On Sunday, August 31st, Venezuelan President Chavez’s Plan Zamora began a process that will see thousands of hectares of land returned to indigenous hands. Plan Zamora has been lauded by indigenous activist throughout the Americas and some of South America’s most important indigenous activist groups, including representatives of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) and the Sin Tierra (“Without Land”) movement in Brazil, were in attendance. Just days before ceremony, indigenous rights lawyer Joe Castillo was gunned down by masked men and indigenous groups took time to honor his memory.
