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CONIC
Council of Indigenous Organizations
and Nations of the Continent
Consejo de Organizaciones
y Naciones Indígenas del Continente
The Treaty of Teotihuacan
THE TREATY OF TEOTIHUACAN It is called HUEHUETLAPALOHTLI
among the lineage of tradition of the Xicanos of Aztlan,
speaking of the Ancient Red Road that leads to the place
in Mexico called TEOTIHUACAN. Yet this place is not just
a location but very much more. According to the Tradition,
it's a place of perspective where the Universe of the Four
Directions is reflected: it is a place where worlds are
made. It was here at the foot of the monumental temples
of stone at Teotihuacan that the originations of the Indigenous
Peoples of the continent gathered in Summit as Indigenous
Nations, Pueblos and Organizations to strengthen each other,
to dialogue regarding our common issues, to plan for the
future, and to give testimony and spiritual offering to
the entire world as survivors of over 508 years of continuous
colonization.
To arrive at the Summit of Teotihuacan, many
valleys had to be entered and traversed, many bridges had
to be built. The event had been convened by the Council
of Indigenous Organizations and Nations of the Continent
(CONIC), yet it was evident throughout the entire four days
at TEOTIHUACAN that the continental movement of the Indigenous
Pueblos and Nations was not merely an organization but an
unfolding process: the path of Tradition and Liberation.
As contemporary incarnations of the principles
that guide this process, the Sacred Staffs of the Peace
and Dignity Journeys represent the memory and dreams of
the many and diverse Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of an
entire continent, the territory of the Pueblos and Nations
of the Eagle and the Condor. The Sacred Staffs and the runners
who carried them for six months across the entirety of the
continent to arrive at Teotihuacan for the CONIC Summit
witnessed and recorded in Memory for the future generations
the landscape of our territories as they now exist. Their
shared stories are the XINACHTLI (seed) of future legends,
but also serve as a realistic, collective, grassroots point
of reference: Over five hundred years of colonization of
the continent has taken a tremendous toll on our families,
communities, Pueblos, Nations and territories. Sadly, we
have seen that our people have even learned only too well
how the trauma of colonization perpetuates itself: by dehumanizing
our relationships to the point of loss of dignity and internal
spiritual peace. This dehumanization begins with the colonizer-
the colonizer is actually the first victim, for how else
could a human being participate in a the progrom of genocide
waged against our Peoples and Territories unless part of
that individual's humanity had been amputated to fit into
the regime of colonial domination that continues to typify
the politics of the government states in the hemisphere.
The trauma of colonization requires the effective
intervention of the Indigenous Peoples in order to move
towards healing and justice. For this intervention to be
strategic and powerful, the only option is to act with strength,
the strength that comes when we work not in competition
but in complement with each other, the strength that comes
from our spiritual values and traditional teachings. The
first challenge along this path is the battle for Hope.
At TEOTIHUACAN the battle was joined, there
were casualties; but in the end a new beginning emerged.
Thanks in great part to the strong participation of our
indigenous youth who maintained positive attitudes and worked
hard to help in whatever way was needed - in spite of it
all we survived and participated together in witnessing
the glimmer of a new dawn for the Original Nations of the
Continent. At TEOTIHUACAN a traditional TREATY OF ALLIANCE
between the Lakota Dakota Nakota Alliance of Turtle Island
and the Mexica Calpultin of Aztlanahuac was sealed before
the Summit of CONIC.
The TREATY OF TEOTIHUACAN is a mutual commitment,
empowered by the Jurisprudence of Indigenous International
Law in four aspects: Spiritual Alliance, Political Solidarity,
Cultural Understanding, and Economic and Commercial Agreements
of Exchange- POCHTECAYOTL - across the continent. A strategic
plannning meeting for the Pochtecayotl is scheduled for
January 2001 in Izkalotlan, Aztlan. Regional gatherings
of the youth participants at Teotihuacan are also being
organized.
At the Summit of Teotihuacan, the obsidian stone
point of the arrowhead appeared in our hands, the direction
of flight for the Arrow of Destiny was given by the Elders,
and with the strength of our Youth the Bow of Nations was
drawn. The battle for Hope was won, but along the way we
came to realize the extent of the challenges ahead, both
internal and external to our families, communities, Nations,
Pueblos, and indigenous organizations. This is good. We
must know where we are at in order to get to where we must
be. We must be honest within ourselves and with each other,
to better construct a collective strategy for communication
and organization that will strengthen the process of REGENERATION
of our Indigenous Peoples, and in the process prepare the
way for the regeneration of humanity and TONANTZIN, our
MotherEarth, as well.
