll cut off the funds."

As president of WCIP, Chartier has visited Nicaragua on several occasions to mediate talks between the Sandinista government and the Misurasata. The group is recognized by the government as being independent of the Contras and therefore negotiations are possible between them. Nonetheless, Chartier says that the Council

of Indians of South America is fighting to get rid of him to wipe out any association the WCIP may have with the Contras, and to provide to funding agencies they disapprove

of his actions in Nicaragua.

Chartier's duties as president will be kept on hold until the next General Assembly of the WCIP. At the earliest it will be held at the end of this year. Until then Chartier will continue to pursue issues of concern to him on a personal basis. He will not resign his presidency because of controversy.

"If I resign, I'm admitting that I'm wrong," he says.