Indian woman named to top position in Paraguay

Indian woman named to top position in Paraguay

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Indian woman named to top position in Paraguay
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Filed Under: World

Margarita Mbywangi, a chief of the Ache Tribe, has been named minister of indigenous affairs in Paraguay.

When she was four years old, Mbywangi said she was sold into forced labor by several land-owning families. She was sent to school and eventually reconnected with her people.

Mbywangi, a mother of three, said she will work to improve living conditions in Indian communities and promote Indian land rights. She is the first Indian person to serve as minister of indigenous affairs.

http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/americas/ 7569410.stm

Paraguayan Indian named minister
Margarita Mbywangi in Asuncion in March 2008
Margarita Mbywangi pledged to serve all indigenous communities

An indigenous woman in Paraguay who says she was sold into forced labour as a girl has been made minister for indigenous affairs.

Margarita Mbywangi, a 46-year-old Ache tribal chief, is the first indigenous person to hold the position.

She has been an activist for many years, defending her tribe's interests.

She was appointed by the new president, Fernando Lugo, who was sworn in on Friday, ending more than 60 years of government by the Colorado Party.

The BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo, in neighbouring Brazil, says the new president, a former Catholic bishop, seems keen to demonstrate a decisive break with the past, through his ministerial appointments.

'Forced labour'

But some Indian leaders have voiced fears Ms Mbywangi will give preferential treatment to her own tribe.

The mother-of-three promised to meet those who opposed her appointment, in order to ease their concerns.

"We are immediately going to help colleagues from different communities who are experiencing a difficult situation due to lack of potable water, food and clothing," she told local Channel 2 television.

The new minister said that as a four-year-old girl she was captured in the jungle and was sold several times into forced labour with the families of large land owners.

She told the television station that she had also been sent to school, so she could read and write, and was now studying for a high school diploma.

The new minister also identified indigenous land rights as a priority, as well as protecting forests.

For an Indian the forest represents "his mother, his life, his present and future", she said.

About 90,000 people say they belong to one of Paraguay's estimated 400 Indian communities, in what is one of Latin America's poorest countries, according to government figures.

http://www.guardian .co.uk/world/ 2008/aug/ 19/paraguay

Paraguay: Former slave gets cabinet position
Margarita Mbywangi becomes first indigenous person to oversee ethnic Indian affairs in the country

Paraguay's president, Fernando Lugo, who has appointed the first indigenous person to oversee ethnic Indian affairs in the country

Paraguay's president, Fernando Lugo, who has appointed the first indigenous person to oversee ethnic Indian affairs in the country. Photograph: Jorge Saenz/AP
A Paraguayan tribal woman who says she was captured in the jungle and sold into forced labour as a child has become a member of the the country's cabinet, vowing to improve the lives of South America's indigenous population.

Margarita Mbywangi, a 46-year-old Ache tribal chief, has been made minister of indigenous affairs, becoming the first indigenous person to oversee ethnic Indian affairs in Paraguay.
She was named in the new cabinet of the leftwing president, Fernando Lugo, who was inaugurated on Friday, ending the 61-year-rule of the conservative Colorado party.

The mother-of-three, who spent the early part of her career as an activist defending her people's land, is now studying for her high school diploma.

She was sold between several families as a child. "When I was a girl, four years old, the whites kidnapped me in the jungle and I was sold several times to families of hacienda owners. They sent me to school, so I can read and write," she told Channel 2 television.

She said her masters told her she was an Indian and began to seek her origins "until I found my people in the community of Chupapou".

The most vocal opposition to Mbywangi's appointment has come from other Indian leaders, who fear she will side with her own people in disputes over land, but she has promised to meet with those who opposed her appointment to ease their concerns.

"We are immediately going to help colleagues from different communities who are experiencing a difficult situation due to lack of potable water, food and clothing," she told the television station.
She said she would begin to work on legalising Indian titles to lands that sometimes have been claimed by outsiders, as well as to conserve the forests.
"For the Indian, the forest is his mother, his life, his present and future," she said.
According to government figures, about 90,000 Paraguayans say they belong to one of the country's 400 Indian communities.