Argentina and Chile: imperialist processes of expansion on indigenous territories

The notion of State established by Max Weber is a good basis for analyzing the historical-legal situation of indigenous peoples and territories in Argentina, Chile and other Latin American countries.
According to Weber, the state is "a political association that claims for itself - with success - a delimited territory over which it exercises the monopoly of legitimate physical violence" (Weber, 2003).
And the reason for these forms of expression lies in being able to adopt a use of language that avoids innocently reproducing the historical triumph that the Nation States have achieved in the way of naming the territory claimed for themselves as “National Territory”, or “Argentine Territory” , "Chilean Territory", etc.
To designate these territories as "claimed by", implies building appropriations and constantly placing the relations of force established in all forms of use and appropriation of a territory at the center of the discussions. And if throughout the work it has been necessary for me to express myself by reproducing in my language the historical triumph of territorial appropriation by the Argentine and Chilean States, understand that it is due to literary resources and not to conceptual forgetfulness. Ergo, replace “Argentine / Chilean territory” with “territory claimed for itself – successfully- by the Argentine / Chilean State
To this we must add the name of the process of expansion and seizure of indigenous territories by the Argentine and Chilean states.
It can simply be called "expansion," or "imperialism" (attitude or form of political action based on dominating other lands and communities using military or economic power).
Used this last expression in that sense, it can be said that the expansionist policies of the states of Argentina and Chile were "imperialist". As in turn, the Argentine and Chilean states have been subjected to external “imperialisms” of a more global nature (eg British and American imperialism). These imperialist policies can be re-qualified as “sub-imperialisms”.
The original territories
In the territory claimed by the Argentine State, different ethnic groups abused before the formation of the National State. Some of them are: Ava Guaraní, Calchaquí, Chané, Chorote, Chulupí, Diaguita, Kollas, Huarpe, Mby´a Guaraní, Mapuche, Mocoví, Omaguaca, Pilagá, Querandí, Quechua, Rankulche, Sanavirón, Selk-Nam, Tapiete, Aonikenk (Tehuelche), Toba, Tupí Guaraní, Tonocoté, Vilela, Wichi and Yámana.

The Complementary Survey of Indigenous Peoples conducted in 2004-2005 in Argentina produced a total of 457,363 people (just over 1% of the total population of the country) who recognize themselves as belonging to some indigenous people (INDEC, Indigenous social movements in Argentina and Chile in the actuality)
Within these numbers, probably due to migratory processes and population movements and processes of identity resignifications, there are self-identifications that did not strictly inhabit the current “Argentine territory” or did not keep such denominations before colonization, among them it can be noted: Atacama, Aymara, Charrúa, Comechingón, Guaycurú, Lule, Maimará, Ona and Pampa.
That half million indigenous inhabitants of Argentina contrasts with the estimates of the population prior to the conquest that could be estimated at about 3 to 5 million inhabitants. The demographic decrease that is added to the situation of exclusion, discrimination and poverty in which the native Argentine communities find themselves is evident.
The case of Chile
In the territory claimed by the Chilean State, on the other hand, identities prior to the formation of the State can be highlighted, such as Alacalufe, Aonikenk, Aymara, Atacameño, Changos, Chonos, Cuncos, Diaguita, Kawéskar, Kolla, Mapuche, Picunches, Quechua, Rapa-Nui, Selk-Nam and Yámana or Yagán.
Through the Indigenous Law 19.253, in 1993, the Chilean State recognizes the "multiethnicity" existing in the territory; This includes only eight ethnicities, namely: Alacalufe, Atacameña, Aymara, Kolla, Mapuche, Rapa Nui, Quechuay Yámana or Yagán.
According to the 2002 census, almost 700,000 people (4.6% of the total population of the country) are recognized as belonging to one of the eight ethnic groups for which the census asks. Of these, 82% assumed the Mapuche identity. Other sources, however, speak of an indigenous population that is around one and a half million people, which represents 10% of the country's total population.
Where the results of the census and the data that other sources may provide, coincide, is that between 70% and 80% of the indigenous population lives in the immediate vicinity of urban centers and in conditions of poverty. Beyond the quantifications and their questionable degrees of precision, what matters to us is that there are, in both territories, groups of people who keep some of the characteristics alive.

Our satellite galaxies
The Magellanic Clouds in the native cultures of the South and in modern science
Danilo Anton

The Magellanic Clouds are perhaps the most peculiar astronomical element of the austral skies and had diverse meanings in the cultures of the Southern lands..
The earliest references to the Magellanic Clouds come from the Khoi San culture of southern Africa which lived relatively isolated for over 100,000 years.
The Australian Aborigins also developed a variety of myths and beliefs about these stellar groups.
The Magellan's Clouds were known to the Polynesians and served as important navigation markers.
They were known by New Zealand Maories (who are also of Polynesian culture) as Nga Patari-Kaihau or as Te Reporepo and were used as predictors of winds.

