I WISH to refer to an Indigenous Workshop organised by the coordinating body of Indigenous organisations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) and the APA from 12th – 13th March, 2012 at the Cara Lodge Hotel in Georgetown. In relation to this workshop, kindly allow me to state the following:
I believe this workshop was sinister and has ulterior motives for the upcoming June 2012, Rio + 20 United Nations Conference on sustainable development.
The COICA-APA alliance organisers did not invite TAAMOG and the NADF to make their inputs at the workshop. It seems as though both the COICA and APA are victims of cultural erosion where they have lost the values of inclusivity practised by our ancestors.
My information is that the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs (MOAA) and the National Toshao Council (NTC) did not attend this workshop. So basically the COICA –APA alliance workshop was a one-sided event which was not reflective of the views of Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples.
The COICA-APA ‘workshop’ was therefore held in preparation of the United Nations conference on sustainable development to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 20 – 22, 2012 to convey the wrong impressions about Guyana and its Indigenous peoples.
In essence, the COICA-APA ‘workshop’ was, I believe, wickedly designed to mislead the Rio+20 conference on Guyana’s efforts to achieve sustainable development and the relationship of Indigenous peoples to their forests, lands, mining, the LCDS, the Amerindian Act 2006, the REDD +Initiative and the protected areas system.
It must be noted that both the COICA and the APA are heavily dependent on foreign money for their existence and have to obey the orders of their foreign masters to keep Indigenous Peoples in a state of backwardness and to create conflicts with governments.
Failure to obey the master’s orders will result in the stoppage of funding which the organisations are afraid of, so at the International level funding is available to suppress Indigenous Peoples both socially and economically in the name of environmental protection and land rights issues.
But what exactly was the APA’s contribution to its workshop in collaboration with COICA. Were those contributions positive or negative? In my view the APA has nothing to complain about where Guyana’s indigenous peoples are concerned. The continued focus on indigenous peoples by the Government of Guyana to promote their social and economic well being should be the only concern. I am waiting to read the ‘workshop’s resolution and to respond accordingly.
It must be noted, however, that the APA continues to be hostile to Guyana’s LCDS and carried out a local and international campaign for its failure, but they failed miserably and that is their place, since over 160 Toshaos support Guyana’s LCDS. Further, the APA received training on climate change by Vemund Oslen of Rainforest Foundation Norway on Friday April 9, 2010 at the Regency Suites Hotel. The question is, did the APA look to the Indigenous communities to find out what they have learnt about climate change?
The answer is ‘no’ because their paymasters told them not to do so, but to continue lying to the communities on Guyana’s LCDS. The APA is also against the establishment of the protected areas system and caused the World Bank not to fund the Kanukus protected area because of their ridiculous complaining.
But the World Bank was wrong in its decision, since it should have listened to the 18 communities that interface with the Kanaku Mountains rather than the APA.
The APA also has problems with the Amerindian Act 2006, because it wants extended terms of office for Toshaos who support its wicked agenda against Indigenous peoples.
The Amerindian Act 2006 is an excellent piece of Legislation that promotes the self determination of Indigenous Peoples communities. The COICA-APA ‘workshop’ is therefore an anti-government of Guyana agenda in preparation for the upcoming Rio+20 conference on sustainable development.

PETER PERSAUD