Indigenous Communities Await Land Titles
By Amanda Schoenberg
aschoenberg@ticotimes.net

Three indigenous communities in the southern zone of Buenos Aires, Puntarenas, should receive official property titles to their land no later than December, Ombudsman José Manuel Echandi reminded the government yesterday.

According to a 2002 ruling by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV), the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA) is required to legally transfer the lands to the indigenous inhabitants.

The Ombudsman's office reports that the IDA already has begun the process of topographical evaluations in order to transfer 31,000 hectares to indigenous residents of the communities of Térraba, Boruca and Rey Curré. The government is required to assume the $73,900 in registry costs.

To make sure the government follows through on its promise, the Ombudsman's Office called a meeting for Nov. 20 between indigenous leaders and government representatives.

The meeting, which also will focus on land recuperation in an additional 21 indigenous communities, will bring together members of 22 indigenous civil associations and officials from government agencies including IDA, the Finance Ministry and the National Commission on Indigenous Affairs (CONAI).

Manuel Villanueva, president of the National Indigenous Board, said he hoped the event would deepen the debate and analysis of government compliance with indigenous demands. He said 77% of lands in the Buenos Aires region are not legally titled to the resident indigenous population.

"The law is clear and the international convention is clear, but there has not been political will [to title the lands]," Villanueva said. "The government has not complied with indigenous demands for many decades."

In addition to land titles, the Ombudsman stressed that more should be done to improve indigenous schools, provide drinking water in indigenous areas and repair roads that connect indigenous communities to the rest of the country.

"We are tired," said Pablo Silbar, of the Ngöbegue Indigenous Cultural Association. "It's not easy to walk from the south to the north and receive years and years of the same promises."

Villanueva highlighted the need for autonomous governance of indigenous communities and increased participation in government negotiations.

"A centralized institutional approach will not resolve problems," he said.

Villanueva said CONAI, the government agency charged with administering the nation's reservations, has not offered concrete plans to resolve indigenous demands and is strapped by budget limitations and extensive bureaucracy.

Many believe the solution is a legal initiative called the "The Law of Autonomous Development." The controversial bill was first proposed in 1992, and aimed to eliminate CONAI and make indigenous reservations legally autonomous.

The bill has sparked a fierce debate over the role of the agency and the future of Costa Rica's indigenous communities (TT Aug. 29, 1997, April 25, 2003).