The Andean and Chaco people pf South Americarecognized the Clouds and identified them as swarms of bees or Algarrobo flour.
In Western Asia the Magellanic Clouds were known in the first millennium. The first surviving mention of the Large Magellanic Cloud is by the Persian astronomer Al Sufi. In 964, in his book of fixed stars, under Argo Navis, he quotes that "others without name have claimed that under Canopus there are two stars known as the "feet of Canopus ", and beneath these there are white stars that are invisible In Iraq and Najd, and that the inhabitants of Tihama call them al-Baqar [cows]. As Ptolemy did not mention them, we do not know whether it is true or false. "

In Sri Lanka, since ancient times, these clouds have been referred to as the Maha Mera Paruwathaya which means "the great mountain", as they look like the peaks of a distant mountain range.
In Europe, the Magellanic Clouds were first observed by Italian explorers Peter Martyr d'Anghiera and Andrea Corsali in the late 15th century. Later, they were reported by Antonio Pigafetta, who accompanied the expedition of Fernando Magallanes in his circumnavigation of the world in 1519-1522.
The name Magellan referred to the Clouds did not become generalized until much later. In the 1756 star map of the French astronomer Lacaille, they are designated as le Grand Nuage and Le Petit Nuage ("The Big Cloud" and "The Little Cloud").
Magellan's Clouds: An Astronomical Mystery
The Magellanic Clouds are two smaller galaxies (10 times smaller than our galaxy: the Milky Way) that appear clearly visible to the naked eye in the night sky of the Southern Hemisphere. They are about 180,000 light years away from our own galaxy and contain several billion stars.
It has been discovered that in their march through the intergalactic station they leave a huge gas stream that encompasses the two "Clouds" (with a length of several hundred million light years. This gas stream is not seen in visible light but has been detected using state-of-the-art radio telescopes. It has also been proven (in principle) that they are not "satellites" of the Milky Way but are only "passing close" on their journey in space between galaxies.
They can be seen facing south, about 20 degrees from the South Pole and relatively close (about 15 degrees) from the star Canopus (Alpha of the Ship) which is the second brightest star in the sky (after Sirius), Also Can be observed by looking to the east of the Cruz del Sur (which has also been incorporated into the indigenous worldview: the "footprint of the ñandú" of some peoples of South America).

Navigators of the Orinoco rapids
Danilo Antón

Guaremo Ye'kwana, known among the criollos as Francisco Díaz, is an expert "conocedor" of the rapid that descend from the   Huachamacare and Duida torrents to feed the short but mighty Cunucunuma River.
With the skillful help of his wife, Guaremo can guide his bongo in the middle of the night, both upstream and downstream, even in the most prolonged drought when the rocky underbelly looms everywhere. He can lift a heavy outboard over his shoulder to avoid waterfalls. He can pull the bongo in the water up to his neck to beat the strongest currents.
The streams of the Baquero or the Picure have seen them go dozens of times, downstream, towards the Orinoco river or upstream towards Culebra.
Guaremo has covered all the rivers in the Alto Orinoco Basin with his bongo. 
It knows the Brazo Casiquiare from beginning to end, from where the waters of the great river reach the land of the Baniva and the Bare in the zone of San Carlos of Río Negro where they deviate towards the south.
Guaremo and his family are Ye'kwana of pure strain, connoisseurs of the rivers and of the rapid-rains, navigators of the waters in the deep jungles of this South American continent, energetic survivor of the great nation of the caribes, who still today occupy the most remote corners of their traditional domains.
At one time, the Caribs were a powerful ethnic group, their bongos and canoes sailed beyond the Orinoco delta, crossed the sea straits, and settled on several islands of the nearby ocean-sea.
Then the invaders came across the seas, captured thousands of Caribs to work on their sugar plantations of Santo Domingo and Cuba, occupied the lands of the coast and cornered them in the most difficult places.
The Carib-Kariña took refuge in the mountains or migrated towards the east, remaining in the Cuyuní valley and other remote areas of the Guayania.
The Ye'kwana traced the rivers to the south, located in the upper basin of Ventuari, Cucunucuma and Caura.
It is in that area that more than 3,000 Ye'kwana survive in some 25 communities.
It is there that they open their conucos, grow their  manioc, they prepare their cassava and fish in the torrents of steep rivers. They are the descendants of the Maquiritare, the "lords of the rivers".
Every time that the bongo of Guaremo manages to descend or to climb the difficult streams of the Cucunucuma it repeats a ceremony of long date.
In the world of the forest, surpassing all the losses and destructions,the Yekwana have managed to survive. In their ancestral territories some of the oldest roots of the American universe still persist.
Extracted from "Chronicles of Human Adventure", Danilo Antón, Piriguazú Editions

