Declaration of the First International Gathering of Indigenous Peoples, Guayana, Venezuela, Oct. 31, 2019

The delegates of the indigenous peoples, who signed this declaration, participants in the First International Gathering of Indigenous Peoples, in the city of Guayana, the state of Bolívar, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in the sacred convergence of the Orinoco and Caroní rivers, have arrived at the following conclusions:

After 527 years of Indigenous Resistance, and three months after the XXV Meeting of the Forum of Sao Paulo in the city of Caracas, given the continuous multifaceted reactionary offensive of U.S. imperialism and the Latin-Caribbean oligarchy, and considering that the unity of the peoples has created an undeniable advance in the struggle for their sovereignty, a new dawn is emerging, guided by ideals that unite their wills towards an alternative to capitalism, and that political-electoral victories of the unconquerable peoples have been achieved, and that a wave of resistance is spanning across the continent, confronting the neoliberal plans, and renewed hopes are emerging in the face of the neocolonial policies of the White House on Our America.

Today, the struggle for sovereignty entails the fight against the effects of the conquest and colonization. In this sense, the emancipation of the indigenous peoples requires the eradication of the oppression, domination and exploitation plots still alive, and that injure both our peoples as well as mother nature. The struggle for the second independence requires questioning the roots of all forms of conquest of the past and the present, as well as all forms of cultural, educational and economic colonialism. In particular, it is necessary to fight to preserve the identity, to avoid the pillage and the invisibility of the expressions of the original peoples, their knowledge, their ancestral wisdom and their cultures by the elites.

On another front, we believe that the anti-imperialist cause is inherent in the process of emancipation of our peoples and essential for overcoming all forms of internal and external colonialism. The independence process of the XIX century, betrayed by the elites, did not achieve a real decolonization, nor did it fully acknowledge the diversity inherited by the original inhabitants. This task is still pending in the present.

The key to decolonization lies in the eradication of the multiple forms of domination that aim to abolish the memory, the history and the identity of the original peoples. Imperialism, in its quest to impose its neoliberalism, tries to bury our cultures and reduce the spiritual and human wealth of the indigenous communities. Consequently, the complete emancipation of our peoples requires our preparation in all areas, and the militant solidarity at the local, national, continental, and world levels, to oppose the recolonization plans put forward today by imperialism. In this context, the First International Gathering of Indigenous Peoples declares:

We must promote a liberation offensive and continue the struggle for the emancipation of the Abya Yala and their children, for whom our indigenous liberators like Guaicaipuro, Tiuna, Paramaconi, Tupak Katari, Tupak Amaru, Guayanfanta, Bartolina Sisa, Gerónimo, the Great Apache, Quintin Lame, among other thousands of martyrs and fighters of the indigenous resistance have fought. We support the unity of the peoples, particularly of the indigenous communities, under the premise that “Another World is Possible.”

We stand in solidarity with the heroic deeds embodied in the uprising of our Ecuadorian brothers and sisters and their indigenous nations. We celebrate the defeat of the neoliberal package imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the lackey government of Lenin Moreno. Me demand the imprisonment of Lenin Moreno for his crimes against humanity and against the Ecuadorian and indigenous peoples.

We celebrate the volcanic awakening of the Chilean people, heirs of the indigenous Lautaro, ready to expel the neoliberals led by President Sebastián Piñera, who, with the support of the Lima Group, has declared war on its own people. We stand in solidarity with the unbreakable will to struggle of the Mapuche people united in the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) and the leaders of the Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana who today are trying to establish an autonomous region under its own administration and the protection of its territory in the face of the constant attacks by the Chilean State. At the same time, we demand that the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples in the United Nations, declare the need for the international community to immediately condemn the criminal conduct of this puppet of imperialism.

We condemn the gigantic fires in the Brazilian Amazon that have reached the Plurinational State of Bolivia because of its ecocidal nature, and because it displaces thousands of indigenous people from their ancestral territories. This painful event was caused by the transnational corporations with the complicity of the fascist government of President Jair Bolsonaro.

