Page 12 - aruba-today-20190525

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 25 May 2019
A woman takes leadership of Paraguay's Maka people

By PEDRO SERVIN wood or block houses and
MARIANO ROQUE ALONSO, make a living selling bags,
Paraguay (AP) — For the bracelets and other handi-
tiny Maka culture of Para- crafts.
guay, political authority has They're also carrying on
passed from father to son Chemei's battle to assert
for generations even as the ownership of 830 acres (335
band has struggled for sur- hectare) of lands a little
vival, its way of life uproot- way down the Paraguay
ed by war and migration River where the Maka lived
from a vast, isolated coun- for four decades before
tryside to an urban neigh- flooding forced most to
borhood near the capital. move into town.
So the death in February of Only a century ago, the
Andrés Chemei, a widely Maka were largely hunt-
respected figure who led er-gatherers in northwest
the group for 40 years, Paraguay's remote Chaco
posed a problem. He had region. And only a few de-
no son. cades ago, census figures
The solution has been at counted their population
least a small advance for at less than 1,000.
women in Paraguay: Maka Chemei had been a link
leaders chose his widow, Maka indigenous leader-in-training Tsiweyenki, whose Spanish name is Gloria Elizeche, smiles to the Maka's history. The
Tsiweyenki to be one of with her sisters Cristina, center, and Estela as they cook in her backyard in Mariano Roque Alonso, son of a chief himself, he
the first female chiefs of an Paraguay, Monday, April 29, 2019. spent time as a boy in the
indigenous people in the Associated Press home of a Russian emi-
South American country. gre general, Juan Belaieff,
"The Maka are respectful cultural events. shows me respect," she told — has a warm smile, but a who established warm ties
of women and in this case While she still breaks down The Associated Press in the difficult task. with the Maka ahead of
we have placed our trust in in tears at times thinking of Maka tongue, speaking Most of the roughly 2,000 the 1932-1935 war against
Chemei's widow," said Ye- her late husband, Tsiweyen- through an interpreter. Maka live in a 35-acre Bolivia and then oversaw
lukín, director of a dance ki expressed thankfulness at The 68-year-old Tsiweyenki (14-hectare) colony in a their move from the remote
company that performs her new post. "I feel good — known to the Paraguay- city bordering the capi- Chaco region to lands clos-
traditional Maka dances at because the community an state as Gloria Elizeche tal, Asuncion. Many live in er to the capital.q
Climate activists call for action in Latin America

Associated Press Nicolás Maduro and oppo-
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — sition leader Juan Guaidó.
Climate change activists Andreina Duffy said pro-
in Latin America rallied for testers were careful not to
action on global warming voice opinions about the
Friday, heeding a call by conflict between the Ven-
Swedish teenager Greta ezuelan government and
Thunberg to hold demon- the opposition but were
strations across the world. prepared to criticize "what-
In Rio de Janeiro, a small ever government exists" on
group of students gathered environmental issues. She
outside the state legislature said economic hardship
to deliver a letter dated had compelled many Ven-
from the future in which ezuelans to consume and
they lamented Brazil's loss waste less, making them
of coastline, rainforests and more aware of the need
species. to conserve. "Of course,
"We, the Brazilians of the there's still a lot to do," she
future, are also asking you: said.
is there anything more im- Her daughter, 7-year-old
portant than protecting Victoria Duffy, showed up
life and ensuring a quality Students protest President Jair Bolsonaro's environmental policies in front the state legislature in with a picture of Earth.
future for the next genera- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, May 24, 2019. "You can make a differ-
tions? No, there is not," they Associated Press ence," the poster read.
wrote. Venezuelan demonstrators
In more than a dozen other Bolsonaro says excessive minister questioned the ef- der threat." are concerned about the
cities throughout the coun- regulation has hindered fectiveness of the Amazon Meanwhile, in the Venezu- degradation of the El Ávila
try, youth also staged strikes economic development Fund created to contain elan capital of Caracas, national park that borders
and took to the streets, us- and has moved to strip the deforestation. a few dozen protesters Caracas and whose moun-
ing the issue to challenge environment ministry's au- The minister has also called explicitly abstained from tain springs were a key
the environmental policies thority over water and for- climate change a "sec- commenting on politics source of water for desper-
of the far-right government estry services. ondary issue" and said that amid a monthslong stand- ate residents during recent
of President Jair Bolsonaro. Last week, his environment agribusiness in Brazil is "un- off between President nationwide blackouts.q