Indigenous people in Panama demand the government to respect the agreements (+ photo)

The people of that area in Chiriqui County closed several sections of the Inter-American Highway this week, a measure of pressure they stopped after an executive committee confirmed they would spend up to $150 million to build roads, among other community improvements.

At a press conference on the occasion of International Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Konapebe President Marcelo Guerra warned that there were many commitments made by the national government to address specific issues, but warned that there was no real will to do so. Give specific answers, until protests come back.

“Illegal logging continues, poaching of animals at risk of extinction, illegal occupation of our lands, increasing rate of deforestation and non-compliance in ratification of ILO Convention 169, are part of this government’s debt to our people.”

For his part, Carlos Gil, Cacique of the Embira Collegiate Region in Alto Baiano, pointed out that the Comprehensive Indigenous Development Plan, consisting of an $80 million loan from the World Bank, established 12 years ago, remains stagnant.

They estimate that the dialogue tables and high-level committees that were set up to address these and other problems were a failure.

While the world commemorates and celebrates the 9th of August. They said that Konabebe faced marginalization and systematic violations of their human rights and claimed the need to take urgent measures to protect the rights of indigenous peoples.

During the conference, the Central American Coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on her part indicated that indigenous peoples should be considered an essential part of any development programme.

FAO noted that protecting their livelihoods, ancestral practices and knowledge can contribute to finding new solutions to combat food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty and environmental degradation.

The specialist, Veronica Chicas, identified that it is necessary in this direction to increase measures to reduce the social and economic gaps that it faces and to impede the achievement of full development with identity.

This year, the United Nations (UN) has issued instructions to celebrate the International Day of Indigenous Peoples under the theme “Indigenous Youth, Agents of Change Toward Self-Determination.”

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