Agricultural plantations in Uruguay and surrounding areas

 D.Anton

There is abundant information about the transhumant nature of the peoples of the coasts of Para Guazú (Guaraní name of the Rio de la Plata) before the European invasion.
In referring to the peoples who inhabited the banks of the great river, the Spanish chroniclers repeatedly pointed out that the nations that lived there did not cultivate, which only fed on fishing and hunting, which knew no population or fixed place, That they were nomadic people.
However, in the continent of maize and tobacco, and in an area of ​​easy communication such as the region of Para Guazú, it is unimaginable that there could be people who did not know agriculture.
The European chroniclers, when referring to the productions of several local communities - for example Chandules-Carians-Guaraníes and Chaná-Timbúes - pointed out repeatedly that these were cultivating villages of abati or maize, pumpkin, manioc and other crops. Given the geographical proximity between the aforementioned towns and the Charrúas and other similar nations (they lived in the same area) and their close relations, which were proved by Ulrico Smidtl himself, chronicler of the expedition of Pedro de Mendoza in 1535-15362, They are sure to have frequent contacts, including trade exchange activities. For this reason, there is no doubt that the Charrúas and Miinuanes habitually consumed agricultural products, either planted by their neighbors and obtained through trade or cultivated by themselves. Although there are no specific descriptions of crops in the Charrúas villages, it should not be forgotten that the first contacts of those who kept chronicles took place within a framework of military aggression that prevented us to ascertain precisely how the economy of these native peoples worked. On the other hand, the very fragmentary Spanish version of the original charrú-minuán culture was limited to coastal camps (where fishing was the central activity). It is very likely, as in several towns of Chaco that outside the coast, agriculture is a complementary activity associated with small farms hidden in the mountains, along the annual transhumant itineraries. This was certainly the case in the case of the ancient Gueno-Minuanes communities who, we believe, inhabited the region known today as "Cerritos de Indios" in the Atlantic-Lacunar region.
At the very least, it is certain that agriculture was a secondary activity in almost all peoples. Although in the case of some communities this could be practically nonexistent, in others it was a habitual practice.
In the last years, in the archaeological studies of the "Cerritos de Indios", corn silicofitolites, beetles, squashes and achiras were found, confirming the existence of agricultural activities before the European invasion.

From Amerrique, Orphans of Paradise, Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones.

The Maya people today
D.Anton

During a visit to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, we attended a Mayan ceremony on top a volcano. Today in Guatemala 40% of the population identify themselves as Mayas, over 6 million people. In Mexico the Mayans are concentrated in Chiapas and Yucatan with more than 2 million individuals. There are also numerous Mayan communities in Honduras, Belize and El Salvador. The total population of the Mayan world is approximately 10 million.
It is normally considered that at the time of the Spanish invasion Maya states grouped 12-15,000,000 inhabitants. After the conquest there was high mortality due to the massacres perpetrated by the conquerors (Pedro de Alvarado with indescribable cruelty was one of the main culprits) and the brutal burning of many codices ordered by the Franciscan Bishop Diego de Landa (they contained much of the documentation of this rich culture).
An invaluable cultural and human wealth was lost and millions of Maya died during the colonial period. Beyond death, contempt and forgetting, the Maya have survived preserving their culture and ceremonies. In spite of everything, today the Maya, along with the Quechua in the South, are the largest indigenous ethnic group in the Americas.
D.Antón

Genocide in the far South of America

The decline of the native people of Tierra del Fuego began in the 19th century, and sadly in less than 100 years they were all but gone.  The usual culprits can be blamed – 

(1) disease brought unintentionally by the Europeans, to which the Fuegians had low immunity, 

(2) a decline in the coastal food source, as whalers and sealers decimated marine mammal populations, and 

(3) active extermination of local people, primarily by sheep ranchers who viewed them as a threat to their livestock or way of life. 

According to some sources (not including the Alacaluf ) only one full-blooded Fuegian is living today (from the Yaghan tribe), and only a few thousand people (at most) report to have native heritage in Tierra del Fuego. (RJV)

https://beagleproject.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/introducing-the-people-of-tierra-del-fuego/

The Yaghans. a tough people in a very difficult environment

There are few complete descriptions of this nation, who inhabited the Southern shores, islands and channels of Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) in southern South America. They were eliminated by the Argentine colonization in the late XIX century. Here we include an illustrative description presented in the beagleproject.wordpress site.

"Europeans collectively called these people Fuegians (after their home), however, there were several cultures that could be found in Tierra del Fuego. These included the Ona (Selk’nam), Yaghan (Yámana), Alacaluf (Kawésqar) and Haush (Manek’enk) peoples. Each of these tribes had their own language, though it appeared that some communication occurred between them.  All of the tribes were nomadic hunter-gatherers.

The Ona and Hauch peoples were primarily a land-based people who lived on the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (the largest island in Tierra del Fuego).  Although they overlapped, the Ona were found mostly found on the northern and central parts of the Island , while the Haush primarily on the southeastern coast of the island. Both tribes were primarily hunters and lived off the only real large game on the island – the guanaco (a type of camel – see The Guanaco Family Tree).

The Yaghan were nomadic, coastal, hunter-gatherers who traveled via canoe among the islands of the archipelago.  Due to their home on these southern islands, they are often referred to as the “southernmost people in the world”. Unlike their neighbors to the northeast, the Yaghan primarily hunted marine mammals and fish, and gathered shellfish and other coastal foods. Since there would be a limited amount of food in any one area, they were always moving to a new bay or inlet in order to follow their food source.

