III Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala

NAHUACALLI
Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples
Izkalotlan, Aztlan

To the Continental Encounter of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of Abya Yala
La Paz, Bolivia - Tawatinsuyo
October 8 -12, 2006

Nohuanyolqueh,

Greetings and best wishes for all of your efforts which have brought together this historic Continental Encounter of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of Abya Yala.   From the north, we take this opportunity to express our solidarity and commitment to bring continuity to the principles and commitments of reunification as Indigenous Peoples in conformity with the spirit of the Continental Confederation of the Eagle and the Condor.

In addition, we extend our hand as an indigenous organization of the Pueblos of Aztlan to work continentally to further the linkages, coordination, and alliance in accord with the principles of the Treaty of Teotihuacan pronounced at the first International Summit of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos held at Teotihuacan, Mexico in 2000.   The trajectory of the continental indigenous movement that was regenerated at the First Continental Encounter in Quito, Ecuador in 1990 continues with its own rhythm according to the capacities and culture of our Nations, arriving at Temoaya, Mexico in 1993 at the Second Continental Encounter, followed by the First International Indigenous Summit of Teotihuacan in 2000, returning then to Quito in 2004 for the II continental Summit Abya Yala. In November of 2005, once again at the continental level, an Indigenous Summit convened at Mar de Plata, Argentina. As was collectively resolved in consensus in Quito 2004 before the Sacred Fire, the Pueblo Maya awaits us in Guatemala as host to the next continental indigenous summit in March of 2007.

These events are the tracks along the path of continuity and follow-through that vindicate and give strength to the process of decolonization of our continent Abya Yala. And although we still have a long distance to travel, the road of encounter, confederation, and alliance at the continental level continues to guide with the illumination of our traditions, the hope of our liberation as Nations of Humanity.

We send this brief message with specific proposals for consideration at the Continental Indigenous Encounter at La Paz, Bolivia in terms of the identification of criteria for the process of linkage, coordination, and alliance of our Indigenous Peoples:

o     We propose a specific focus on a common political language for the movement continentally, beginning with terms of geography.

o     We propose the approval of the term ABYA YALA as official name and vernacular integrated and expressed through our position statements at the local, regional, national, continental, and global contexts in order to specifically identify our continent and collective territory of our Indigenous Peoples. In order to construct a common political project, it is necessary to have the framework of a common cultural identity.

o     We propose a dialogue among ourselves as Indigenous Peoples regarding the criteria that would serve in the process of developing and participating in a collective continental strategy in the form of an Indigenous Economic Plan for the Continent, with global linkages. This Indigenous Economic Plan for the Continent, which would be constructed as protection for our territorial and cultural bases, would be in contrast to the neoliberal schemes such as FTAA and in distinction to plan ALBA, would be an indigenous driven economic strategy of self-determination, which could provide linkages of just trade of mutual benefit with other economic systems.

o     We propose that we advance from rhetorical proclamations referencing our right of self-determination in relationship to the government-states, to implementing with deliberate action the processes of DECOLONIZATION at the continental level, as provided for under existing international law of the United Nations.

o     We propose that this Continental Indigenous Encounter of La Paz, Bolivia 2006 AFFIRM the principles and mutual commitments of the preceding continental declarations of Quito, Ecuador 1990; Temoaya, Mexico 1993; Teotihuacan, Mexico 2000; Quito, Ecuador 2004, and Mar de Plata, Argentina 2005. “A movement without memory cannot make history”

We also annex our letter to the Secretariat of the Continental Summit of Mar de Plata 2005, for your consideration and analysis as a point of reference in the dialogue which we must achieve as Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of South-Central-North Abya Yala.

We shall continue to remain in communication, expecting to encounter each other once again in the not too distant future, upon arriving at Guatemala in March of 2007 as Indigenous Nations, Pueblos, and organizations of our mother continent Abya Yala.

Respectfully,

Tupac Enrique Acosta, Yaotachcauh
Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
TONATIERRA

NAHUACALLI
Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples
c/o TONATIERRA
Tel: (602) 254-5230
P.O. Box 24009 Phoenix, AZ 85074
Email: chantlaca@aol.com
www.tonatierra.org

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To the Secretariat of the Continental Indigenous Summit
Mar de Plata, Argentina November 2, 2005
The Legend of Truth and the Doctrines of Power

MAY IT BE KNOWN:

Amixpanzinco, Amixtlamatqueh,

Good greetings. We take this opportunity to deliver the attached documentation regarding the agenda of responsibilities which are of priority to the Indigenous Nation Pueblos gathered in Summit in Mar de Plata, Argentina November 1-4, 2005.

We stood by the Sacred Fire in Quito, Ecuador in 1990 at the First Continental Encounter of Indigenous Pueblos and Nations and recall the mutual commitments made under the principles embodied under our ancient ethics of International Indigenous Law. These are the traditional systems of jurisprudence, of tradition and liberation, which emerge from the essential fundamentals of the sacred inter-relationship of all life, and the obligations of we who are the earth children of the Continental Confederation of the Eagle and the Condor.

