APPEAL FOR SIGNATURES FROM THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY OF THE PINO GORDO EJIDO IN THE SIERRA TARAHUMARA OF CHIHUAHUA, AS THE STRUGGLE TO HALT THE DEFORESTATION OF THEIR TERRITORY

PLEASE SIGN AND SEND THIS LETTER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, AS THE COURT IS EXPECTED TO MAKE A DECISION AT THE END OF MAY OR IN EARLY JUNE

We, the Rarámuri People of the Pino Gordo Ejido in the state of Chihuahua are asking for the solidarity of our indigenous brothers and sisters, of civil society, and of no–governmental organizations. The old–growth forests of our region are being cut down, and, as a native people, we are in danger of disappearing. For us, the forest is sacred. It should not be cut down. If cutting continues, the forests will lose the biodiversity on which we depend – the cradle and context of our culture. Should that happen, we would cease to exist as a native people and we would have to move away from our region.

In an effort to halt the deforestation, basing our claims in large part on Covenant 169 of the International Labour Organization**, we succeeded last year in winning recognition for the collective and community rights of one hundred and sixty–two of our members. However, local political bosses (caciques) have now gone to court (the Segundo Tribunal Colegiado in the Decimoséptimo Circuito) in Chihuahua City to contest this recognition.

Because of this situation of crisis, we are asking you to show your solidarity by writing to ask the Court to make a definitive decision in our favour. Once we have won this definitive recognition of our community and collective rights, we will be in a position to stop the deforestation, and the loss of biodiversity that it entails, and thus to continue to exist as a native people.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

We, the Rarámuri People of the Ejido Pino Gordo, are a "Cimarrón" native people. We have neither been colonized nor baptized and we have maintained our culture, our traditions, and our institutions, as well as our ancestral system of customary law. We have lived since time immemorial in the territory in which is situated the larger part of the land now forming the Ejido Pino Gordo in the municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo in the state of Chihuahua. For us, the natural resources in our territory – the forest, the water, the biodiversity – are sacred. They were granted to us by Onoruáme (God) and we are their stewards. Our mission is to conserve them and, in so doing, to maintain the balance between the world above and the world below. We depend on these resources for our food, our housing, our medicines, and to re–create our culture, but we cannot use these recourses for commercial purposes.

Our territory is the largest remaining portion of old–growth forest in the whole Sierra Madre Occidental. It is the habitat of more than 260 species of fauna, 49 of which are strictly protected.

On the basis of a permit granted by the Chihuahua office of the federal Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the logging of our territory began in 1998. Neither the permit nor the management programme included any stipulations for the protection of the eco–system of our territory. We were never consulted nor was our permission ever sought. In the light of this situation, we have lodged official complaints with PROFEPA (the Office of the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection – the institution that is responsible for the enforcement of Mexico's environmental laws and regulations). We have met countless times with environmental offices and departments at every level of government. All of this has been to no avail. As has happened previous occasions, there has been no response to our most recent complaint, which was made in August 2001.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

The Rarámuri People of Ejido Pino Gordo are requesting organizations and individuals to show their support by signing the following letter and returning it to choreachi@yahoo.es or to fax 011 52 614 416 0861:

Presidente del Tribunal,

Segundo Tribunal Colegiado del Decimoséptimo Circuito

MAGISTRADA OLIVIA DEL SOCORRO HEIRAS RENTERIA

PRESENTE

Por la presente nos solidarizamos y unimos a la petición que hacen los 162 indígenas Tarahumaras del Pueblo Rarámuri del Ejido Pino Gordo para que se le ratifique su reconocimiento como ejidatarios del Ejido Pino Gordo, solicitándole resuelva en tiempo y forma en este sentido. La ratifición posibilitará a los mencionados y al Pueblo Indígena del cual forman parte para defender su territorio, bosque, y biodiversidad, pudiendo continuar existiendo como Pueblo Indígena.

Atentamente,

Name:

Organization or affiliation:

Address:

Translation: We hereby indicate our support for the petition being made by the 162 Tarahumara native people of the Rarámuri Nation for legal recognition of their collective rights as members of the Ejido Pino Gordo. We request you to make a decision that will ratify the recognition of their ejidal rights. This ratification will enable the 162 persons concerned, and the Rarárumi People to whom they belong, to defend their territory – its forests and biodiversity – and thus to continue to exist as an indigenous people.

