Lusbi Portillo accompanying Yukpa leaders Sabino Romero and Alexander Fernandez in Trujillo, Trujillo state, after they were freed from jail in 2011. In 2013 Romero and Fernandez were killed by local landlords. Photo: Clorofilazul/File photo.
May 15, 2024 (OrinocoTribune.com)—The NGO Homo et Natura Society (HNS) published in La Izquierda Diario a response to a news piece by Ăšltimas Noticias newspaper earlier in the week which held responsible the NGO head and retired professor Lusbi Portillo for recent unrest and road blockades near Villa del Rosario, Zulia state. The Ăšltimas Noticias article, published on May 8, referred to “intelligence reports” for its allegation against Portillo.
The HNS’ response, published on Saturday, May 11, titled In Defense of Anthropologist and Social Activist Lusbi Portillo, questions the lack of journalistic principles in the Últimas Noticias article, written by Eligio Rojas, stating that no evidence was presented for such dangerous allegations, no sources were identified, and Portillo was not consulted.
The protests and roadblocks are happening just weeks before the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for July 28. Some analysts have linked them to political calculations aimed at detracting voters from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in Zulia state, the state with the highest number of voters in the electoral roll.
Although this is not the first time that Portillo has been linked to destabilization plots, the HNS response seems to be of alarm. In 2016 a Venezuelanalysis news piece reported that the retired professor had said “when we began this struggle in 1985, the governments of the Fourth Republic accused me of being part of Sendero Luminoso [Peruvian far-left armed group Shining Path] and when Chavismo came to power, I instantly converted from guerrilla leader to CIA agent.” In 2021 Portillo presented a claim at the Attorney General’s Office against the former PSUV governor of Zulia state, Omar Prieto, for accusing him of being a CIA asset.
Below are the highlights of HNS’ response to Ăšltimas Noticias:
- The Yukpa indigenous community of Sierra de Perijá, in Zulia state, have not had proper roads for more than 10 years. The most affected are those who live in the Yaza River basin. For this reason they cannot take their agricultural and meat production to the markets.
- This indigenous community cannot find avenues for dialogue to take their problems to the authorities. This has given rise to an emergency situation, ranging over vital areas in health, education, food and infrastructure, and leads to a precarious condition, which forces the Yukpa to go out and sell their crafts in Maracaibo, Caracas and other towns.
- Due to very debatable and criticizable work of the Ministry for Indigenous Peoples, instead of being resolved, this problem is becoming more complicated, with the Yukpa people’s living conditions becoming more precarious.
- Instead of providing results and expanding the work of a commission appointed by the authorities to seek dialogue and agreement, smear campaigns have been launched against the Yukpa, and against those who through systematic and academic investigations try to shine some light on the fight of these communities for their rights.
On May 12, Ăšltimas Noticias published part of HNS’ response, clarifying that since April 6 the news outlet has covered the dialogue launched by Venezuelan government officials to address the demands of some Yukpa leaders, many of them with direct links to Lusbi Portillo’s NGO. These leaders are accused of being responsible for road blockades that disrupted the life of Venezuelans living in the Sierra de Perijá area of Zulia state. Below are the dates and places of the meetings held by government officials with the protesting Yukpa groups, according to Ăšltimas Noticias:
- 04/08/24. Meeting with Yesenia González, national director of Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.
- 04/10/24. Yukpa General Assembly with the Social Cabinet of the Zulia state Agenda 2024. 308 chiefs of Yukpa, Bari, and Wayuu people participated.
- 04/11/24. Meeting with citizen security bodies of Zulia state.
- 04/13/24. Meeting of the mediation commission.
- 04/17/24. Meeting of the mediation commission.
- 04/19/24. Meeting of the mediation commission.
- 04/23/24. Meeting with Minister of Indigenous Peoples Clara Vidal and the mediation commission.
- 04/29/24. Meeting with the mediation commission.
- 05/06/24. Meeting with the mediation commission.
Portillo’s NGO does not mention that it was with the arrival of the Bolivarian Revolution to power that the indigenous peoples of Venezuela regained the deeds of their ancestral territories and their voices began to have real value in decision making, always resisted by the status quo. The gains of the Yukpa people on the Venezuelan side of the border are unquestionable compared to the rights of their brothers and sisters on the Colombian side where mining mafias and landlords have been destroying their lands for decades.
HNS has gained publicity in Venezuela for its relevant work fighting against the atrocities committed by big landowners and land issues in Zulia state, defending Yukpa land rights fighter Cacique Sabino Romero before and after being assassinated by local big landowners in 2013, and for its fight against coal mining on Yukpa lands.
Many analysts consider these Yukpa demands as stuck in the narrative of the pre-sanction oil-rich Venezuela at a time, when the Venezuelan state could work in a paternalistic way, capable of solving many issues with its oil income. For this reason HNS’ claims of lack of roads or medicine are seen by many in Venezuela as an outdated claim for not taking into consideration that it is a problem not only affecting Yukpa communities but the entire Venezuelan population, as it is a direct consequence of the illegal unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States and the European Union.
Similarly, the protesting Yukpa communities’ demands of the Venezuelan government to buy their crafts in order to improve their economic conditions are considered by many as demands anchored to a non-existent oil-rich Venezuelan economy.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/MCM/SC