We reject all forms of neocolonial interference implemented by U.S. imperialism to interfere with the internal affairs of the Venezuelan state. We demand respect for Venezuela’s sovereignty and respect to the right of the Venezuelan people to live in peace. We express our strong support for the President of the Constitutional Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, since he is also a defender of the struggle of the indigenous peoples of our continent and of the world.

We repudiate in the strongest manner the aggressions against the public international right on the part of the White House against the people of Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and other countries of the American continent. We especially condemn the politics of economic, financial, commercial and diplomatic blockade imposed by the United States government against the world’s peoples. We condemn the U.S. military presence in the Canary Islands of the African continent, as well as in Puerto Rico, Haiti, Honduras, Colombia, Argentina, Paraguay, Cuba, Ecuador and other countries of the world.

We ratify the demand to the Latin American and Caribbean governments to maintain the continent as a territory of peace in accord with the agreement of the II Summit Meeting of the ECLAC that Latin America and the Caribbean are a Peace Zone.

We support the heroism of the Cuban people in their struggle for their emancipation. We condemn the economic-commercial blockade against Cuba, because it is a crime against humanity that affects the lives of millions of human beings.

We demand the immediate freedom for Lula Da Silva, victim of an abusive, illegal and outrageous use of power against democracy in Brazil. In addition, we demand the freedom of the Vice President of Ecuador Jorge Glass, as well as the immediate release from prison of all the popular and indigenous leaders that fight against imperialism.

We support the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a triumph that was achieved with massive popular participation, its real meaning being the resurgence of Mexico.

We strongly repudiate the permanent genocide by the governing ultra-right in Colombia. We denounce the non-compliance of the Peace Accords by the Government of Iván Duque, as well as the systematic state terrorism against the social and popular movements, specifically the selective murder of ex-guerrillas, indigenous leaders and peasant leaders.

We ratify our complete support of the Indigenous leader of our America and of the Pachamama Evo Morales Ayma, winner of the elections that took place this past October 20th, who will continue to preside over the Plurinational State of Bolivia. We denounce the attempt at a coup d’etat that has the complicity of the OAS. We demand the respect for the sovereignty and the original power as expressed in the elections that ratified the Aymara Leader who has proven to be a great leader of the social movements and of the indigenous peoples of the world Jayalla Evo!!! Jayalla Bolivia!!!

We name the Supreme Comandante Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías as the defender of the ideas of the Continental Indigenous Movement because his fighting spirit reaffirms the decolonizing ideas and the customary rights of the Indigenous people.

We stand in solidarity with the decolonization of the world in accordance with the third decade of struggle promoted by the UN for that purpose. Within the context of the 1960 UN Resolution 1514 (XV) On Decolonization, we urge the decolonization of Africa and we stand in solidarity with the anti-colonial struggle of the people of the Canary Islands.

We reject all forms of discrimination and violence against indigenous women and girls. We repudiate the forced disappearance of women, their sexual exploitation and feminicides, especially those being perpetrated in indigenous towns and territories. Moreover, we demand a greater support and protection for the human and reproductive rights of indigenous women.

We warn against the separation of boys and girls from their respective families and against their incarceration at the border of the United States. This inhuman treatment constitutes a flagrant violation of international rights and particularly of the Charter of the United Nations Organization.

We demand of all states and governments to sign and respect the 169th Agreement of the International Labour Organization on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, since that document aims to recognize and defend our ancestral territories, thus establishing a framework for coexistence and economic relations that respects our own development.

We decide to promote the Indoamerican Socialism proclaimed by the Peruvian writer José Carlos Mariátegui who expressed “Certainly, we do not want socialism in America to be an image and copy. It must be a heroic creation! We have to give life, with our own reality, in our own language, to the indoamerican socialism that reaffirms as well the declaration of José Martí to the cry of “AMERICA WILL NOT WALK WITHOUT THE INDIGENOUS, America without the indigenous stops being America.”