We were at the Second Continental Encounter of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos in 1993 in Temoaya, Mexico and returned to Teotihuacan, Mexico in the year 2000 for the First Continental Summit of Indigenous Nations, Pueblos and Organizations convened by the Continental Council of Indigenous Nations and Organizations - CONIC. From July 21-25, 2004 we attended the II Continental Summit Abya Yala in Quito, Ecuador where the accords of the previous First Continental Summit of Teotihuacan 2000 were once again validated and reasserted before the Sacred Fire of the altar of the Continent. These mutual commitments are given expression by the Treaty of Teotihuacan, a mutual commitment at the continental level among the Indigenous Nation Pueblos with four aspects:

Spiritual Alliance
Political Solidarity
Cultural Understanding
Commercial and Economic Agreements of Exchange and Development - Pochtecayotl

And so we stand today once again among our relatives of the great and humble family of Indigenous Nation Pueblos of our mother continent Abya Yala in summit at Mar de Plata. May the Creator continue to guide our footsteps, as we leave a trail for the future generations.

The previous assertion of the sequence of continental gatherings from Quito 1990, Temoaya 1993, Teotihuacan 2000, back to Quito in 2004 and now Mar de Plata is not meant to be controversial: it is history. It is our history, related not from within the manipulative context of the government states or the "compra-cumbres" crowd: it is our story, the legend of a continent emerging from centuries of genocide and colonization.

In fulfillment of these sacred obligations and the mutual commitments made under the Treaty of Teotihuacan at the First Continental Indigenous Summit of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos, we
now submit the following for discussion and action before the Continental Indigenous Summit Mar de Plata, Argentina.

Issue: Self Determination and Decolonization

A basic issue for the Indigenous Nation Pueblos of the continent Abya Yala (the Americas) continues to be the discrepancy of the eventual outcome of self determination for the Indigenous Peoples as viewed from the perspective of the interests of the government states and from within the cultural based cosmovision of the Nican Tlacah, the Indigenous Peoples themselves.

The elemental issues derive from utterly divergent presentations of the relationship of human society to territory, individually and collectively, as either government states or the reality of the Nican Tlacah Indigenous Peoples and Nations. The jurisdiction of the states is one of dominion and colonization, that of the Nican Tlacah is one of inter-relationship and reciprocity. As evidenced by the Global Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), recently commissioned and completed by the United Nations, the reality of the Indigenous Peoples relationship of territoriality is increasingly recognized scientifically at a global level as being the best hope for humanity to achieve homeostasis within the environment of the world's ecosystems.

Any political position on self determination, whether by the government states or the Nican Tlacah will inevitably be determined within the context of the sum of global ecological systems as sets of parameters, including humanity itself as a subsystem among all these relationships.

In terms of the continent Abya Yala, (the Americas) a centuries old Doctrine of Denial takes its place among a regime of genocidal policies that is centuries in the making and continues till today. Beginning with the Papal Bull Inter Caetera of 1493, continuing with the present militarily enforced Monroe Doctrine and now projected under the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the Doctrine of Denial is insidious for presenting to the world's Peoples a denial of the very processes of history in terms of recognition and self determination for the Indigenous Nation Pueblos of our continent.

In view of the above, we now propose that:

A special session of the Decolonization Committee of the United Nations under section 73(e) of the United Nations Charter must be held in order to evaluate the above mentioned Doctrines of Power in light of the Spirit of Truth, and under the criteria of evaluation established by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 "Right of Self Determination" and GA 1541 which outlines the processes and criteria for identifying and rectifying the crime of colonization under the norms of international law of the member states of the United Nations system.

An finally, we propose that in the process of undertaking such an initiative, namely the implementation of the processes of DECOLONIZATION for the Indigenous Nation Pueblos and territories of our continent Abya Yala, without which any declaration of self determination would be of only limited rhetorical value in the practical sense of International Law, special

attention be given to the establishment by the United Nations of the regional organization of the Organization of American States OAS itself, as yet another example of the usurpation and violation of the Right of Self Determination in our hemisphere by establishing yet another regime of political representation on our territories in our continent without our participation or consent and in violation of GA 1514, as evidenced under GA 1541.

Respectfully submitted,

Tlahtokan Nahuacalli
Izkalotlan, Aztlan

NAHUACALLI
Embassy of the Indigenous Peoples
c/o TONATIERRA
Tel: (602) 254-5230
P.O. Box 24009 Phoenix, AZ 85074
Email: chantlaca@aol.com
www.tonatierra.org

www.cumbrecontinentalindigena.org

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Website of Encuentro Continental Bolivia:
http://www.abyayalabolivia.org

NAHUACALLI : Message to the Continental Indigenous Encounter Bolivia