The thing that amazed Europeans the most about the Yahgans (and to some degree all the Fuegians) was their adaptations to the cold. Although it rained all the time, and temperatures were often in the 30’s and 40’s, the Yaghan people seemed completely comfortable with virtually no clothes, and often slept in the open and swam in the ocean. I swam in the ocean once in the Gulf of Alaska – I gotta say, it was the coldest water I have ever encountered. And I’ve swam in front of glaciers. It was the Yaghan women who foraged in the ocean – reportedly the men never learned to swim.

Aside from just being more adapted to cold, the Yaghans had several other ways of staying warm.  For example, they reportedly coated themselves in animal grease or paint, and tended to squat on the ground reducing their overall surface area.  In addition, they built shelters (such as the wigwams Darwin observed) and built fires (even in their canoes). It was these fires, along with signal fires used for communication that most likely gave Tierra del Fuego its name. The Alacaluf people consisted of nomadic coastal tribes that had a lifestyle similar to the Yaghans.  They appear to have lived further north, including north of the Straits of Magellan, and (at least for the time being) where not encountered by Darwin. It is difficult to tell which of these cultures Darwin encountered and described un some detail last month in Good Success Bay (see First Contact with the “Fuegians”). The bay is right at the boundary between the Ona and the Haush, but it is a bay, and within the eastern limit of the coastal Yaghan people. The wigwams Darwin encountered to the west of Cape Horn were almost certainly Yaghan dwellings. Distribution of Fuegian people from Charles Wellington Furlong’s 1920 papers in the Proceedings of the Nineteenth International Congress of Americanists. The upper diagram shows the regions inhabited by the Ona (grey) and Haush (black), and the second diagram outlines the coast in bold where the Yaghan and Alacaluf lived.

The decline of the people of Tierra del Fuego began in the 19th century, and sadly in less than 100 years they were all but gone.  The usual culprits can be blamed – (1) disease brought unintentionally by the Europeans, to which the Fuegians had low immunity, (2) a decline in the coastal food source, as whalers and sealers decimated marine mammal populations, and (3) active extermination of local people, primarily by sheep ranchers who viewed them as a threat to their livestock or way of life. According to some sources (not including the Alacaluf ) only one full-blooded Fuegian is living today (from the Yaghan tribe), and only a few thousand people (at most) report to have native heritage in Tierra del Fuego. (RJV)"

From: https://beagleproject.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/introducing-the-people-of-tierra-del-fuego/

Ache Guaraní genocide.

The Ache Guaraní o Guayakí is a ancient ethnic group of the Paraguayan forests. It is threatened by the persecution, discrimination and loss of their ancestral jungle lands. (D.A.)

The following is an article of Survival International  (July 1st,  2014)

"South American tribe sues over historic genocide 

The survivors of a South American tribe which was decimated during the 1950s and 60s are taking Paraguay’s government to court over the genocide they suffered.

The case of the hunter-gatherer Aché tribe, who roamed the hilly forests of eastern Paraguay until being brutally forced out, became notorious in the 1970s.

As the agricultural expansion into eastern Paraguay gathered pace from the 1950s, the Aché found themselves forced to defend their land from an ever-increasing colonist population. These colonists soon started to mount raiding parties to kill the male Aché: women and children were usually captured and sold as slaves.

One of the most notorious hunters of the Aché was Manuel Jesús Pereira, a local landowner. He was an employee of Paraguay’s Native Affairs Department, and his farm was turned into an Aché “reservation”, to which captured Aché were transported. Beatings and rape were common. Countless others died of respiratory diseases. The Director of the Native Affairs Department was a frequent visitor, and also sold Aché slaves himself.

This situation was denounced by several anthropologists in Paraguay, many of whom were deported, or lost their jobs, as a result. It was brought to international attention by German anthropologist Mark Münzel. His 1973 report Genocide in Paraguay, published by the Danish organization IWGIA, documented many of the atrocities committed against the Aché.

Survival International publicized Münzel’s account, and sponsored an investigation by leading international lawyer Professor Richard Arens, who found the situation as bad as others had reported. Many other international organizations, academics and activists denounced the atrocities and called for Paraguay’s government to be held to account, which curbed some of the worst excesses.

However, Paraguay’s then-President, General Alfredo Stroessner, was viewed as a key Western ally in the region. The British, US and West German governments denied that genocide was taking place, and the US authorities sponsored the Harvard-based organization Cultural Survival (CS) to “review the status of indigenous peoples in Paraguay”. Their report to the government was confidential, but a copy was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. CS then published an amended version.

Relying partly on the testimony of Peace Corps volunteer, Kim Hill, it denied that genocide had taken place, and criticized many of those, such as Münzel and Arens, who had brought the Aché’s plight to global attention. US aid to Stroessner’s brutal regime continued.

Now, the survivors of the genocide and their descendants are seeking redress. An Aché organization, the National Aché Federation, has launched a court case in Argentina, with advice from leading human rights lawyer Baltasar Garzón. The Aché are using the legal principle of “universal jurisdiction”, under which the most serious crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity can be tried and punished in a different country to that in which they occurred, if the victims cannot secure justice in their own country.

