Violence against Indigenous Community by North American and his Company
(Translated Update from the Las Salinas de Nahualapa Indigenous People)
Philip Christopher and his company, Flor de Mayo use constant violence against the Indigenous People of Las Salinas De Nahualapa in their attempt to take over the land near the Las Sardinas beach, just north of Popoyo Beach (Playa Popoyo).
July and August, 2008 update
Philip Christopher, Representative of the company, Flor de Mayo, has done everything he can to wear down the Indigenous People of Las Salinas de Nahualapa. He accused their President Bartolome Lopez and their designated representative, Geovanny Loasiga of destroying a fence on his property. The Indigenous People tell that there has been a fence separating a section of Indigenous land along the Las Sardinas Beach (about 12 manzanas) from other land further inland since about the time their ancestors got legal title to 855 manzanas of land in 1877. Over the last four years, according to the community, Philip Christopher has stolen the fence posts and wire seven times in order to remove this historic barrier and allow him to usurp the land next to the beach.
Thus in May 2007 Christopher brought a legal case against Lopez and Loasiga for removing a fence that was not even his. The trial in the criminal court of Rivas was set for July 29, 2008 but Christopher’s witnesses (from Managua) did not arrive so the trial was reset for the 7th, then the 8th, then the 9th, then the 10th and finally took place on Aug. 11th. The Indigenous people have been able to maintain a pretty united front despite many attempts by Christopher to divide them. They pooled their money to pay for a bus to take about a hundred of them to Rivas each time the trial was set (the aisle was packed and about twenty people road on top of the bus). And each time they had more people and support among the population of Rivas grew to the point that by the actual day of the trial, August 11, they had so much support that it looked like a street fair outside the courtroom. The Indigenous People were found not guilty, because they weren’t, but also, in part, because the witnesses continually contradicted themselves, which makes sense since the whole thing was an invention of Christopher’s.
The People say Christopher was really angry. With his lawyer he drew up another accusation against 23 members of the Indigenous People including 8 children between the ages of 8 and 14 for association to crime, for damages and usurpation of land. They submitted the accusation in Tola and they wrote up a paper and according to the community, on August 19 went to the homes of the kids pressuring them to admit to these acts and sign the paper. Christopher and the lawyer (Guillermo Palacios) told them that if they didn’t sign they would end up in prison along with their parents. Fortunately no one signed, despite the fact that the children were terrified by this blatant intimidation.
On August 20 Geovanny Loasiga took the children and their parents to place a complaint at the “Comisaria de la Mujer” (Special Women’s Police stations) of Rivas where there are advocates who defend the rights of children according to the Children’s Code. The children were interviewed there by the psychologist. The “Ministerio Publico” (state prosecutor) should bring an accusation against Christopher and his lawyer. Unfortunately from the experience of the Indigenous Community of placing complaints for all kinds of violence perpetrated by Christopher with the police of Rivas and Tola with absolutely no results, they are not hopeful.
On August 21 Loasiga, the children and family members traveled to Managua to denounce the violence against the children with the Human Rights Ombudsperson’s Office for Children (Procuradura de Derechos Humanos con La Procuraduria de la Ninez). The case number is 1439-08 (the person who they spoke with is Yesenia Castilla) and they would appreciate it if any of us in the Ecumenical Committee could follow up to see what they are doing about this abuse against the eight children.
On this same day, August 21 there were only four women and three men present on the 12 manzanas of land by the beach (the land that has always belonged to the Indigenous). Christopher had his guards and other workers on his land just to the north, about ten, and all armed with 12 caliber rifles and 38 pistols. One of the women, Rosario Guadamuz Obando and one of the men, Jorge Fransisco Acosta Lopez told me that at about 2pm Christopher got out a gun that he held with one hand and a camera in the other. The ten men pointed their guns at six Indigenous people and pushed them off the Indigenous land towards to the beach.
Rosario Guadamuz said she was sitting on a trunk with her back to the men. “Christopher came up and put his 38 pistol directly my her head and pushed me out to the beach”. Christopher and his men also threw the people’s property (two bikes, an umbrella, and a jacket) in the ocean. Rosario was terrified. She says that she and the others think he is a psychopath. They also wrecked their palm-thatched roves, a cook stove and a latrine.
The Indigenous people had made a cell phone call and someone went for the police. By 5pm there were over a hundred people there and at 6:30 the police arrived but did nothing other than to tell them not to go back onto their own land (which they’ve had for 131 years and have also won in court and in appellate court) because Christopher is crazy.
According to the people present, the next day, Aug. 22, at about 1:30 pm Christopher and even more men (guards and workers) all armed, shot ten or eleven times at the feet of about twenty of the Indigenous People on the Indigenous land. According to Jorge Fransisco Acosta, Christopher told them “tiralos en el pecho” (shoot them in the chest). Christopher is one of the people who shot at the Indigenous. The Indigenous People collected the casings they could find to give them to the police. This time they called the Tola police (given that the police in Rivas had done nothing). The lawyer of the Indigenous People is placing an accusation against Christopher with the State Prosecutor’s office and if they won’t do anything he will place it directly with the judge. They all say that the Police should have taken Christopher and his men with the weapons because they could have done tests that would have shown that the weapons had been recently fired and who had fired the weapons.
Christopher is pressuring INETER to redraw the lines of the original map of the Indigenous People (855 manzanas). If he is successful Ineter will subtract 320 manzanas including the land along the beach and the salt flats (natural processing of salt) where so many members of the community make a living. Interestingly, on the day of the trial, August 11, while many of the Indigenous People were in Rivas, the Ineter truck and people from Ineter came to measure. The Indigenous people wouldn’t let them on their land. On Aug. 14th, Geovanny Loasiga and others went to Ineter in Managua. Geovanny had been there previously to place a complaint and was able to get in briefly to talk with the head of INETER, Carlos Mesa Penalba. Loasiga told him “how is it possible that you send people to measure on our land when we have not made any request and Christopher’s land is north of us”. Mesa told him that he had not sent anyone to take measurements but that he would investigate which unit had done this.
Christopher has placed four different accusations against over 60 people and the four hearings will be between September 17th and 24th in Rivas. They think, in part, Christopher’s lawyer has found an easy way to make money so just keeps suggesting that they accuse the Indigenous folks. Geovanny Loasiga and Bartolome Lopez are being accused again of the same crime they were absolved of on August 11. And two girls, ages 8 and 14 are being accused twice, for extortion and for association for crime.
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