To defend access to water as a human right. The preservation of the natural world, the defense of life, of our reserve areas of the biosphere, national parks, the integrity of indigenous habitats and of our sacred territories, this will be our legacy to future generations.

We condemn the use of transgenic seeds in our ancestral lands because this attacks our food security, our indigenous crops and the genetic diversity of our autochtonous seeds. We denounce the hidden dispossession of the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples under several pretexts, something that is carried out in the interest of the transnational corporations.

We reaffirm that the right of indigenous peoples to their native lands originates with these peoples, and that as a consequence, precedes the creation of National States. We demand that the State of Brazil recognize this right of the indigenous peoples. We reject their forced displacement motivated by capitalist voraciousness.

We call for the preservation of the languages of the native communities since it is a right of the peoples linked to the preservation of their identity necessary for communal well-being. The defense and recovery of our languages signifies the preservation of linguistic diversity and ancestral knowledge. Hence, we request from the UNESCO to call for a whole decade of indigenous languages, starting this year, the International Year of the Indigenous Languages. At the same time, we hope for the implementation of bilingual education in all countries.

We demand respect for all forms of socio-political organization of the indigenous communities, as well as for the self-determination of all peoples. We advocate for the establishment of Plurinational States that recognize the native peoples. We repudiate the state of siege adopted to silence the just demands of native communities.

We denounce the Free Trade Agreements because they constitute neo-colonial treaties that impoverish the peasantry and indigenous peoples.

We call on the youth of our indigenous peoples to redouble their efforts to rescue our historical memory, the preservation of our cultures and the dissemination of our ancestral knowledge. We are committed to their education in order to incorporate them to fulfill the tasks derived from the present Declaration.

We commit ourselves in a determined way to cultivate our unity, while recognizing our diversity, as a fundamental principle to build a better tomorrow.

We propose the formation of a World Organization of Revolutionary and Progressive Indigenous Movements to combat, within the framework of our plurality and diversity, all the mechanisms of domination of imperialism and its neoliberal politics. This will be an organization centered around an anti-colonialist plan of struggle, which establishing alliances with world and continental organizations having similar objectives, will fight for the social and political demands of the indigenous peoples, communities and nationalities. The headquarter of this organization will be the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

We name all the delegates as members of the Promoter Team for the formation of the “Foundational Congress of the World Organization of Revolutionary and Progressive Indigenous Movements” to take place in Venezuela in the month of August 2020, within the framework of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples.

Finally, this “FIRST INTERNATIONAL GATHERING OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES” endorses the spirit of the “Final Declaration of the XXV Meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum”. It likewise embraces the agenda of struggle adopted in the “First International Workers Meeting in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution,” endorsed by the “First International Women’s Congress” and by the “First International Congress of Communes, Social Movements and Peoples’ Power,” that took place in the city of Caracas in the year 2019. This struggle consists of the following:

1. To convene an anti-imperialist twitting surge on November 5, 2019 within the context of the IV Summit of the Peoples of Mar del Plata. #NO MORE TRUMP! #NO MORE IMPERIALISM!

2. To coordinate in the capitals of the world, on December 9, 2019, day of the commemoration of the Battle of Ayacucho, for a day of condemnation of the politics of interference of U.S. imperialism in our America. #NO MORE TRUMP!

3. To conduct an international day of struggle in support of the Bolivarian Revolution and against neoliberalism on February 27, 2020, in commemoration of the 31 years since the first insurrection in Caracas against neoliberalism.

4. To convene a worldwide mobilization for peace in Venezuela for the month of April 2020, in Our America, and against all the war plans of the United States government.

5. To conduct an international day of repudiation of the Monroe Doctrine against the blockade and other unilateral coercive measures on June 28, 2020 (Tenth Anniversary of the Coup d’Etat against Manuel Zelaya).

