Dozens of Amerindians from villages in the South of Guyana traveled to Georgetown on Wednesday and launched a protest outside the National Assembly calling for the Government to seriously address concerns about their land rights.
Over the past few years, as gold mining spreads deep in the Guyana jungle, many Amerindian villages have been expressing concern about their ancestral lands being sold off to companies and miners without any consultation with them. The Government has made efforts to assure them that their land rights are being protected but the villagers said they are seeing a much different scenario in their villages.
In the South Rupununi village of Aishailton, villagers worry that they are being forced out of earning a living on lands that were handed down to them by their fore parents. Villager John Adams said he has noticed lands being given out to miners and large companies in his area without any consultation with the community or its leaders. He told News Source that in Aishalton, “we have a set of problems in the Marudi mountains area where a company has put out the local and traditional miners who have been working there for over 30 years”.
Adams said villagers are now facing real “financial difficulties” since they can no longer access the lands to do mining of their own. He explained that situations like those have added more hardship on his community.
The Amerindian Peoples Association is lending its full support to the villagers from the interior districts. Programme Manager of the Amerindian Peoples Association, Jean La Rose said the Government has not been paying attention to the concerns of the Amerindian communities.
“Time and time they have been asking Government officials to go and meet with the communities and all they would do is go and make promises”, La Rose said, as she sought to explain the impact the situation is having on the communities and the reason why villagers would see the need to travel to the Capital and voiced their concerns through protest.
She said some miners have been taking the communities to court over the lands and the Courts have been ruling in favour of the miners. The APA fears that the situation could worsen.
La Rose said the Amerindian people “must be heard” and their recommendations ought to be taken on board and taken seriously when it comes to the distribution of lands for mining purposes.
The Ministry of Natural Resources for its part has explained in the past that it has been taking all of the concerns of the villagers on board and intends to consult with them in the future on their many concerns.
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