** Covenant 169 of the International Labour Organization is the major international agreement for the protection of the rights of native peoples. It has been signed and ratified by Mexico. Nevertheless, in 2001 the Mexican Congress passed its Law on Indigenous Rights which falls far short of Covenant 169. In an effort to have this very unsatisfactory law, which has been strongly rejected by most indigenous organizations, declared invalid, more than 330 indigenous municipal authorities have presented cases to the Supreme Court of Mexico. They have particularly the fact that this law was passed without proper consultation.

In an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Chihuahua state legislature not to ratify the federal law, the indigenous peoples of the Sierra Tarahumara, who had previously protested the law at the federal level, held their own consultation. The people of the community of Rowérachi in the municipality of Bocoyna expressed their concerns in the following terms: "The people in this community wish to live in their accustomed manner, living autonomously in the way that their ancestors taught them, working together on the tasks that are needed by the community. They ask for recognition for the community’s own legal practices, to be free to occupy the territory that they have always occupied and to protect and make collective use of its natural resources, as well as many other things that the law that was approved (by the Mexican Congress and subsequently ratified by the Chihuahua state legislature) denies us."

APPENDIX: DETAILS OF THE COMPLAINTS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE BY THE RARAMURI PEOPLE OF EJIDO PINO GORDO TO THE MEXICAN ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORITIES.

1. Lo afirmado consta o se acredita en las siguientes documentales públicas: Oficios emitido por la entonces Dirección General de Inspección Vigilancia Forestal y de la Flora y Fauna Silvestre de la Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA), de números PFPA/SRN/DGIVF/800/2000, PFPA/SRN/DGIVF/801/2000, y PFPA/SRN/DGIVF/817/2000, fechado en la Ciudad de México, en los dos primeros casos el 28 de junio del 2000, y en el último el 04 de julio del mismo año, dirigidos, respectivamente al Director en Jefe del Registro Agrario Nacional, al Titular de la Procuraduría Agraria, y a la Dirección General de la Comisión Nacional de áreas Naturales Protegidas (CNANP) de la ahora Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT); oficio emitido por la Comisión Nacional de áreas Naturales Protegidas (CNANP) de la Secretaría Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), de número D.O.O.01A.(1) 157, fechado en la Ciudad de México el 14 de marzo del 2001; oficio emitido la Comisión Nacional de áreas Naturales Protegidas (CNANP) de la Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), de número 0346, fechado en la Ciudad de México el 28 de mayo del 2001; oficio emitido por la Delegación en Chihuahua de la ahora Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), de número SMACH.08.02.08/033/2001 01321, fechado la Ciudad de Chihuahua, el 26 de junio del 2001
2. Lo afirmado consta o se acredita en las siguientes documentales públicas: Oficio emitido por la Delegación en Chihuahua de la Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA), de número B22.PROFEPA.07/C/006154, del expediente número 98/08/064/29, de asunto Se notifica conclusión de denuncia, dirigido a Prudencio Ramos Ramos, fechado en la Ciudad de Chihuahua el de diciembre de 1998; en la página primera Informe de la Auditoría Técnica Forestal realizada en la Comunidad Colorada de los Chávez, elaborado por la entonces Dirección General de Inspección Vigilancia Forestal y de la Flora y Fauna Silvestre, de la entonces Subprocuraduría de Recursos Naturales, de la Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA), fechado al mes de septiembre de 1999, mismo que sería entregado a Sergio Ramos Arareco, mediante oficio de de identificación PFPA/SRN/SRN/DGIVF/996/99, fechado al 10 de septiembre 1999; en el oficio emitido por la Delegación en Chihuahua de la ahora Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT) de número o datos de identificación SMACH. 08.02.08/033/2001 01321, de asunto Respecto a su Solicitud de Información Ambiental, fechado al 26 de junio del 2001.
3. Carácter reconocido y acreditada por el gobierno federal en las siguientes documentales públicas: Oficio emitido por la Comisión Nacional de reas Naturales Protegidas (CNANP) de la Secretaría de Medio Ambiente Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT), número D.O.O.01A.(1) 157, fechado en la Ciudad de México, el 14 de marzo del 2001; y oficio emitido por la subdirección de Asuntos Agrarios y difusión Jurídica de la Dirección de Procuración de Justicia del Instituto Nacional Indigenista (INI), número DPJ/SAADJ/413/2001, fechado en la Ciudad de México, el 05 de septiembre 2001.