Ceferino Kreigi, an Aché representative, said, “We’re asking for justice – there was torture, rape, beatings. We can no longer bear the pain we have suffered.”

The Aché’s lawyer, Juan Maira, said, “[The Aché] were hunted as though they were animals, because they wanted to confine them to a ghetto. Once in the reserve, they weren’t allowed to leave. They sold not only the children, but sometimes the women too, as slaves. Perhaps 60% of the population could have been wiped out.”

The Aché’s population is now increasing once more, though their forests have been stolen for cattle ranching and farming, and almost totally destroyed."

The Tupi-Guarani Nations
D.Antón
About 3,000 years ago the Tupi-Guarani ethnic groups expanded across the tropical and subtropical forests of the east and southeast of the South American continent. The Spanish and Portuguese invaders called them "Guarani" in the southeastern regions  (current states of Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catarina and Mato Grosso do Sul, in Brazil, eastern Paraguay and the provinces of Misiones and Corrientes in Argentina, and  "Tupi" along the Atlantic coast of Brazil where they occupied discontinuously the coastal territory North to the mouth of the Amazon River.

While it is difficult to  accurately estimate the total Tupi-Guarani population, they were probably several millions, perhaps more than ten millions spread through about 5-6 million square kilometers.
Locally the tupi-guaraní societies were composed of many communities, some of which were very numerous (perhaps up to several tens of thousands).
The Tupinamba, who inhabited the Atlantic coastal areas, were described by the Portuguese invaders and their language served as a basis for the lingua franca of Brazil during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries .
Another important group were the Carios, who inhabited the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, the "Chiriguanos" (or "Ava Guarani ') on the eastern slopes and foothills of the highlands plateau (present Bolivia),  the Parana Delta Guarani (Chandules), the Tupinikin and Potiguara the northeastern coast of Brazil today, the Cocamas, the Ñengatús and the Omaguas in the Amazon, among others.
Tupi-Guarani communities lived in villages consisting of several longhouses, which were used for years until the termites or other causes of degradation determined their abandonment. At that time they moved to another place, where established a new village and "opened" terrain for new crops in clearings."Abandoned" areas gradually reintegrated to the jungle ecosystem.
The Tupi-Guarani longhouses, were large, housed a set of "extended" families, sleeping in hammocks in the large huts.
From the productive point of view, Tupi-Guarani were farmers and fishermen. They also hunted  and gathered in the rich forest environment.  They navigated rivers, lakes and coastal waters and traded in long canoes built from large hollow logs.

The Tupi-Guarani were warring nations and periodically fought their neighbors, leading to numerous conflicts between communities. The war caused many deaths, usually men, who perished in the actions themselves, or after being taken prisoners, executed and eaten ritually. The lack of men favored polygamous practices. The chiefs could choose second or third wives divorcing their first ones.  In turn, the widowed or divorced wives, would instructed younger men on sexual and family issues.

The traditional Guarani culture was (and still is) deeply spiritual. It manifests itself mainly through its  his ñande reko or "way of being", which was a full expression of their identity, which could be ñande reko katu (way of being authentic and true) and ñande marangatu reko (way of being virtuous). The Tupi-Guarani religious thought is structured around the search for the "land without evil". In that sense it is a "moving" village, and at the same time possesses a worldview rooted in nature.
Tupi-Guarani nations deeply suffered the conquest and the population declined sharply everywhere. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people were enslaved, especially to work in the sugar cane plantations of northeastern Brazil. Another important part of the population was "reduced" in religious missions, losing much of their ancestral religion and customs. Millions died from disease and repressive wars imposed on them by the Portuguese and Spanish invaders.
However,  many Tupi-Guarani communities  survived migrating and hiding deep in the jungle territories.

At present the Tupi-Guarani native world is constituted by several surviving nations: the Kaiová-Pai Tavytera  in Mato Grosso and Paraguay, Ava Chiripá en Paraguay, Mbya guarani in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay, Ava Guarani or Chiriguanos in the current departments of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca and Tarija (Bolivia) and Salta, Argentina, and the Tapieté and Guarayos in the Chaco region (especially in western Paraguay and southeastern Bolivia). There are also several surviving Tupi communities in the Amazon region and in isolated spots along the Atlantic coast of Brazil.
From the book "First Nations of the South", D.Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

The tobacco plant: vindicating its historical native American roots

D.Anton

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum and related species) is a native plant of America (probably originated in the Andean tropical zone), which since the colonization of the continent, has become one of the most widespread crops of the world.

In most Native American cultures the tobacco plant was considered a medicine. It is employed as a healing, ceremonial and visionary substance. It was (is) aspired, chewed, eaten, drank in infuss}uibs, smeared on the body, used as eyedrops and for the application of enemas. It was blown on the face of warriors before battle, was spread on fields before planting, was offered to the Gods, was poured on women before intercourse, and both men and women used it as a narcotic. Charrúas and minuanes of Uruguay smoked tobacco before making important decisions. Among the Guarani M'bya, during ceremonies and meetings, the women throw tobacco smoke on their husbands and children to give them strength. The native peoples of North America use it to ritually enforce their agreements by smoking in pipes and to communicate with their ancestors.