The Themes of the Five Working Groups of the
CONIC Summit at Teotihuacan were as follows:
1) National and International Legislation
A) United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Peoples and UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations.
B) United Nations Declaration of the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples.
C) Declaration of the Organization of American
States of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
D) Convention on Biological Diversity Article
8(j).
E) Intellectual Property Rights
F) Indigenous Fund of the Americas
G) San Andres Accords - Chiapas, Mexico.
2) Autonomy- Lands and Territories - Sovereignty
A) Sovereignty and Self Determination
3) Unification and Structure of the Indigenous
Movement of the Continent
A) Effective Mechanisms of Coordination and
Communication
B) Evaluation of CONIC and creation of a continental
structure of coordination.
4) Identity, Spirituality, and Indigenous Resistance
A) Our Youth - Guides of the Future
B) Our Elders and our Women - Sources and transmitters
of our spirituality.
5) Regional Conflicts
A) Chiapas, Mexico
B) Colombia
C) Bolivia
D) Paraguay
E) Ecuador
F) Black Hills and Big Mountain, North America
The five Working Groups collectively elaborated,
after two days of dialogue and discussion, written documents
of position which were delivered to the closing plenary
session of the CONIC Summit on Saturday October 28, 2000.
Many thanks once again- tlazocamati- to all
of you who made the prayer possible- who accompanied the
Journey to TEOTIHUACAN and back.
Here follows the Declaration of Teotihuacan:
DECLARATION OF TEOTIHUACAN CONIC Consejo de Organizaciones
y Naciones Indígenas del Continente Council of Indigenous
Organizations and Nations of the Continent FIRST INTERNATIONAL
INDIGENOUS SUMMIT PRIMERA CUMBRE INTERNACIONAL INDIGENA
Octubre 25-28, 2000 Teotihuacan, Mexico The Continental
Indigenous Summit, meeting at the foot of the ceremonial
center of Teotihuacan Mexico, upon completion of the second
millennium of the Gregorian Calendar and 508 years of European
invasion - the delegates representing the diverse Original
Peoples of the Continent, DECLARE AND REAFFIRM BEFORE THE
WORLD THE FOLLOWING:
The Indigenous Peoples of the Continent Abya
Yala, Itzachilatlan (Americas) hereby reaffirm our principles
of community spirituality and the inalienable right to Self
Determination as Original Peoples of the Continent.
In this present era of economic globalization
driven by the great capital interests of transnational corporations
and the so called industrialized nations, which threatens
our very existence daily, the Indigenous Peoples of the
states where we live in the continent, have organized and
gathered strength in coordination and solidarity to protect
the sacred rights of our Nations and Pueblos for the future
generations.
CONSIDERING:
Although there have been some advances in the
material arena regarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples
at the level of International Accords, the so-called Latin
American States and the states of the Anglo-America bloc
of North America continue to negate our fundamental rights
and liberties;
In spite of the fact that Convention 169 of
the International Labor Organization, now some eleven years
since adoption, recognizes various rights of Indigenous
Peoples, the majority of the government states have not
ratified the Convention, and those who have at the same
time continue to implement strategies to weaken Convention
169 in terms of content and spirit;
After 16 years of constant struggle and effort
by indigenous representatives at the international level,
ratification of the Declaration regarding the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples of the United Nations has continued to
be blocked by the colonizing government states of the United
Nations;
Although the Organization of American States
(OAS) has elaborated a project regarding the American Declaration
Regarding the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the content
of the Declaration does not include recognition of the rights
and fundamental liberties of the Indigenous Peoples. This
is a direct consequence of the fact that the proposed declaration
is an instrument elaborated from the point of view of the
government states, without full participation of the Indigenous
Peoples themselves;
Although the International Convention Regarding
Biodiversity recognizes certain Indigenous Rights in Article
8, in practice the international corporate interests with
the consent of the government states, have intensified the
policy of theft and expropriation of natural resources and
the Biodiversity that is found within the Indigenous Territories,
causing ecological destruction and erosion of the collective
rights of our Nations and Pueblos;
Whereas the idea of a Permanent Forum for Indigenous
Peoples at the United Nations depended on the support of
legitimate representation of the Indigenous Peoples, nevertheless
