Urgent letter from the indigenous Miskitu and Mayangnas people of Nicaragua to the OAS and Mr. Luis Almagro, its Secretary General.
Government of Nicaragua-supported armed settlers continue to assassinate us, Miskitú and Mayangnas…we face a humanitarian crisis, a hunger crisis…We ask for your help: we are human, we are people of color with our own languages and customs.
June 14, 2021
Honorable Foreign Ministers of the countries of the Americas Honorable Ambassadors to the OAS Honorable OAS General Assembly Secretary General of the OAS, Mr. Luis Almagro
We, Nicaraguans representing the original peoples of the Miskitú, Sumus (Mayangnas) ethnic groups and other ethnic groups living on the Caribbean Coast of our country, hereby denounce before you the situation of systematic violations of our most elementary human rights by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship in Nicaragua: life, freedom, and justice; the ability to live in peace and work in our ancestral lands without being violently evicted by armed «settlers», who are supported, encouraged and protected by the National Police and the Army of the dictatorship.
We denounce the Ortega-Murillo regime’s actions against our communities, aimed clearly to strip us of our ancestral rights over the extensive territory of the indigenous peoples of Moskitia on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. Proof of this is the invasion and usurpation of our lands and farms, which they have taken over at gunpoint; in the process, they murder our brothers Miskitú and Sumus (Mayangnas), who, in contrast with the settlers, do not have firearms; so, the settlers are taking over all the riches of our territory, such as the gold mines, the forests, the resources of the sea, etc.
We denounce the damage to the ecosystem and the consequences that such damage entails, and which affect us directly as indigenous peoples: the indiscriminate deforestation that causes rivers to dry up and water sources to disappear. We are running out of water to drink. The rivers are already polluted with toxic materials such as mercury, which they use for the exploitation of gold in large quantities. This is how the settlers pollute the river from which we drink water in our ancestral territories. Our animals also drink from this contaminated water, with dire consequences for the health of our community. Freshwater fish and turtles have disappeared; the settlers have been destroying the fauna’s habitat; the birds have migrated to neighboring countries to make their nests; the settlers leave the forests empty, game animals are gone, we can no longer cultivate our lands freely, our lands are invaded and usurped.
We have demanded our rights under Law 445, which is supposed to protect our territorial rights, but our demands have been ignored; there is no protection of for our human rights as indigenous peoples. From the 1980s to the present day, government-supported armed settlers continue to assassinate us, Miskitú and Mayangnas, displacing our families to other territories and neighboring countries. Migration from the countryside to the city has accelerated, as has migration to Costa Rica and Honduras. We have a very high unemployment rate. Thus, we face a humanitarian crisis, a hunger crisis. After the ETA and IOTA hurricanes, many of our families have not been able to rebuild their houses. We are out in the open. We ask for your help: we are human, we are people of color with our own languages and customs. We live off what we plant and harvest. We do NOT live off the government payroll.
WE WANT A FREE NICARAGUA, WITHOUT THE ORTEGA MURILLO DICTATORSHIP!!
WE DEMAND FREEDOM TO CULTIVATE OUR LANDS, THE LAND OF THE ORIGINAL PEOPLES!!
FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
We are peoples of religious conviction, we are peace-loving peoples. We demand respect for our human rights.
We urge all Human Rights organizations to deal with our case with the most extreme sense of URGENCY. For that purpose, we ask that you include us in your agendas. We do not want a President who assassinates the poor and the defenseless. We appeal to your honorable governments to condemn the Ortega-Murillo regime, responsible for crimes against humanity, within the Organization of American States (OAS) and ask you to stand with the suffering people of Nicaragua in their just struggle to achieve our freedom and to live in democracy and peace.
We extend to you our gratitude for your support,
Sincerely,
Lic. Susana Marley Cunningham (Miskitú), spokesperson for the original peoples of the Caribbean region of Nicaragua, and representative of civil society women.
Lic. Roy Wilfred Dixon (Miskitú spokesperson), Member of The Great Moskitia Union, “Moskitia Aslika Tara”.
