The world’s indigenous peoples are making themselves heard in international arenas, and at the national level, where their growing mobilisation is translating into political muscle. But many challenges remain in the fight for recognition of all their rights.

COLOMBIA: Indigenous People Troubled by U.S. Military Presence
By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA (IPS) – The head of Colombia’s biggest association of indigenous people is concerned that allowing U.S. troops to use military bases in his country will signal a regression to former times when the United States exercised control over Latin America, while a native activist warned of an increase in the number of cases of sexual abuse of young indigenous women by foreign soldiers.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48076

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MEXICO: Indigenous Enterprises Unite
By Emilio Godoy*
MEXICO CITY (Tierram?rica) – Mexico is about to become the first Latin American country with an indigenous chamber of business, dedicated to promoting and representing more than one million micro and small enterprises that are on the frontline in the fight against poverty.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48861

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LATIN AMERICA: Big Gender, Ethnic Gaps in Wages Found
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON (IPS) – Indigenous people, descendants of Africans, and women in Latin America earn significantly less money than their predominantly white male peers of similar age and education levels, according to a new study released here Monday by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48820

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CAMEROON: ‘Our Lives Are Defined By This Forest’
By Ngala Kilian Chimtom
YAOUNDE (IPS) – Pauline Siembe, a Baka pygmy in South East Cameroon, comes out of her smoky hut licking her fingers after a meal of pounded yam and bush meat soup.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48717

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VENEZUELA: Land for Yukpa Indians, But No ‘Territory’
By Humberto M?rquez
CARACAS (IPS) – The Venezuelan government handed land titles to 41,600 hectares to three communities of around 500 Yukpa Indians on the western border with Colombia. However, the question of the demarcation of the broader ancestral territory of the entire ethnic group, made up of around 10,000 people, is still pending.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48849

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EL SALVADOR: An Indigenous Language That Refuses to Die
By Edgardo Ayala
SAN SALVADOR (IPS) – “Yek shiajfikan” reads a sign hanging above the gate of the “Dr. Mario Calvo Marroqu?n” elementary school in the Salvadoran town of Izalco, welcoming pupils in Nawat, the language that was spoken by the area?s native communities.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48842

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CHILE: Indigenous Protests on Several Fronts
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO (IPS) – The tense relations between the Chilean government of Michelle Bachelet and the country’s large indigenous minority are far from easing up.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48761

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RIGHTS-PARAGUAY: Int’l Backing for Indigenous Land Claims
By Natalia Ruiz D?az
ASUNCI?N (IPS) – After 20 years of fighting for their ancestral lands in Paraguay’s northwestern Chaco region, the X?kmok K?sek indigenous community’s case has reached the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48789

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CHILE: Preserving the Kaweshkar Language ? In the Nick of Time
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO (IPS) – Sound files containing recordings of spoken Kaweshkar – a nearly extinct indigenous language of southern Chile ? have been put together thanks to the work of ethnolinguist ?scar Aguilera and anthropologist Jos? Tonko, and donated to national and foreign institutions with the aim of preserving the culture of one of Chile?s nine native groups.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48663

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PERU: Environmental Clean-up not Complete, Say Achuar Communities
By Milagros Salazar
LIMA (IPS) – Leaders of the Achuar people are challenging a decision by the Peruvian government to declare that a clean-up effort by the PlusPetrol oil company in the northeastern Amazon jungle has been completed.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48602

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