'Cycle of violence' and 'silent genocide' accompany denial of indigenous territorial rights in Venezuela

The recent assassination of a Yukpa leader demanding recognition of his people's rights to their lands in the Sierra de Perijá in western Venezuela has been denounced by the Yukpa and by concerned academics who note that the worsening situation is a result of the government's refusal to recognise indigenous peoples' rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Read the statement by the Yukpa to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York here in English or in Spanish.

Click here to read the statement by Venezuela academics (in Spanish only).