in the process the mandate for the Permanent Forum has excluded
the concept of Indigenous Peoples. The result is in complete
denial of the aspirations of the Indigenous Peoples;
Whereas the financial policies imposed by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the
InterAmerican Bank for Development have been complicit with
the government states in establishing economic policy that
accommodates the excessive consumerism of the countries
in the Northern Hemisphere: This has increased the levels
of dependence, oppression and poverty of the Indigenous
Peoples and other popular sectors of society;
Whereas in spite of the installation of so-called
democracies in the continent, the colonizing government
states continue to perpetuate the violation of our Human
Rights, the denial of the right to a life with Dignity,
the denial of liberty itself, and the right to define our
own destiny as different Nations and Pueblos as is recognized
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Whereas the
Peace Accords in Guatemala and those of San Andres in Chiapas,
Mexico have only been promises of justice for the Indigenous
Pueblos, while the repression against indigenous leaders
continues in Honduras, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and
Guatemala: The Plan for Columbia supported by the United
States, will bring even more repression, militarization
and suffering for the Indigenous Peoples and non-indigenous
as well in Columbia;
FOR ALL THESE REASONS: The Indigenous Delegates
united at this Continental Indigenous Summit REAFFIRM:
1.) We Indigenous Peoples shall continue to
be guided by the ancestral spiritual values of our cultures,
by our languages and history, and for this reason we shall
continue to be the Indigenous Peoples of the continent with
rights undiminished and inalienable to the Peoples of the
World.
2.) As Indigenous Peoples we have developed
our cultures in specific territories, where we have established
spiritual relationships and linguistic ties that construct
our ancestral millennial identity. Our territories and the
web of biodiversity contained therein form the foundation
of our inalienable and undiminished inheritance of rights
and obligations. Nevertheless, we have been dispossessed
from our territories in the process of the formation of
Nation States.
3.) As Indigenous Peoples we reaffirm the Principle
and Right to Self Determination, considering that this constitutes
the basic foundation for all of the other rights which we
may process.
THEREFORE WE DEMAND:
1.) We direct the Government States of the World
to support and adopt the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples of the United Nations, within the span of the UN
Decade of Indigenous Peoples of the World, being that this
is a commitment made by the government states to the International
Community.
2.) We call upon the governments that conform
the Organization of American States (OAS) to reactivate
the dialogue regarding the Project for the American Declaration
of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples, and that the UN
Working Group convene a special session regarding the same.
Simultaneously, the Indigenous Committee should be empowered
to serve as linkage with the interested parties by guaranteeing
the most ample participation possible of the Indigenous
Peoples in the process.
3.) We direct the government states who have
not signed the Convention 169 of the International Labor
Organization to ratify the convention as a signal of their
political will to recognize and protect the rights of the
Indigenous Peoples.
4.) We demand that the Government States recognize
the Indigenous Peoples and our Rights, within their political
constitutions, guaranteeing participation and protection
for lands and territories, and assuring the right to determine
our own destiny.
DECLARATION: The assembled delegates at the
Continental Indigenous Summit - Teotihuacan hereby declare
our commitment to continue to work towards strenghtening
our unity and coordination across the continent, expressing
continuity of effort by agreeing to convene in SUMMIT once
again in Ecuador in the year 2001, said SUMMIT to be hosted
by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador
(CONAIE).
This Continental Indigenous Summit - Teotihuacan
2000 makes a call to All Our Relations to strengthen our
continental organizational processes of communication, so
that we may together construct a better future for the generations
to come.
FOR THE SELF DETERMINATION OF THE INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES AND THE RESTITUTION OF OUR TERRITORIES!
Signed by Indigenous Delegations representing
36 Indigenous Organizations from throughout the Continent.
CONIC
Council of Indigenous Organizations and Nations
of the Continent
Center for Communications and Coordination -
North
TONATIERRA P.O. 24009
Phoenix, AZ 85074
Tel: (602) 254-5230
Fax (602) 252-6094 http://www.tonatierra.com/
Email: tonal@tonatierra.com
Contact: Tupac Enrique Acosta A Z T L A N
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