The Añu are a Venezuelan indigenous group
living in the Northeastern state of Zulia. Añu villages are located along the
banks of Lake Maracaibo and Lake Sinamaica. Their homes are built on stilts
above the waters, therefore their primary means of transportation is by boat.
Water has played a vital role within the Añu's culture and throughout their
history. Currently that culture and history is being threatened by prolonged
water contamination due to oil leaks, deforestation, and lack of government
action. To better understand what is at stake here we will first look at
the Añu people’s history in Venezuela, how this issue arose, and solutions to
alleviate the symptoms.
Venezuela was ‘discovered’ by Christopher
Columbus in 1498 and declared a Spanish colony. When Columbus first landed in
Venezuela he named it Tierra de Gracia,
which translates to Grace Land. The
explorer was so overcome with the natural beauty of the landscapes he thought
this must have been where the Bible’s Garden of Eden was located. (Zambrano,
1998) The following year in 1499 Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci reached
Tierra de Gracia’s shores only to quickly rename the land Venezuela. Ojeda and Vespucci decided on this new name because when
they landed the first villages they encountered belonged to the Añu in Lake
Maracaibo. The houses built above the water reminded them of the city of Venice
back home in Italy, hence the name Venezuela meaning ‘Little Venice’.
In 1845 Venezuela gained its independence
from Spain and today identifies its government system as a Federal Presidential
Republic. Spanish is the primary and national language of Venezuela. The
current population is about 30 million, of which about 2% are members of one of
the 30 indigenous groups still located in Venezuela. Though 2% does not seem like a large
percentage, when you put it in terms of 30 million people that comes out to be
about 600,000 indigenous people. That is a significant number of individuals
who all require the same basic needs as you and I to live fulfilling lives-
food, clean water, relationships, and culture. Unfortunately these basic needs
are being extracted from the Añu people in terms of such poor water quality
making life around the lake unrealistic.
Our focus, for the purposes of this paper, is on the state Zulia where the Añu people have lived for centuries. Zulia
houses the largest population of the 23 states in Venezuela with over 3 million
people living within its borders. Lake Maracaibo is the largest lake in South
America and it acts as a centerpiece to the state of Zulia. Pictured to the right is a map of Zulia in which you can clearly see the immense size of Lake Maracaibo and the smaller Lake Sinamaica. There are somewhere
around 3,000-5,000 Añu people alive today. They are fairly
assimilated-traditional as they primarily wear what we would consider
Western-style clothing and primarily speak Spanish. Interestingly, they have
capitalized on tourism in the area by selling boat rides to foreigners visiting
Lake Maracaibo.
The subsistence patterns consist of
hunting, fishing, and basket weaving. There is a sexual division of labor
lending to ‘traditional’ gender roles in which the Añu man goes out to fish,
while the Añu woman stays in near the home to weave baskets and care for the
children. The waters have played a central role in the life of the Añu people since before the
15th century. They use the lake for cooking, bathing, fishing, and
even certain religious rituals. “In the Anu
cosmovision, the water is the mother, transmitter of knowledge and life,” said
Fernandez. “We do not have to imagine what they feel seeing the Sinamaica
turned into a contaminated marsh: the old people say that when the lake dies so
will the people.” (Márquez, 2010).
Within the past 15 years the indigenous
people have begun noticing something is wrong with their lake. The waters are
turning an uninviting green and the fish are floating belly-up to the surface.
Fishermen recall being able to catch over 90kg of fish in one day, but now you
are lucky if you even catch 10kg of fish in a day. (Márquez, 2010). The
following is a video link to an Anthropology student interviewing a local Añu
fisherman about his take on the water contamination. https://vimeo.com/9507644 . One can see
many boats zooming past in the background and a great deal of activity going on
in the water. The educated fisherman perfectly captured the problems going on
with Lake Maracaibo. He explained how trees were being taken which was
increasing sedimentation, fish were dying, and pollution was invading quickly.
Deforestation around the lakes are
causing the banks to become loose with sediment. As the unrooted sediment falls
into the lake, turbitity increases which decreases the amount of oxygen in the
water. This decrease in oxygen and sunlight is actively killing the local fish
populations. He believed the solution lies within the local
people’s understanding and willingness to clean up the Lake. Education is the
key to promoting sanitation and sustainability. Although educating the local indigenous on proper sanitation
and hygiene practices is an important aspect to preventing pollution, it is not
the underlying factor in the current contamination.
