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INSIDECOSTARICA.COM
| COSTA RICA
NEWS |
Tuesday 19 July 2011 |
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Indigenous
Costa
Rican
Families
Removed
from
Land
In
what
appears
to
be
the
latest
attack
on
the
Indigenous
of
Costa
Rica
involving
land
claims
issues,
security
guards
of
Italian
businessman,
Idolo
Augustine
Mastronei,
violently
removed
a
group
of
Bribri
families
in
the
Talamanca
region
of
Costa
Rica
according
to
Intercontinental
Cry.
The
business
man
claims
to
have
purchased
the
land
in
an
auction,
but
the
property
is
recognized
by
the
Costa
Rican
government
as
part
of
the
Kekoldi
Indigenous
Reserve.
On
July
1st,
the
security
guards,
accompanied
by
officers
of
the
judiciary,
entered
the
Keköldi
Indigenous
Reserve
to
remove
the
Bribri
families,
it
is
said,
because
they
were
living
on a
50
hectare
estate
that
Mastronei
purchased
at
an
auction.
Most
of
the
adults
were
arrested
during
the
eviction,
"while
the
children
were
threatened
at
gun
point
inside
their
own
houses
by
[the]
private
security
guards"
reports
Real
World
Radio.
Henry
Picado,
Real
World
Radio’s
correspondent
in
Costa
Rica
and
a
member
of
COECOCEIBA
(Friends
of
the
Earth
Costa
Rica)
interviewed
two
of
the
effected
residents.
The
first
resident,
Norma
Luz
Segura
Pino,
"reported
the
ill-treatment
and
the
aggressions
[they]
suffered
on
the
day
of
the
eviction;"
while
Jaco
Mayorga
Mora
spoke
to
the
issue
of
the
"disputed
land."
Mora
explained
that
Mastronei's
purchase
was
an
illegal
act
because
the
property
is
recognized
by
the
Costa
Rican
government
as
being
a
part
of
the
Keköldi
Indigenous
Reserve.
Saul
Yanes,
Mastronei's
lawyer
asserts
that
his
client
purchased
the
estate
two
years
after
the
3,538
hectare
reserve
was
established
in
2001.
It
therefore
belongs
to
Mastronei.
Costa
Rica's
National
Registry,
however,
froze
the
property
on
October
4
2010
(file
registry
#
2010-0396)
after
determining
that
it
"overlaps
with
the
bribri
Keköldi
Indian
Reservation."
Both
Mastronei
and
his
lawyer
were
undoubtedly
aware
of
this
when
they
approached
the
courts,
a
move
that
directly
led
to
the
July
1st
eviction.
In
April
of
this
year,
when
concerns
of
an
eviction
first
surfaced,
José
María
Villalta,
the
deputy
for
the
Frente
Amplio
party,
further
pointed
that
the
Keköldi
reserve
"...is
inalienable
and
no
one
can
appropriate
[it]
illegally,"
Villalta
said.
According
to
the
1977
Indigenous
Act,
all
indigenous
territories
in
Costa
Rica
are
protected
and
may
not
be
diminished
except
through
the
adoption
of
an
explicit
law.
In
1993,
Costa
Rica
also
ratified
the
International
Labour
Organization's
(ILO's)
Convention
169.
ILO
169
is a
binding
international
law
that
recognizes
indigenous
land
ownership
rights
and
compels
signatories
like
Costa
Rica
to
consult
indigenous
peoples
in
developments
that
would
effect
them.
"The
Costa
Rican
government
boasts
about
its
defense
of
human
rights,
but
it
systematically
violates
[ILO
169],
which
recognizes
the
indigenous
right
of
territorial
autonomy,
as
exposed
by
the
residents
of
Kekôldi
community,"
notes
Real
World
Radio.
As a
precautionary
measure,
the
nearly
10
Bribri
families,
who
were
clearly
unlawfully
removed
their
lands,
are
now
forbidden
to
return
home
or
tend
to
their
harvest.
From
Interncontinentalcry.org
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Costa Rica's Daily English News
Source
Apdo. 2133-1000, San José, Costa
Rica
Tel: (506) 2231 3205 / (506) 8399
9642
Fax: (506) 2232 6337
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