The Rama-Kriol Territorial Government (GTRK)

Tue, Jul 27, 2010

Caribbean Coast, History & Politics, Nicaragua

The Rama-Kriol Territorial Government (GTRK) have been among the most pro-active and organised of the Atlantic coast’s territorial governments, which all arose out of the need to implement Law 445.

They are highly optimistic about the future, and in the course of their demarcation journey have produced an array of detailed literature, including a thorough diagnostic report and ambitious new plans for development.

Visit the GTRK offices in Bluefields and you’ll find an operation centre that’s often buzzing with activity. The walls are plastered with documents, photos and countless maps, which illustrate everything from illegal settlements to levels of deforestation.

A portrait of the great Rama heroine, Miss Nora Rigby, who was instrumental in documenting and revitalising the ancient Rama language, is proudly displayed near the entrance. This is a government in touch with its cultural roots and passionate about defending them.

The GTRK’s Territorial Limits

The GTRK administers a large swathe of land just south of the city of Bluefields in the Southern Atlantic Autonomous region.

Roughly corresponding to ancestral Rama territory, their area includes Rama Cay in the north, San Juan del Norte in the south, a few thousand square kilometres of ocean to the east, and approximately 4,000 square kilometres of land to the west.

As such, the GTRK provides political representation to a dispersed mix of Rama and Creole communities, all officially administered by 9 communal authorities (6 Rama, 3 Creole): Rama Cay, Tiktik Kaanu (Zompopera), Sumu Kaat, Wiring Cay, Bangkukuk (Punta de Águila), Indian River (Río Indio), Monkey Point, Corn river and Greytown.

The GTRK works in conjunction with several municipalities, including Bluefields, San Juan de Nicaragua, El Castillo and El Rama, as well as the larger regional councils of the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region and the Rio San Juan.

Their territory also overlaps or otherwise contains several protected areas, including the Cerro Silva, Punta Gorda, Indio-Maíz and Río San Juan reserves. The GTRK therefore works closely with Nicarauga’s Environment Ministry, MARENA.

Borders of the newly-forged Rama-Kriol territory. Click on the image to view in more detail.

An ‘Effective Process’ in spite of Obstacles

On a sultry April afternoon, Interamericana talked with the GTRK’s President,Mr Santiago Thomas, about demarcation, the agrarian frontier and the struggle ahead.

“In the case of the Rama-Creole… [the process] has been effective,” said Thomas. “Even though we had to file a suit against the government in order to achieve where we are.”

The Rama-Creole territory, explained Thomas, actually completed the main stages of demarcation back in 2007. They have since been awarded a title, but the Nicaraguan government has so far failed to present the official, legally binding paperwork (only photocopies of the title have been dispatched).

Thomas guessed that election-time in 2011 will see more co-operation, and spoke generally of his on-going troubles with high office:

“National government has been offering individual titles in our territories… even in protected areas. They’ve also been promoting mega-projects, such as the deep water port, without going through legal procedures, such as previous consultation with the communities.

Finally, after we put in our diagnosis, which the law says they are supposed to resolve within 30 days, it happened that they had it for 13 months… These are the situations that obligated us to take a decision to file a suit against the government.”

Saneamiento: Cleaning up the Territory

But the demarcation process, although now well-advanced and so far successful, still has not reached completion. The final stage of saneamiento – otherwise known as the ‘clean-up’ stage, or more positively, the ‘healing’ stage – remains.

Saneamiento demands a thorough analysis of all non-indigenous and non-Afro-descendant land-holdings to determine which are legal and which are not. In short, saneamiento means tackling the problem of illegal mestizo settlements – a particularly marked problem in the Rama-Creole region.

“Approximately 8% of the people in the territory have some type of, well, not necessarily legal, document,” said Thomas. “Over 90% does not have any title whatsoever.”

Thomas acknowledged that some mestizos, whether possessing titles or not, have been living in Rama territory for many years – the so-called ‘old vivientes’, who deserved special consideration.

“We have people that have been in our territory for the last 40 years that may have 10 hectares. We have people that went in just 2 years ago and have a thousand hectares.

These people with 10 hectares have 6 or 8 children. What’s going to happen when all those children grow old and get married? They’re born there, their ancestors are from there.” Said Thomas, seeming to indicate their rights to settlement. “But these unknown persons who have been there just 2 years… that’s where saneamiento comes in.”

