With a strong sense of sovereignty and integration, the 1st National Indigenous Communal Meeting is taking place this Thursday, October 30, at the Los Caracas Vacation City facilities in La Guaira state. This territorial coordination space brings together more than 200 representatives from 13 states across the country. This session represents a firm step towards the vindication of identity, self-determination, and unity of our native peoples.
Organized by the Ministries of People’s Power for Tourism; of Communes and Social Movements; of Indigenous Peoples and of Urban Agriculture, with the support of the Foundation for the Development and Promotion of Communal Power and the Bolivarian Government of La Guaira State, Venezolana de Turismo, the La Guaira State Unit of the National Tourism Institute, and the National University of Communes, marks a joint effort toward the vindication of the identity, self-determination, and unity of Indigenous peoples. At the same time, it gives visibility to the Indigenous organizational diversity and proposes an integration mechanism that strengthens popular sovereignty from the ground up.
The event included the participation of National Assembly Deputy Noelí Pocaterra, a member of the Wayuu ethnic group, who affirmed that, facing a new dawn, there are five elements that represent opportunities to strengthen Indigenous cultural identity: “The Bolivarian Revolution; the formation of the Communes; the construction of a socialist society; the source of Indo-American socialism; and the Plan de la Patria (Homeland Plan) with its 7 transformations.” In this context, it is worth noting that the 1999 Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela broadly recognizes the rights of Indigenous peoples, based on a multiethnic and multicultural approach to society.
At this assembly are participating delegations from the states Bolívar, Zulia, Amazonas, Lara, Sucre, Caracas, Anzoátegui, Apure, Guayana Esequiba, Mérida, Nueva Esparta, Delta Amacuro, and Monagas, who are sharing experiences, challenges, and proposals for strengthening Indigenous community structures. The objective is to find a method of integration to strengthen popular sovereignty from the grassroots level, through collective construction and the exchange of knowledge.