Likewise, we adopt the Plan of Struggle of Indigenous Peoples that was approved at the XXV Forum of São Paulo, which consists of:

1. To carry out a Spiritual Invocation for World Peace on August 1, 2020, International Day of the Pachamama, for the Unification of energy, ancestrality and spirituality of Indigenous Peoples of the world.

2. An International Meeting in Caracas on October 12, 2020, “Day of Indigenous Resistance,” to elaborate a pronouncement to request from the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Questions, the continental commemoration of this date in honor of the brave leaders who endured extermination and the violation of their rights. Likewise, to propose the image of the indigenous woman as a symbol of struggle and resistance against all forms of violence, so that it may be instituted as a framework for Peace in the Continent.

3. The formation of communication networks among indigenous peoples. To conduct on February 21, 2020, “International Day of the Mother Tongue,” a worldwide Twitter surge in Indigenous Languages and Tongues.

4. To convene a Great Worldwide Mobilization on April 22, 2020, “Day of the Mother Earth” in defense of the rights of the Pachamama.

Inspired by the spirit of our ancestors, we sign this declaration in the name of our indigenous peoples: (internationals): Afroos. Naval. Lenta. Taschaou. Dime, Lakota. Mayas classified into: Mayaman, kiiché, Xil y Maesto. Sinhalese. Yikuyu. Xochimilco. Iztapalabra. Mestizo. Salin. Choretego. Mancími. Nahua Pipil. Tacubo. Matagalpa. Guanche. Zoroteca. Monaxca. P’urhepecho. Zapateco y Mapuche; (Nationals): Añu, Arawako, Ayaman, Baniva, Bare, Bari, Chaima, Cuiba, Cumanagoto, Curripaco, Eñepa, Gayon, Guazabara, Horcaz, Hoti, Houttoja, Inga, Jivi, Kariña, Mucumbu, Pemon, Piapoco, Piaroa, Piritu, Puinave, Pume, Quinanoe, Quinanoque, Quinaroe, Saliva, Sanema, Timotes, Warao, Waikeri, Warekena, Wayuu, Yabarana, Yanomami, Yekwana, Yeral, Yukpa; and by our organizations:

(Internationals): Afroos (El Salvador), Indigenous Council (Honduras), Lenca Indigenous Council (Honduras), CIL Tierras del Padre (Honduras) , Rastafari (kenya), Women’s Center for Peace and Governance Organization (Kenya), Ejidatarios Xochimilco (México), Youth for People’s Power (México), Zona Chinanpa (México), Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples (Guatemala), Native Seeds Guardians (México), Anap (Cuba), Coordinación Choroteca. Indigenous movement of Nicaragua, Indigenous Council of Central America (El Salvador), CCCOT (El Salvador ), Consejo Maya Man (Guatemala), Indigenous Observatory (Guatemala), URNG (Guatemala), Mesas Altares (El Salvador), Old People’s Council 5 Storms (El Salvador ), ADCMAB Winaq (Guatemala), Organización Maya Majawin (Guatemala ), FEI (Ecuador), Women’s Community Movement (Perú), Organización Maya Majawin (Guatemala), Revolutionary Socialist Party (Perú), Cimi (Brasil), Women’s Collective (Islas Camarias), Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (Chile), Winaq (Guatemala), The Red Nation (United States);

(Nationals): Miuven, Conive, Conbive, Conika, Coika, Catedra Guaicaipuro, Kalaira, Coinka, Waikaepuru Indigenous Front, Funfidpic, Inga Indigenous Town Hall, Cojoka, Remika, Guayana Indigenous Movement, Fundacidi, Coopewa, Asocaprescogua.

Approved in Ciudad Guayana, beloved land of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, Father of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on the 31st day of the month of October in the year 2019.

Long Live Chávez, Long Live Maduro, Long Live the Indigenous Peoples