First Indigenous Community Museum on Nicaragua's North Atlantic Coast Launches Programs to Promote Indigenous Peoples' Rights
Contact:
Irene Schneeweis,
Media Coordinator
PHONE: 212-627-0444
EMAIL: media@madre.org
June 6, 2005-New York-A MADRE delegation returned today from a celebration marking the expansion of its sister organization in Nicaragua, Casa Museo. Casa Museo, located on Nicaragua's North Atlantic Coast-an autonomous region that is home to most of the country's Indigenous Peoples-will support Indigenous Peoples' struggles to protect their cultural heritage and traditional practices. These issues are inextricably linked to Indigenous Peoples' control over their ancestral lands.
"President Bush is making a last-ditch effort to win passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), a trade deal that will exacerbate the takeover of Indigenous lands by multinational corporations, worsening poverty, displacement, and cultural disintegration among Indigenous Peoples. In this context, MADRE's support for Casa Museo is especially vital," commented MADRE's Executive Director, Vivian Stromberg.
MADRE first began working with Indigenous and women's community-based groups on the North Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua during the US-sponsored Contra War in the early 1980s. In 2005, MADRE still works with many of its original partners in the region to promote women's and Indigenous Peoples' human rights through a women's health clinic; leadership, human rights, sexual health and reproductive health trainings; food security initiatives; and cultural and literacy programs for youth.
Casa Museo will play a critical role in the movement for Indigenous Peoples' rights at local, national, and international levels. Protests against CAFTA in Guatemala and fierce opposition to the privatization of natural resources in Bolivia signal the movement's growing momentum, but most Indigenous activists continue to lack the resources necessary to protect their rights.
Co-founded by MADRE, Casa Museo will promote Indigenous Peoples' self-determination through: a museum exhibiting work by Indigenous artists; a media center training young people in human-rights-oriented news and documentary productions; a women's center; an intergenerational oral history program; community meeting spaces; and a state-of-the-art conference center offering seminars and study abroad programs on Indigenous issues, autonomy, bio-diversity, and sustainable development.
