BRIEFS. Human rights

Indigenous groups argue cause in u.s.

Five representatives of various indigenous communities in Panama filed a complaint yesterday before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington, D.C., accusing the Torrijos administration of forcibly removing their lands and employing persecution, intimidation, violence and police repression to silence anyone who opposed the government.

“It’s crucial that people see the condition in which our people live,” said Quiros Leonidas of the Wounaan community.

Quiros described abuses, disregard for the indigenous customs, and legal ambiguity on the part of a government that uses “new techniques to go appropriating indigenous lands.”

“Every day we see more indigenous people evicted from their land and their homes. Even today, they don’t know whether they will wake up under their own roofs,” said Quiros, referring to mining projects, tourism and hydropower projects being developed on their lands, oftentimes without their consent.

Félix Sánchez of the Naso community reiterated the need to create their own district, a right they have been demanding for the last 38 years.

The indigenous groups then requested that the IACHR issue precautionary measures to protect the Ngöbe Buglé community from a hydroelectric project in Charco La Pava, in the Bocas del Toro province, and urged the court to make an urgent visit to the affected peoples.