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 April 5, more than 600 members of the Bari, Yukpa, and Wayu indigenous peoples from the westernmost region of Venezuela gathered in the capital of Caracas to protest coal mining in the Sierra de Perij mountain range and the Guajira peninsula. The indigenous protesters were joined by environmentalists, civil society groups, political organizations, and non-governmental organizations who said the mines are negatively impacting the land and its inhabitants.