ast year, the Movement in the
Amazon for Tribal Subsistence and Economic Sustainability (MATSES) submitted a
grant proposal to the Rainforest Foundation to provide aid to the Matsés tribe.
In January of this year, the Rainforest Foundation approved a sum of $90,000 per
year over a period of three years ($270,000) for the Matsés people with the
funds to be administered by AIDESEP (Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de La
Selva Peruana).
The grant will be used to help educate and unite the Matsés people against
current threats, principally those presented by foreign oil companies that seek
to enter and extract petroleum from Matsés titled lands. Pollution caused by
drilling and transporting oil could destroy the fragile Amazon rainforest
ecosystem upon which the Matsés base their existence. Presently, the Matsés
depend on the rainforest for virtually all their food and shelter. Moreover,
toxic petroleum byproducts, heavy metals and chemicals used to develop oil wells
present a health hazard. In other areas of the Amazon where oil production has
taken place, increased birth defects have resulted from pollution to the surface
water by petroleum byproducts and pollutants. In addition, the exploitation of
the Matsés people as workers for the oil companies threatens to destroy their
traditional way of life and culture.
While some believe that the Matsés people are innocent and should be somehow
isolated and protected from the outside world by the government, the MATSES
organization believes that the Matsés tribe themselves should be allowed to
control and determine their own destiny. If the Matsés people are isolated and
controlled by the government, they will most probably be exploited by that same
government. The Peruvian government’s selling of oil concessions to a foreign
oil company of Matsés titled lands is vivid proof the manner in which they can
be exploited and how governmental control could lead to the destruction of their
indigenous culture.
The MATSES Organization believes that education is the key to survival of the
Matsés culture. Only an educated, united Matsés people will be able to defend
themselves from being exploited by these foreign invaders and the Peruvian
government. Unfortunately, educating the Matsés people is an expensive task due
to the long distances that are required to travel in order to reach Matsés
villages that are located in the remote frontier of Peru and Brazil. The Matsés
people need to understand that even though the oil companies have obtained the
legal right to drill oil wells on Matsés land, the Matsés people still control
easements on their land for pipelines needed to transport the oil. In short, a
united Matsés people can legally defeat the oil companies by preventing the
construction of oil pipelines. However, the oil companies have much experience
in exploiting natives and undoubtedly, will attempt to trick the Matsés into
signing agreements that give them easements for pipelines by bribing some of the
Matsés or with false promises of medical and educational aid. Oil pipelines are
particularly hazardous to the fragile rainforest, as historically pipelines have
broken in other parts of the Amazon, causing massive environmental pollution.
The Matsés people need to understand the risks to their rainforest and their
culture posed by the exploration, development, and extraction of petroleum by
oil workers, and this generous grant by the Rainforest Foundation will allow the
Matsés tribe to learn about these dangers and about their rights.
Currently, the Matsés tribe is independent and not part of the federation of
Amazonian tribes of which AIDESEP represents the Peruvian tribes. The Matsés
people need to learn the advantages and responsibilities associated with
becoming part of the federation and AIDESEP. It is the belief of the MATSES
organization that the only way that the Matsés culture can survive is for the
Matsés tribes to become united with other indigenous tribes via the federation
and AIDESEP. However, the Matsés people need to make this decision as
individuals by exercising their right to vote in a referendum that is planned
for early next year after they become familiar with the issues at hand.
Unfortunately, the grant funds are limited and only a small portion of the grant
has been earmarked for health. In addition, none of the grant will be used for
school supplies, which are badly needed by Matsés children so that they can
attend and participate in classes. The Matsés people generally have no access to
cash, obtaining all their needs for survival from the rainforest itself.
Although schools are free for all Matsés children, many can not attend due to a
lack of school supplies. The MATSES organization has provided hundreds of Matsés
children with notebooks, pencils and other school supplies with their
“Adopt
an Indigenous School” program.
Daniel Manquid Jimenez and Dan James Pantone, the President and Vice-President
of the MATSES organization, respectively, traveled to Lima in January of this
year to meet with representatives of the Rainforest Foundation and AIDESEP in
order to discuss how to best help the Matsés people and prevent the destruction
of their culture by outsiders, in particular oil companies. In addition, they
met with Fred Prins, the principal representative of the WWF (World Wildlife
Fund) in Peru. WWF Peru is also educating indigenous tribes about the threats to
indigenous cultures posed by oil companies and how indigenous people can prevent
their being exploited by these foreign invaders.
In addition to meeting with indigenous and conservation organizations, the
MATSES President and Vice-President met with the Director of the Division of
Statistics of the Peruvian Ministry of Health where they presented seminars on
various MATSES programs and Matsés traditional medicines. The MATSES
organization successfully petitioned the Division of Statistics to perform an
epidemiological study of the Matsés people that will begin later this year.
During the epidemiological study, the Matsés children will be vaccinated for
Hepatitis B which has been devastating the Matsés people. In addition, they will
gather basic epidemiological information on ages and life expectancy of the
Matsés population and morbidity and mortality due to various diseases such as
hepatitis and malaria. This basic epidemiological information will be used to
plan future health programs and could open the way for significant international
health aid to finally reach the Matsés people.
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