Andrea Sanz Yus and Núria Morchón
Santiago de Chile, June 21 (EFE).- While indigenous groups pursue their political, linguistic, educational and territorial rights, women and the LGBTIQ+ community face their own struggles in the only country in Latin America that does not recognize indigenous peoples in the Constitution.
“Today’s patriarchy is totally capitalist because there is always abuse of the weak,” the Atacama artist, Sandra Durán, told EFE, who exalts the role of women within the northern Andean communities.
“The woman is the one who actually imposes herself to resist and order the family. In the towns, from what I have seen, she is the one who leads the communities,” Durán said about the importance of the matriarch in maintaining the traditions of indigenous peoples.
Regarding the LGBTIQ+ group, Juan Huarancca, a member of the Quechua community, explained to EFE that although there is a large population of the group among the Andeans, discrimination in the cities is “very strong” because they are not only people from the group, but also “ They are indigenous.”
“Some of them resort to prostitution out of necessity, because they see no other way to get work and because they are not allowed,” Huarancca declared and called for the cohesion of the aboriginal population with the group through his own worldview on sensitivity to the other, as with nature.
“It is understanding sexual diversity from our own worldview as Andeans, and from there I believe we can understand and remove the prejudices that we have or that certain countrymen may have regarding these sexual identities that may exist within our own communities,” he concluded. .
“At what point is everything going to collapse?” Durán asked himself, after explaining that it is women who “become aware” of the planet that is being left for their children while ensuring that children do not forget their ancestors or “the worldview.” that unites all peoples.”
Education is a very important element for the communities of the Andes, since the way to maintain their culture is through lessons about their indigenous culture and the Andean language of each people that is disappearing at an increasingly faster rate.
On the other hand, Huarancca, proudly described that the most special characteristic of the Andean people, which they also share with other indigenous peoples, is the way in which they observe the world: “In our case, we conceive the land and nature as part of of us, and us as part of it.”
The lack of recognition of the indigenous population within the Chilean Constitution is described by Huarancca as “regrettable”, since the fact that a country does not recognize a certain cultural group means that the priorities “are not on the side of the population”. but from other factors far from the needs that society may have.
The indigenous peoples of Chile celebrated the National Day of Indigenous Peoples this Thursday, one more year as the only country in Latin America that does not recognize them in its Constitution.
According to data from the International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), a global human rights organization, in the 2017 census, 12.8% of the population identified as indigenous.
However, the “Indigenous Law” in Chile has not been modified, despite the urgent need to bring it into line with international standards, according to the IWGIA. EFE
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