Wapichan group concerned about illegal airstrip at Parabara
SRDC technician, Tessa Felix, monitors a drone flight over the South Rupununi. (SRDC photo)
SRDC technician, Tessa Felix, monitors a drone flight over the South Rupununi. (SRDC photo)

THE presence of several illegal airstrips at Parabara in the South Rupununi is one of several challenges facing the Wapichan indigenous group.
On Tuesday the Wapichan body , the South Rupununi Development Council (SRDC) , under which 21 Wapishana villages in the Region Nine (Upper Essequibo/Upper Takutu) area fall, launched its website which it noted will bring awareness to the world of the indigenous group, including their daily lives and challenges the group faces.

On Monday morning, the pilot of a small Cessna aircraft laden with cocaine , died after the aircraft fell out the sky and crashed at the Brazilian town of Caracarai (bottom left ) in the state of Roraima.

Following more than 50 site visits since 2015, the group listed among its findings, the presence of the illegal landing strips in the Parabara savannah. The village of Parabara falls under the SRDC. The SRDC stated that community information for the website has been collected, using a grassroots land-use monitoring arrangement that involves community monitoring teams, the use of smartphone technology, drones, and community digital maps – all controlled and managed directly by the villages.

On Monday the Guyana Chronicle reported that a law-enforcement team was dispatched to the area to carry out an investigation following reports that several aircraft have been seen landing at an illegal airstrip near the Parabara savannah.
According to reports from the area, on several occasions in recent months, aircraft were seen circling and later landing in the Parabara savannah, south of Lumid Pau.

Region Nine Chairman Bryan Allicock, confirmed on Monday that a team which included Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ranks travelled to the location on Friday to investigate the reports. He said that the team was expected to return to Lethem on Wednesday. “We got messages from the area that aircraft were seen overflying there,” Allicock said.

An aviation source confirmed that there have been several reports of aircraft landing near Parabara and reports from the ground indicate that the planes usually spend a very short time on the ground before taking off. On Tuesday , a village leader in the South Rupununi region noted that a plane crash across the border in the Brazilian state of Roraima on Monday morning this week , has raised further awareness in the area of the illegal landings of aircraft which are suspected of being involved in the drug trade.

Brazilian media outlet, Folha Boa Vista, reported that following the receipt of anonymous reports that an aircraft had fallen out the sky and crashed in the Rio Branco Basin near the town of Caracaraí, in the southern region of Roraima, the State Military Police (PMRR) and the Fire Department have commenced investigations into such reports. On Monday morning, the report said, a team of law-enforcement officers found the wreckage of a small CESSNA aircraft.

Inside the cockpit was the body of the pilot and about 100 kilos of pressed cocaine, the largest shipment seized in recent times in Roraima, the report said. The Brazilian police were informed that the pilot had lost control of the plane which later crashed in the Rio Branco.

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