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Encuentro continental de autoridades y líderes indígenas

Ecuador's 1996 national election brought a new develoment for the Indian movements in Ecuador. For the first time in history, Indigenous organizations took an organized role in the elections. Just before assuming their positions in government on August 10, 1996, the national Indian organization CONAIE organized an Encuentro de autoridades indígenas del continente (a meeting of Indigenous leaders of the continent). Indigenous leaders from around the continent attended this conference. They discussed their desire to play a greater political role in society. Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú Tum attended the conference and her visit received a lot of press coverage. At the end of the conference, she presented this message. The participants of the conference presented this declaration.

This declaration is also available in English as well as these summaries of the Conclusions of Working Groups:

Thanks to Patricio Mason for providing the preceding English-language translations.
pmason@chasqui.mic.cl / pmason@nexus.chilenet.cl
WWW (Chile): http://nexus.chilenet.cl/ics/
WWW (Canada): http://www.lights.com/ics/

Comentarios y Sugerencias / Comments and Suggestions: Marc Becker (marc@yachana.org)