Letter To Paula Palmer, Global Response Program Director:

By this letter we want to thank you and recognize the valuable collaboration that you and your organization, Global Response, have given in the international campaign ?No Coal Mining? in the Perija Mountains and in indigenous territories of the Wayuu, Yukpa and Bari peoples of Zulia State in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Victory!

VENEZUELA- After more than a year of intense pressure, on March 21 President Chavez issued a Presidential Decree that no new coal mines will be built in the Sierra de Perija, and no expansion will be permitted in existing coal mines. "By saying today 'Not one more mine in Zulia state,' president Hugo Chavez brings back hope for the future of the indigenous peoples of the Sierra de Perija and for life itself," said the Wayuu and Yukpa communities in a press release.

We denounce the forced relocation of indigenous families from their traditional lands at the hands of the Venezuelan government and the multi-national coal corporations.

On March 15, the United Nations General Assembly voted 170–4 to create a new Human Rights Council, effectively dissolving the oft-criticized Commission on Human Rights. Candidates for the Council will need to be elected by an absolute majority of 96 votes in order to secure a position, and once elected members can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.

On October 28, Venezuela will distribute 28 different indigenous language textbooks to indigenous schools throughout the country. According to Prensa Latina, the coordinator of the Ministry of Indigenous Education, Jorge Pocaterra, said the books will be published in Currico, Guarikena, Yekuana, Piaroa, Vare, Pari, Yupka, Wayuú, Guarao and Kariña languages. There are approximately 540,000 indigenous people living in Venezuela who speak 34 languages.