[Marxism] Interview with Marlon Santi, new president of CONAIE

[Duroyan Fertl <dfertl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://ecuador-rising.blogspot.com/2008/01/marlon-santi-very-great-commitment-and.html
   Marlon Santi: " A very great commitment and a challenge to build a new 
CONAIE"


Translated from ECUARUNARI

by Patricio Zhingri T.
Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, 13 January, 2008


A brief interview with ECUACHASKI. Marlon Santi, the new president of CONAIE, 
after being elected by consensus on 12 January at 15h30, granted us the first 
interview before choosing the rest of the Governing Council.


 What is your feeling upon being elected by consensus as the new president of 
CONAIE? 
It is a commitment and a very big challenge for the three years in this 
position, to work with the Nationalities and Peoples. I am making a strong 
commitment to visit all of the bases of the CONAIE in the first year.

What does CONAIE need now?

We have to begin on a strong footing; I come from a base where everything is 
regulated, controlled, behaviors are established by standards. We have to have 
mutual respect. The congress is the maximum authority for any conflict or 
internal difficulty, and that will be resolved through dialogue. We have to put 
in order those who want to hinder any process. We must be forthright and timely 
when things are not well.

Do you come from a base to build a new CONAIE?

We need to recover the image of CONAIE, as it was in 1990, when it was 
considered the strongest organisation in Latin America. A new CONAIE built upon 
the pillars with which it was created following the objectives of its many 
leaders. CONAIE has not advanced because of the interventions of several 
governments and the CIA.
So the new leadership must work very hard to achieve our goals because it is in 
the collective interest of all of our bases.

What do you think were the weaknesses in CONAIE over the last few years?

In entering into governments, especially with Lucio Gutiérrez, important 
leaders made commitments with the government and followed their policies, 
ignoring the mandate of the Nationalities and Peoples for other interests. This 
led to a significant decline in the indigenous movement.  Then the State 
intervened directly to break CONAIE's unity, because the Indigenous movement 
has an historical basis and is a constant threat to the government of the day - 
when we propose territorial autonomy, the handling of our natural resources in 
their own territorial districts, when Indigenous nationalities manage their own 
biodiversity - all this is a threat to each government and to transnationals.

Do you have any lingering rancour over losing the last election in Otavalo?

No, there is no rancour. I personally went to congratulate Luis Macas, and 
continued to support CONAIE's process during these years. Nothing has happened, 
I maintain no rancour. Rather, we have worked together in this process. I have 
participated in several workshops and meetings, and I share the same proposals 
that were given to the Constituent Assembly. We also asked CONAIE to intervene 
in several territorial problems in the Amazon.



What should be the characteristics of a new leader?

Of course, if I lost in previous election, it is because I was not well known 
by the people, but I remain in the same line of work, the struggle, which is 
processing strongly.


As the new president of CONAIE, how would you evaluate the first year of this 
government?

Proposals from the Indigenous movement and other social sectors from the coast, 
highlands, and Amazon are not present on the national government's political 
agenda. Nor are they on the agenda of the Constituent Assembly. The government 
gives a lot of speeches and we hear that they are going to open petroleum 
explorations, that they are going to privatise water, rivers, páramos (high 
communal grasslands). So for the moment, nothing has changed. The only change 
is when the Indigenous movement rises up, because this is how we have made some 
advances in Collective Rights and other demands. Rafael Correa has not yet 
recognized the demands of the Nationalities and Peoples, and he must do so.

How will the government of the Nationalities and Peoples act with the current 
government of Correa?

The doors are open for the government, but we will draw up our own strategies 
and will not concern ourselves much with the government. If there are meetings 
it will be to present the demands of the Indigenous movement. I will not 
request public offices, with me you will see this: that the proposals of 
Nationalities and Peoples will be presented under a dialogue of diplomacy. If 
the government responds, good- otherwise, the bases will respond with action.

What is your evaluation of the work the Constituent Assembly?

There are many things that they are not taking into account. I am concerned 
that the Indigenous movement will not be included in the new Constitution, and 
that is a danger. If we want to make a new Ecuador, a new republic has to 
include the Nationalities and Peoples, after excluding us for 180 years of 
supposed republican life and more than 500 years since the conquest.


Who is Marlon Santi?
I was born in 1976 in Sarayaku. I remember that when it was 12 years old my mom 
was a leader, my dad was a kuraca (a chief). I learned a lot from them and was 
already involved in the struggle in the 1980s, against the large petroleum 
company ARCO. I studied for a while in Quito, but never forgot my principles 
and family formation, the Mother Earth, my respect for Pachamama, and being an 
integral part of the community. But recently I have participated in more than 5 
years of a strong and rather painful struggle against petroleum invasions, 
militarisation, and the violation of human rights. During Lucio Gutiérrez's 
government, I received 17 warrants for my arrest, persecution, and 
assassination attempts. I always told Lucio Gutiérrez that I would prefer that 
he kill me in person so that the people would know that he killed a person 
fighting for the rights of Indigenous peoples.

 
Will your experiences struggling in Sarayaku help in the running of CONAIE?

I will join with the people who have the same problems especially in the 
Amazon, in the highlands, and on the coast, since the problems are same and we 
have to walk together. I am not a leader who sits at a desk. I am a leader who 
will be out in the field, fighting, with the masses.

What do you hope for in the formation of the rest of the Governing Council?

I hope that it is a conglomerate, a governing council in which there is 
experience and new faces - people who have come through organisations of the 
three regions, who come from the bases and through a real organisational 
process.

Do you have a call and message to the children and youth of the Nationalities, 
Peoples, and the rest of the country? 
Look, someone once said that when the Indian is educated it will be revealed. 
So then, this is the moment for our youth and children to be educated. Only 
that way will we be able to confront the globalised system and know both 
worlds. In ours, it is necessary to value it as primordial, as a base for the 
demands of the Nationalities.


Patricio Zhingri T. 
   Comunicación ECUARUNARI
                          ECUACHASKI


"Dejerme decirle, a reisgo de parecer ridiculo, que el revolucionario verdadero 
esta guiado por grandes sentimientos de amor!!!"
       
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