The properties of the various varieties of wild and traditional tobacco plants are multiple and partially known. It is known that tobacco is smoked by the shamans to find answers allowing them to heal the sick or make important decisions in some native communities. The Charruas of Uruguay smoked tobacco before going into battle. Among the Guarani M'bya, during ceremonies and meetings, women throw tobacco smoke on their husbands and children to give them strength.

Amazonian peoples, as well as smoking it and using the leaves for medicinal purposes, swallowed whole or crushed leaves in order to obtain visionary experiences. In this regard, their role is very similar to the psychoactive effect of ayahuasca, There is general agreement among the native shamans that tobacco is the "little sister" of ayahuasca.

The medicinal use of tobacco did not spread in the same way as its recreational use

It was adopted by the Europeans colonists , who quickly became fervent addicts. The custom spread to the European continent and from there to the rest of the world.

It became an industrial product of widespread consumption. Some varieties were specially selected, mainly because their low nicotine varieties (which increases their addictivity),

The sad paradox is that one of the main medicinal plants of Native America became a health problem for million of people throughtout the world. 

Reproduced from "Peoples, Drugs and Serpents", Danilo Anton, Piriguazú Ediciones.

Argentinian founding father recast as genocidal murderer

It was NOT the War of the Desert (La Guerra del Desierto)

The so-called "War of the Desert" was not a war in the "desert". At that time (around 1880) in Northern Patagonia and Southern Pampas, there were many organized communities and a population of several hundred thousands from coast to coast (Atlantic to Pacific oceans). and even a sovereign mapuche state recognized by several governments in the world: "la Confederación de Salinas Grande" (Confederation of Large Salt Plains). The "Confederación" was invaded, the Argentinean army (and the Chilean army on the other side of the Andes range also) took the land and thousands of mapuches were killed or made prisoners. In that way, using indiscriminated violence, the Argentinean government extended its domain to the "Patagonia" region. 

Follows an interesting article from The Guardian.

D.Anton

"Julio Argentino Roca being removed from banknotes and street names for alleged role in exterminating indigenous culture 

Reproduced from The Guardian

For a century it was a name to inspire schoolchildren: Julio Argentino Roca, the military hero and statesman who tamed Patagonia's wilderness and madeArgentina a modern nation.

He was George Washington and Abraham Lincoln rolled into one, a founding father who gazed from banknotes, adorned plinths and

gave his name to avenues from Buenos Aires to Santa Cruz.

But maybe not for much longer. Avenues are being renamed and there is a campaign to topple the former president's statues, erase him from banknotes and teach children a new version: that Roca was a genocidal murderer who brought shame to Argentina.

The man portrayed for generations as a talented visionary has been recast, according to revisionist history, as a villain who exterminated indigenous communities and their culture from much of South America.

Critics say his "conquest of the desert", once hailed for uniting Argentina and rebuffing Chile in 1878-79, was a barbaric campaign which bathed the nascent state in innocent blood.

Writers, academics and indigenous groups are lobbying for Roca, an army general who served as president from 1880-86 and 1898-1904, to be branded a criminal who slaughtered Indians and shared out their land with cronies.

In recent weeks, two cities – Santa Cruz and Tucumán – have renamed Julio Argentino Roca avenues after Néstor Kirchner, a former president who died in October aged 60. His wife and successor, Cristina, has supported the prosecution of more recent human rights abusers from the 1970s dictatorship.

The renamings followed other initiatives to remove Roca from the 100 peso note and to swap a statue in Buenos Aires with a towering 10-metre bronze figure of an indigenous woman. A leading writer and historian, Osvaldo Bayer, said he felt ashamed every time he passed Roca's statue.

Leftwing blogs have taken up the cause. "A big sector of Argentinian society denies there was a genocide. Modern Argentina is built on that negation, the mother of all repressions."

The row echoes debates across Latin America over whether to celebrate or lament the arrival of Christopher Columbus and European settlers. Several countries have renamed 12 October as indigenous day rather than Columbus day and rehabilitated indigenous rebels as patriots.

Roca, born in 1843 to a prominent family in northern Argentina, rose up the army ranks and was tasked with quelling indigenous resistance in the pampas and Patagonia, a vast wilderness which the government wanted to settle with immigrant European farmers lest Chile gobble it up.

Roca's 6,000-strong cavalry force crushed Mapuche and other Indian groups, killing more than 1,000 and capturing thousands more who became servants or prisoners and were prevented from having children. Campaign dispatches depicted them as barely human.

White settlers turned the conquered lands into a breadbasket which made Argentina an agricultural superpower and a confident, thrusting nation in the early 20th century.

Some academics have defended Roca's treatment of indigenous people. Juan José Cresto, a director of the national history museum, said the Indians were violent parasites who attacked farms and kidnapped women. The historian was branded a racist and lost his post.

