10.13.2005
The Missionary Position
The Revealer reports on a BBC article about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's recent threat to expel the US missionary group New Tribes Mission. Chavez claims that the missionary group has been making illegal flights and is living in opulent camps among the extreme poverty of struggling indigenous areas of Venezuela.
"This is an irreversible decision that I have made. We don't want the New Tribes here. Enough colonialism! Let them gather their stuff... because the so-called New Tribes are going from here, from every last corner." - Hugo Chavez
New Tribes Mission is trying to be diplomatic over the announcement:
"We are confident that President Chavez wants the best for the people of Venezuela. New Tribes Mission considers it a privilege to have served the indigenous people of Venezuela for the past 59 years. We deeply desire to be able to continue serving them."
While some are pointing to Pat Robertson's idiotic remarks for this recent decision to eject New Tribes, in reality Robertson's remarks have only re-opened old wounds in Venezuela. Nikolas Kozloff of The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, has a in-depth article on the history of New Tribes in Venezuela. That history includes charges of espionage, ethnocide, and trying to create an independent State within the State.
"In late 1976, Carlos Azpurua released a new 18 minute short film, 'I Speak To Caracas.' The film featured the historian and shaman of the Yecuana people, Barne Yavari, who tells the camera, 'They [the missionaries] prohibit all our customs - our drinks, our mythology, music and our form of life. I don't mean that no North American has helped me spiritually. We don't need spiritual help because we have our religion.'"
By reading the report it becomes clear that this isn't a normal "winning souls for Jesus" organization.
...a senior National Guard officer in Amazonas who had independently conducted surveillance of New Tribes, found that the evangelical group had not remained in its own demarcated jurisdiction, nor had it complied with Venezuelan aeronautical regulations. Rather, it apparently had conducted scientific espionage on behalf of transnational companies, had tried to impersonate Venezuelan military officers by appearing in their uniforms when meeting with the Indians, and had even attempted to bribe military authorities."
Many in Venezuela have long called for the expulsion of New Tribes who they see as a colonialist effort trying to undermine Venezuelan independence. Even if this is political grandstanding on the part of Chavez it is clear that New Tribes has a long and murky history of decidedly un-Christian activity. That this move will benefit local tribes suffering under New Tribe's ongoing ethnocide is only a bonus.
The Revealer reports on a BBC article about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's recent threat to expel the US missionary group New Tribes Mission. Chavez claims that the missionary group has been making illegal flights and is living in opulent camps among the extreme poverty of struggling indigenous areas of Venezuela.
"This is an irreversible decision that I have made. We don't want the New Tribes here. Enough colonialism! Let them gather their stuff... because the so-called New Tribes are going from here, from every last corner." - Hugo Chavez
New Tribes Mission is trying to be diplomatic over the announcement:
"We are confident that President Chavez wants the best for the people of Venezuela. New Tribes Mission considers it a privilege to have served the indigenous people of Venezuela for the past 59 years. We deeply desire to be able to continue serving them."
While some are pointing to Pat Robertson's idiotic remarks for this recent decision to eject New Tribes, in reality Robertson's remarks have only re-opened old wounds in Venezuela. Nikolas Kozloff of The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, has a in-depth article on the history of New Tribes in Venezuela. That history includes charges of espionage, ethnocide, and trying to create an independent State within the State.
"In late 1976, Carlos Azpurua released a new 18 minute short film, 'I Speak To Caracas.' The film featured the historian and shaman of the Yecuana people, Barne Yavari, who tells the camera, 'They [the missionaries] prohibit all our customs - our drinks, our mythology, music and our form of life. I don't mean that no North American has helped me spiritually. We don't need spiritual help because we have our religion.'"
By reading the report it becomes clear that this isn't a normal "winning souls for Jesus" organization.
...a senior National Guard officer in Amazonas who had independently conducted surveillance of New Tribes, found that the evangelical group had not remained in its own demarcated jurisdiction, nor had it complied with Venezuelan aeronautical regulations. Rather, it apparently had conducted scientific espionage on behalf of transnational companies, had tried to impersonate Venezuelan military officers by appearing in their uniforms when meeting with the Indians, and had even attempted to bribe military authorities."
Many in Venezuela have long called for the expulsion of New Tribes who they see as a colonialist effort trying to undermine Venezuelan independence. Even if this is political grandstanding on the part of Chavez it is clear that New Tribes has a long and murky history of decidedly un-Christian activity. That this move will benefit local tribes suffering under New Tribe's ongoing ethnocide is only a bonus.
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