To complicate the process, the waves of migrants who have been settling in Rama-Creole territory since the 1990s are being serviced by an underground industry in illegal land sales. Such activity is invariably accompanied by environmental destruction.

“They don’t just buy [land]. They go in and fell the big trees, the virgin trees, and the small ones, and burn it down, plant cattle grasses, sell, and keep moving forward.”

Thomas’ assertions are backed by a collage of aerial photographs depicting the so-called ‘agrarian frontier’. They show widespread deforestation around large clusters of ‘non-indigenous’ settlements, most of which are completely undocumented and technically ‘non-existent’.

These photographs, used to plot vital maps of deforested areas, were taken during the diagnostic stage of the territory’s demarcation. Technicians had tried to access the area on foot , but after being met with strong resistance from mestizo colonists, were forced to conduct surveys by air.

The purple areas, clustered in the west, indicate levels of deforestation. They coincide with mestizo settlements. Click on the image to view the map in more detail.

Conflict and Co-existence

Addressing the concerns of mestizo colonisits, the GTRK has drawn up a ‘Guia de Convivencia’ – a kind of guide to co-existence, which sets out their terms and conditions for sharing the land with their Spanish-speaking neighbours.

Thomas insisted that they have no desire to expel anyone, and that mestizo farmers always have the option of renting property directly from Rama-Creole communities.

These conciliatory overtures have been rejected by a minority of outspoken mestizos, who do not recognise Law 445, or the demarcation process. These same colonists marched on Bluefields in early 2010, threatening violence and angrily voicing their intentions to resist saneamiento at all costs.

“The people who are living there honestly, humbly – they’re willing, they know.” Said Thomas. “But in this territory we do have… a few people that are involved in party politics, which are the same ones who are [illegally] negotiating lands, and who are destroying our forests.”

Referring to on-going ethnic tensions in the Kukra river area – where aerial images depict a small Rama community practically surrounded by a sea of mestizo households – Mr Thomas alleged that serious and violent attacks had been committed against his people.

“Some of them [the mestizos] burned down indigenous peoples’ houses, communal houses and communication houses. The authorities haven’t done anything about these aggressions, even though we complained.”

According to Thomas, their complaints were properly set forth in an official ‘denuncia’, but after the police failed to act, he spoke about the alleged crimes to the media. Consequently, he is now being sued by the Board of Kukra River – the official organisation representing the Kukra river settlers.

It remains suspiciously unclear why the complaints of the Board of Kukra River were addressed so promptly whilst the complaints of the Rama were not. Whatever the case, Thomas recently travelled to Washington to seek political support in what appears to be a darkly brewing storm.

Party Politics and Mega-Projects

“Right now, there is so much going on, so much illegal activity… saneamiento is important for us because its going to order up the place. That way we’ll know who is where, and who they are. If it goes according to law, it’ll go peacefully.” Said Thomas.

“But if it goes the way it has been going, through party politics or through personal interests of people at a high government level, then it might take a longer time to resolve.”

Central Government’s apparent insensitivity to the Atlantic regions has been demonstrated time and again through history. The allegations of political involvement in the various criminal activities occurring in Rama-Creole territory, therefore, don’t come as a surprise.

But the interests and ambitions of Managua’s political players are also served by a range of mega-projects, such as the Monkey Point deep water port. Thomas was positive, however, they now possessed the means to defend themselves against the unsolicited implementation of such schemes.

“In the past, when government wanted to achieve their objective, they’d come to the indigenous villages, take out one or two people, and say ‘sign here’. And those people signed and the government says ‘Ok, it’s the law now’. But now, in the Rama-Creole case, we have a government with a structure and a law that we hold onto as the main tool.”

This map indicates the various mega-projects on central government's wish list. Click on the image to view in more detail.

The Future

The newly-forged Rama-Creole Territory Government is showing much promise in its organisational capacity and enthusiasm for determining its own affairs.

It is particularly stirring to see that the Ramas, who number only a few thousand and have been facing cultural oblivion for decades, taking an active hand in their collective destiny. Plans for education, tourism, economic development and a system of zonification – which will ensure the continued protection of the region’s natural resources – have all been drawn up.

Speaking of their dreams, Mr Thomas summed it up:

“We dream of a territory that we can control… and develop on a sustainable basis, the best way we know how, looking further down the line and focussing on the future.”

Click here to visit the Rama-Kriol Territorial Government homepage