In a separate incident, a history teacher was removed from her post in Pampa province for telling a radio station that Roca deserved praise for putting Indians to flight and opening Argentina's frontier to European settlers.

Néstor Torres, the province's education minister, said such views should not be transmitted to children. "The thought worries us."

 The Guardian, Rory  Carroll, January 13, 2011

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/13/argentinian-founding-father-genocide-row
It is recommended to read the book "Amerrique, the Orphans of Paradise", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu ediciones.

Imperial powers introduced property, money and greed in native America.

The destruction of real Utopias

Danilo Anton
When Pedro Alvares Cabral and his expedition came to America in April 22, 1500, the territory that later would be called Brazil, the first European contact with the Tupi coastal towns took place. The chronicler of the expedition, Pero Vaz de Caminha, left a vivid account of his experiences in a letter to King Manoel I of Portugal where he told the monarch the unusual features of the recently contacted peoples. In that country they men and women lived naked, without shame, healthy, acting spontaneousl.. It caught the attention of Caminha that although these people had none of the European crops and animals were "... stronger and better fed than us in all wheat and vegetables we eat ...". And then: "They are very well kept and very clean and remind me that the birds and wild animals, to which the air gives better plumage and skin that domesticated. Their bodies are so clean and so beautiful fleshy and could not ask for more." Besides clean and healthy they were generally described as very friendly and hospitable.

Meanwhile, Alberico Vespucci, the famous Florentine geographer, in his letters, was astonished at the freedom and innocence in native American societies   He noted that those societies knew no private property or money, and that they shared everything in common. They lived in a complete moral and social freedom, and communities worked harmoniously without kings, religion, temples, palaces or ídols.
John Hemmings says that the enthusiasm with which the native American communities, living prosperously without kings and churches, was something subversive in absolutist European societies . In 1500, Pietro Martire d'Anghiera said that among Native Americans, "the land belongs to all, like the sun and water. Mine and yours, which are the seeds of all evil do not exist for these people. They live in a golden age, and not surrounding their properties with ditches, walls or hedges. They live in open gardens, without laws or books, no judges, and naturally seek goodness hateful considering who is corrupt himself practicing evil ".
Magalhaes of Gandavo offers the following description: "In each house they live together in harmony without dissension between them. They are so friendly with one another that what belongs to one belongs to all. When one has something to eat, no matter how little, they share all their neighbors. "
The stories of the new companies began circulating in Europe. A paradise world had been discovered where nature had not been subdued, without kings, no slavery, no poverty, no pests, where there was no money, where all women and men were free and equal.
The logic of Native Americans was rigorous. A native old man asked Count Jean de Lery , "Why do you, French and Portuguese, come so far to find wood for heating? They do not have enough wood in your country? "Lery said that the wood was used to burn but to make tinctures, like they did. The old man continued, "I guess they need lots of it ..." The French responded effectively needed much, and that a trader could buy many crowded boats, and also had a host of other goods. The old man was thinking, and thought: "this very rich man, which you tell me ... do not you die? "..." If you die like all other people. " "And when you die ... what about things that leave?" ... "It's for their children or relatives ..." said Lery. The old man thought and then declared: "Now I see that you French are big crazy. Cross the sea and suffer great inconvenience, as we are told, work very hard to accumulate wealth for your children and relatives ... Did the earth that nourishes them, not enough to feed them too ?. We have, parents, and children whom we love. But we are sure that after our death the land that nurtured us we also feed them. Therefore we need not worry. "

The first chroniclers also noted the healthy life of the American people. References abound about the longevity of Americans. According to Vespucci, came to 150 years, Pigafetta, member of the expedition of Magallanes, stated that they could live 125 to 140 years. Jean de Lery himself attributed to the Tupinambá Guanabara a life expectancy of 100-120 years. Years later Jesuit Fernao Cardim said that the population of Piratininga (Sao Paulo) was full of old people over 100 years.
From: "Amerrique, the Orphans of Paradise", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones-

Europe is not the West, the West is Amerrique

The invaders came from the East

D.Anton

European invaders who arrived from the East to Amerrique they used to call themselves "Westerners". It is an old hisstory that had taken place over a millennium. When the European Roman Empire was divided into two, the Oriental half was called East and the Occidental  West. At the time, Western Europeans thought they were the Westernmost peoples of the world.

For that reason and some others too numerous to list here, Western Europeans were accustomed to call themselves "Westerners". But this was not true. Far to the west, very far away, in the direction of the setting sun, across the ocean, there were hundreds of nations as old or even older than most European countries. Europeans did not know, but in the remote and real West there was a huge friendly and prodigal continent:  Amerrique.

Even crawling on the top of the highest mountains in Haiti or Cuba it is not possible to see the Eastern shore of the Sea-Ocean. For a long time most of the people who inhabited the coasts of Amerrique were not concerned with the possible existence of other people across the sea. Probably because of that they did not think not to cross the ocean to go and find them. For many years, perhaps more than three hundred thirty three generations, Amerricans and European remain isolated to each other with little or no contact between them.

