Tag: indigenous

Police arrest 12 after Maori activists deface Treaty of Waitangi exhibit at New Zealand’s national museum

WELLINGTON, Dec 11, 2023 (AFP) – A dozen protestors from a Maori activist group were arrested Monday at New Zealand’s national museum after defacing an exhibit about the country’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi. Police said a man absailed from above the exhibit at the Te Papa museum in Wellington, before using an angle grinder and spray paint to damage a panel which is several metres high. The protestors were from the Te Waka […]

Protests in Guatemala in support of president elect intensify

By Edgar CALDERON GUATEMALA CITY, Oct 6, 2023 (AFP) – Demonstrators in Guatemala blocked roads for a fourth straight day and extended the protests to new areas as they denounced what they call a campaign to prevent anti-corruption crusading president-elect Bernardo Arevalo from taking power. The mainly Indigenous protesters are using vehicles and tree branches to cut off key roads leading to the borders with Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. In some spots they number […]

Colombia decorates rescue team that found children lost in Amazon

BOGOTÁ, June 26, 2023 (AFP) — Colombia on Monday awarded one of its highest decorations to the soldiers, Indigenous rescuers and civil servants who led a successful operation to find four children lost for weeks in the Amazon. In a ceremony held in Bogota, President Gustavo Petro praised the collaboration between the military and Indigenous communities, awarding members of the mission, dubbed Operation Hope, with medals of the Order of Boyaca — the second highest […]

Courage, ‘intelligence’ got children through 40-day jungle odyssey

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AFP) — Ample courage and honed jungle smarts have been hailed as the main reasons four Indigenous children managed to stay alive in Colombia’s Amazon jungle for 40 days after surviving a plane crash. Against all odds, siblings Lesly, Soleiny, Tien Noriel and Cristin — ages 13, nine, five and one respectively — were found weak, but alive, on Friday after a massive search by some 200 soldiers and Indigenous jungle experts. The […]

Rescuers recount children’s first words after 40-day jungle nightmare

By Lina VANEGAS Agence France-Presse BOGOTÁ, June 12, 2023 (AFP) — “I’m hungry” and “my mom is dead” were the first words uttered by the four children missing for 40 days in the Colombian jungle when they were found, members of the rescue group said in a televised interview Sunday. After wandering alone for more than a month, the Huitoto Indigenous children — ages 13, nine, five, and one — were rescued and airlifted out […]

With bows and spears, Indigenous ‘warriors’ defend the Amazon

By Hervé BAR Agence France-Presse JAVARI, Brazil (AFP) — In a remote pocket of the Brazilian Amazon under siege from illegal fishermen, poachers, loggers and drug traffickers, Indigenous people have taken it upon themselves to defend the land and its resources. With bows, arrows and spears, young men of the Sao Luis village patrol the Javari River by motorboat in the valley of the same name. They call themselves the “Warriors of the Forest,” the […]

Colombia president retracts claim children found after plane crash

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AFP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday retracted his claim that four Indigenous children missing for more than two weeks after an airplane crash in the Amazon had been found alive. Writing on Twitter, Petro said he had deleted his tweet from Wednesday night in which he had announced the rescue of the four children, including an 11-month-old baby. “I am sorry for what happened. The military forces and Indigenous communities will […]

Four children found alive in Amazon after plane crash

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AFP) – Four Indigenous children missing for more than two weeks after a plane crash in the Colombian Amazon have been found alive, President Gustavo Petro said Wednesday, declaring “joy for the country.” Petro shared the news on Twitter, saying the children were discovered after “arduous search efforts” by the military. Authorities had deployed more than 100 soldiers with sniffer dogs to search for the minors who were traveling in an airplane that […]

Last member of Brazilian indigenous community found dead

BRASÍLIA, Brazil (AFP) — The last of his people, a Brazilian indigenous man known only as “the man of the hole” has been found dead, decades after the rest of his uncontacted tribe were killed off by ranchers and illegal miners, officials said. Having lived in complete isolation for 26 years, the man — whose real name was never known to the outside world — was found in a hammock in a hut in the […]

Ecuador government, Indigenous leaders sign deal to end protests

QUITO, July 1, 2022 (AFP) – Thousands of Indigenous protesters left the Ecuadoran capital of Quito Thursday evening after their leaders and the government signed a deal that would cut fuel prices and end their cost-of-living demonstrations that largely paralyzed the country for 18 straight days. The agreement, mediated by the Catholic Church and signed in Quito, provides for a five-cent-per-gallon reduction in the price of diesel and gasoline on top of a 10-cent cut […]

Suspect confesses to burying bodies of two men missing in Amazon

by Filipe Augusto Agence France-Presse  MANAUS, Brazil (AFP) — One of two men arrested over the disappearance of a British journalist and an Indigenous expert in the Brazilian Amazon confessed to having buried the pair in the jungle, federal police said Wednesday after human remains were found. Dom Phillips and his guide Bruno Pereira went missing June 5 in a remote part of the Amazon that is rife with environmental crimes including illegal mining, fishing […]

Human remains found in Amazon search for journalist, expert

by Joao Laet Agence France-Presse ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil (AFP) — Human remains have been found in the search for a British journalist and Brazilian indigenous expert who disappeared deep in the Amazon after receiving threats, Brazil’s president confirmed Monday. Relatives of veteran correspondent Dom Phillips and respected indigenous specialist Bruno Pereira meanwhile said authorities informed them two bodies had been found — though police and local indigenous leaders denied that, adding to confusion around […]