Lake Maracaibo’s basin covers the largest
oil and gas reserves in the Western Hemisphere. Oil is the greatest export out
of Venezuela and has acted as a huge economic driver in the past. (Wei, 2016). Oil
reserves were being discovered in Venezuela in the late 1920s, and exportation
of crude began in the 1950s.(AGNANI & IZA, 201l)
More crude demand meant more government interest in harvesting and
exportation. Petróleos de Venezuela is a
government owned oil company that runs oil production in the country. They have
developed over 10,000 oil slicks within Lake Maracaibo and their headquarters
lies directly in the mouth of the lake. (Nieto, 2004)
Below the surface of the lake lies 45,000
km of pipeline connecting each one of these 10,000 oil slicks. These pipes
started leaking oil, leading to extreme pollution in the lake and surround
rivers leading to Lake Sinamaica as well. “Lake
Maracaibo is the largest in South America, with a surface area of 12,800 square
kilometers and a volume of 245 billion cubic meters of water. The shoreline and
lake bed have been the sites of intense petroleum production since the second
decade of the 20th century.” (Márquez, 2010). When the first leaks were
noticed in 2001 there were volunteer fishermen out in the water doing clean ups
on a daily basis. According to Eliseo Fermin, the president of the Zulia state
legislature, proper measures are not
being taken by Petróleos de Venezuela to contain these leaks- “A few years ago, 135 boats were going out every day to monitor
the installations. Now there are just 15 or so.” (Márquez, 2010).
There has been some government action taken
to provide restitution to the indigenous groups living among the lakes. In
2003, during President Chavez’s term, the Guaicaipuro Mission was conceived.
The Mission followed the terms and principles of Chapter 8 in Venezuela’s constitution.
The aim was to restore the cultural rights of indigenous people and promote
their lands through demarcation. Most importantly for this paper, in terms of
resource extraction on indigenous land, the constitution states it must be done
without causing any damage to the community’s culture, land, as well as
societal and economic structures. (Nieto, 2004). Inland government housing near
the city of Maracaibo have been offered to various indigenous groups, such as
the Añu, that have been affected by the water contamination.
Some people have taken this offer, but
many refuse to migrate from their homes. They have grown up on these lakes, as
have generations before them. They are afraid they would not be able to find
work as their knowledge and skill base is centered around the water. “Some years ago, UNESCO took steps to protect Sinamaica by
declaring it a human heritage area, but as Venezuela never ratified the act it
never came into effect.” (Márquez, 2010). There
has been an obvious failure in government action to take care of this problem. Various
other organization and advocacy groups are getting involved with indigenous rights
in Venezuela. The Indian Movement for Cultural
Identity, the Paraujano Cultural Movement and the Zulia University want to
declare an ecosystem emergency in Sinamaica. They have called for a
reforestation program in the Limon river valley. Environmental researchers at
Zulia University are also advocating for cleaner energy. (Màrquez, 2010).
“Currently, State-owned
petroleum PDVSA produces about 90 percent of Venezuela’s export income and
about half of all government revenue. According to U.S. Energy Department figures,
Venezuelan oil output has remained flat for the past three years.” (Wilson,
2014). Investments in renewable energy are increasing with more research and
information emerging about the detriments of oil and gas. Venezuela has great a
potential for renewable energy in wind, water, and solar. The fact of the
matter is that a strong foundation for the renewable energy sector must be set,
as well as initial investments into the energy switch. (Pietrosemoli, L, &
Rodríguez Monroy, C 2013) Therefore in conclusion, more advocacy, government
awareness, and investment into renewable energy are potential solutions for not
only the indigenous, but for every individual living in Venezuela now and in the future.
References:
·
'GROWTH IN AN OIL ABUNDANT ECONOMY: THE CASE OF VENEZUELA', Journal
Of Applied Economics, 14, 1, pp. 61-79, Business Source Complete
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Márquez, Humberto. 27 July 2010. "VENEZUELA: Chronic Oil
Leaks Sully Lake Maracaibo, Livelihoods." Inter Press Service.
International Press Service,
<http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/07/venezuela-chronic-oil-leaks-sully-lake-maracaibo-livelihoods/>.
·
Nieto,
Robin. 20 Oct. 2004. "The Promise of Restitution of Indigenous Rights in
Venezuela." Venezuela News, Views, and Analysis. Venezuela
Analysis.<http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/745>.
Chavez and
indigenous rights-
·
Pietrosemoli, L, & Rodríguez Monroy, C 2013, 'The impact of
sustainable construction and knowledge management on sustainability goals. A
review of the Venezuelan renewable energy sector', Renewable And Sustainable
Energy Reviews, 27, pp. 683-691, ScienceDirect
·
Wei, C 2016, 'Oil, urbanization, and ‘pacted’ ethnic politics:
Indigenous movements in Latin America', International Political Science
Review, 37, 2, p. 230, Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File
·
Wilson,
Charlotte. 2014."Lake Maracaibo – Venezuela’s Most Valuable
Resource." World View Opinion. World View Opinion
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Zambrano,
Jose. 31 July 1998. “500 Year of ‘Purgatory’ for Indigenous Peoples.” PACH.
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