But one autumn night in the Amerrican Lucayan archipelago, the islanders perceived the appearance of three large canoes, very different from their own, from where some strange men came ashore. They wore rare costumes and their language was incomprehensible.

They finally learned that the newcomers came from a continent that was beyond the sea to the East, which they called Europe.

Amerrique is the true Western World. The continent of the eagle, the toucan and the condor. The land of avati, of the beans and cassava, the inmense continent of llamas and turkeys, home to prosperous nations and very ancient wisdom, full of powerful gods and essential spirits.. Although Europeans, and many people that are not, say that Europe is the Western World, this is not accurate. For Amerrican people, Europe is in the direction where the sun rises. The ships of the invaders came from the East. And to the Levant they took gold and riches.

The New World is not new.it Is old. It is as old as the knowledge of nature that pervades. It is a continent where a great diversity of peoples have coexisted for a long time. For centuries and millennia Amerrican women and men learned through countless experiences and the elders taught many things young people.

This ancient Western world is the Mother Earth Mother for all its peoples. It is made of infinite places and times. In its landscapes the past permeates every breeze. The youth of today should know that they live in the Land of Many Names. It is the Turtle Island, the Land-where-the-wind-blows, Abya Yala, the home of the qwani and Kurupí, the Nuke-Mapu of the peoples of South.  and once for all it is our Amerrique .

From "Amerrique, the Orphans of Paradise", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

Native nations do not have real political rights

Today in America there are more than 40 independent countries but not a single native nation has been able to preserve its sovereignty.

Danilo Antón

Today we can hardly realize how far we've come. The  territorial countries of the American continent have stabilized, they are globally recognized, nobody dares to reject their sovereignty. The Canadian government is authorized to speak on behalf of the Inuit and Haida, the government of the United States can proudly say that the ancient Cheroki country is now divided into states and counties, as well as the ancestral lands of the Cheyenne, Lakota and Iroquois. With the old name of Mexico, which conceals an oppressive reality the ideological descendants of the Spanish colonial control the government, the economy and the culture, keeping in the ostracism the remaining First Nations in the country. Many still speak Nahuatl but its use is relegated to the most isolated and poorest sectors of the Mexican highlands. The Maya of Chiapas and Yucatan continue to suffer discrimination, living a long exile in their own land. Other Maya, together with the Lenca and Guaymi remain ignored and relegated in Central America without their nationalities recognized as such.

Nation of the Alto Orinoco basin, Jibi, Yekwana and Yanomami, among others, suffer the aggressive character of the new colonization. The Amazon is a theater of imperial advances disguised as "economic growth". Several countries control the Amazon but nobody gave them the right to do it. The took it by force or as a legacy of European colonialism.

The control of these territories is based solely on the brute force that European imperial nations exercised for centuries by their own choice and discretion. Today these-territorial states are simply heirs of that history of abuse. Spain, Portugal, England, France and Holland invaded, occupied, enslaved, killed, raped, robbed and then established legal systems based precisely on that terrible legacy of violence and disrespect.

They introduced the property of the land, but they don't allowed to give it to the native peoples who inhabited ir for millennia. Instead, they are thoroughly devoted to divide the territory  among themselves, systematically eliminating its legitimate occupants or simply forcing them to remain as slave labor in the new parcels, plantations, farms and mines. Most of the current owners of American land base their right in this fraudulent origin.

Along with the land, the invaders seized the workforce of indigenous peoples. They were forced to serve the tyrannical foreign masters. Many of these nations enjoyed a wide individual freedom unknown in Europe. In a few decades of foreign domination would end it.

We are born free and united brothers, each is as lord as the other, while you are all servants of one man. I am the master of my body, I have myself, I do what I want, I am the first and the last of my nation .... subject only to the Great Spirit 1.

1 Explanation to give a ferret Baron Lahontan, referred to by J.Weatherford, Indian Givers, p.123

From Amerrique, Orphans Paraiso, Danilo Antón, Piriguazú Editions

How native-americans communicated through long distances

Language  of smoke signals

 D.Antón

 In America, many forms of communication were developed over long distances, many of which went unnoticed or were underestimated by Europeans. One of the main forms of long-distance communication were smoke signals. Peoples all over the continent developed a language based on fire and smoke that allowed them to communicate over great distances. The existence of this system was not lost on many chroniclers, which although never understood the meaning of this translinguistic language, they knew it was a very valuable tool in the hands of the nations of North America.

The existence of such a system was also identified in South America. An example of this occurred when ships arrived at Rio de la Plata, in the Spanish expedition of Sebastian Gaboto that was in Paraguay, more than a thousand kilometers away, they learned their arrival in a few days (ref.Anibal Barrios Pintos). Other exampleS were the large quantities of smoke signals (messages) that were perceived in South America, particularly in the Tierra del Fuego, by the first explorers, from which it derives its name.

Over time, this system was caricatured in films about "Indians" and cartoons. However, beyond cartoons and frivoliries, smoke communication was one of the most effective systems of intercultural communication that existed in native American human societies.

From: Amerrique, the Orphans of Paradise, Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones