Maritsa Centeno
Maritsa
is from the Yakisa Sur community of Matagalpa.
Her son, 2 years old, wasn’t feeling well, so he and his father stayed
home.
We must
recognize the other (Pacific side) indigenous of Nicaragua. History:
RAAN/RAAS were not colonized by the Spanish, but rather by the British. This permitted the indigenous to not lose
their languages because the Brits didn’t make them abandon their language,
culture, or religion. The rest of
Nicaragua at the time of independence of Central America, established Spanish as
the language and forbid our religious ceremonies. The Catholic church persecuted women who
performed our traditional ceremonies.
State policies and laws were passed to deprive the indigenous of their
lands. The government said after
independence that 50% of indigenous land must be administered by the government
because they needed to rent the land to investors and use the money to educate
the indigenous. But one year later, the
government declared that the outsiders could buy the land. That’s why many indigenous today don’t have
land, especially in Matagalpa.
Our
great-grandfathers lived well before colonizers came – we became Mestizos –
they don’t have to recognize us as original owners of the land.
After
1970, all of the original people of the Pacific, Central and Northern zones
have re-organized themselves in the original way. They all now have Councils of Elders and
mayors who carry a baton, chiefs, and judges.
The government recognized those officials and structure, but they don’t
recognize their right to the land. The
government is maintaining strict control over those indigenous structures. They financially support candidates who
support the government. This prevents
local leadership from carrying out actions in favor of the indigenous.
As
proof, for example, there was a bill proposed for indigenous rights in the
North, Central, and South parts of Nicaragua but those bills never become law.
In May
2010 Nicaragua approved the UN Covenant on Indigenous Peoples, but did it
strictly for image – not for carrying it out.
In
Matagalpa, the indigenous have the largest section of land, it’s in the humid
area – there are big land owners there who are important I the government.
Susan –
my husband owns for “use and enjoyment” a title, and pays rent to the
indigenous community. Maritsa said that
the bigger “owners” pay their taxes to the central government who don’t
recognize our ownership – the big “owners” support the government and pay
taxes.
There
are some cooperatives and some state-owned farms as well. Some are also from way back like Matagalpa
Coffee Company, and there are some German, Italian, and Swiss owners.
They
took half of our land and gave it to big land owners whose descendents still
own the land. Most of the farm workers
are indigenous. They gat about 80Cd per
day, or about $3.
Some
big farmers rent land to iindigenous farmers, who pay back 2100 weights of
corn, (2000 lb) which is 1/5 of their crop, and 500 weights of beans. This is a terrible exploitation of indigenous
on their own land.
I’ve
been filing claims at the local level against this exploitation and they say
I’m a right-winger. It makes my claims
for rights very difficult because the close the doors on me. I have training in standard international
human rights and rights of indigenous at Leon at the National Autonomous
University. I have been working for ten
years in the North, Central, and South zones on indigenous rights. I studied the problems of these regions, and
they are systematic. I also studied other areas. For example, in Salinas, southwest of Lake
Nicaragua, in the Department of Rivas, people are buying beach areas. In Salinas del Aguadapa, the head of the
indigenous group sole some of their land without permission of the Council of
Elders. When the Council of Elders went
to the authorities, they got no response from the judicial system – the
government supports the investors over the indigenous.
In the
center of Motene, in the Urvite Las Pilas community, a man appeared with a land
title from a woman who had never been there – it was for 1600 Mz along the
lake. The local authorities honored
it. This is for a tourism project. We learned that behind him was a high ranking
army officer. We weren’t able to prove
our accusation in court in Rivas, but the indigenous are appealing to the court
in Grenada – they don’t want to let this person grab their land.
In
Rivas Nawas where the indigenous live, there are 3 – 5 more indigenous
communities. In Matagalpa, the
indigenous people live in Sam Ramon, San Dioncia, and three other towns. All of the people in San Ramon and San
Dionicia are entirely on indigenous land.
In Leon, just the Suptiaba people have their own territory – they
administer a small piece of land, but it is their original territory.
Our
Matagalpa language died in 1994. Last
year the government was going to try to recover our language, but it did not
come forward.
In the
1870s people used slave indigenous labor to build cathedrals and other
structures. In 1881, the indigenous of
Matagalpa rose up because they were forced to build cathedrals and a telegraph
line – the government reacted with massacre and held the city at siege. They killed 5 – 8,000 Matagalpa people.
In the
war against William Walker, in San Jacinto, the indigenous fought with bows and
arrows, but were not recognized for
their role until two years ago – they had been put in a common grave.
One
success – inMoninpo in Masaya, in the district of Orchega, Indians had lost
their land, and just had their houses – but they just got back their
cemetery.
In Jinotega,
they have fought for twenty years regarding the property that was lost to the
Lake Apanas dam. They have a virgin that
has her land.
Since
2007, the Matagalpa have been trying to recover our spiritual heritage – I am
the coordinator for that in all of these areas.
There are two ceremonial circles in Matabalpa and one in Jinoteca. We are working to re-establish in a more
formal manner.
Last
Friday, our community was visited by a United Nations representative of
Nicaragua denouncing the abuse of women in agriculture in our community.
Charley
talked about the Abenaki 30 year legal battle with the state of Vermont. We have 68 acres set aside for us in trust
but not in our name. We’re trying to
reclaim our heritage and culture, and looking for a ceremonial place to start
ceremonies again. We have the same
history of racism as indigenous everywhere.
Question
– can you file claims under laws 92 and 445?
No, those are only on the Caribbean side. Charley – the UN specifies rights and the
Interamerican court may be able to help.
Maritsa – that takes a lot of money and lawyers. Jinoteca has started this process but it is
not going very far. Charley – this is
for our children. Maritsa – I was at
first fearful to revive the spiritual customs but since 2012 we have renewed
interest. Charley - This is a correct
path – who knows where it will take you.
Susan – In El Chile in Matagalps are women who tried to get weaving
skills passed on, but they now weave on looms and can sell their cloth. Maritsa – Samoza forbade cotton, weaving,
fermented corn for our ceremonies, and celebration of the Goddess of corn –
because the state wanted a monopoly on alcohol and the tax money. Carlos – are they making it now? Maritsa – very little.
Organization of women in the
department of Masaya is Comisaria de la Mujer.
