And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: Piercing Eyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> forwarded for informational purposes only..contents have not been verified.. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 20:36:28 EDT Subject: Guatemalan Indians Want Recognition Guatemalan Indians Want Recognition .c The Associated Press By GRAEME THOMPSON GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -- Guatemalan Indians have waited 500 years to receive recognition in their own country. Their long wait may end Sunday if a complex package of constitutional reforms passes in a referendum that has polarized the country. Representatives of the country's powerful elite have conducted a campaign to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment to grant official recognition -- what the opposition calls privileges -- to the country's 24 Indian groups. Also at stake in the referendum are proposals that would strengthen civilian control over police forces long treated as an extension of the army, limit presidential powers, make federal officials more accountable to Congress, and guarantee money for an ill-supported judiciary. All are part of peace agreements signed in 1996 between leftist rebels and the conservative government to end the country's 36-year civil war. The Indian recognition proposal has captured the most attention. ``These reforms will counteract the unjust state in which we have lived,'' said Cesar Augusto Teny Maquin, who represents the Q'eqchi Indians on the National Council of Mayan Education. ``The Maya have been allowed to exist as part of Guatemalan folklore, as a cultural relic, as a tourist attraction. But we are a living people.'' In five centuries of Spanish rule, peasants have had to change their Mayan names and their traditional dress. Their religion, viewed as witchcraft, was rooted out, and teachers have forbidden the use of native languages in schools. Under Sunday's proposed changes, Congress would have to consult Mayans before passing legislation that could affect them, Mayans would have rights to access sacred ground, and government education, healthcare and judicial services would have to be available in indigenous languages. But that would divide Guatemala legally into two parts, according to Leonel Toriello, a prominent newspaper publisher and leader of the ``Friends of the Nation'' group, which is urging a ``no'' vote on the referendum. Toriello fears a philosophy of Indian affirmative action will ``give rise to reverse discrimination,'' he said, and ``will not add to the climate of harmony'' needed to consolidate peace. AP-NY-05-15-99 2036EDT Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
