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Byron Tenesaca Guaman (Kañari Kichwa), Fellowships Coordinator, is from Guapondelig situated in Kañari territory (also known today as Cuenca) in the southern Andes of Ecuador. Byron comes to Cultural Survival after serving as a Bilingual Cultural Arts Educator, Hiset Instructor, Interpreter, and Programs Manager in North Carolina. A certified K-12 Art Instructor, Byron holds a Master’s degree in Comprehensive Education with a focus in Studio Art from Western Carolina University. As an educator, Byron weaves his identities of visual artist, basket maker, immigrant, storyteller, and father to create spaces for creativity, curiosity, reflection, healing, and empowerment in our youth. He’s passionate about using art and creativity as tools for amplifying our Indigenous voices and finding solutions to current issues facing our communities. Byron recently moved back to his community in the Andes to work on documentation and youth empowerment projects in the arts and crafts. Contact Byron at byron.tenesaca@culturalsurvival.org.

By Kajkoj Máximo Ba Tiul (Maya Poqomchí')

Guatemala: Years of Contempt and Abandonment

Guatemala has a population of close to 18 million inhabitants, mostly Indigenous, although the last census reported the population at 40 percent. The Indigenous population is made up of four Nations known as the Maya, Xinka, Garifuna, and Ladino Peoples. The Maya Nation is the largest, with 23 distinct Peoples. This composition of its inhabitants makes Guatemala a plurinational country.

By Phoebe Farris (Powhatan-Pamunkey)

The Pocahontas Reframed Film Festival held its annual celebration of Indigenous film in Richmond, Virginia, from November 17-19, 2023, amplifying the contributions of Native Americans, First Nations, and Indigenous Peoples around the globe in local, independent, nonprofit, and commercial film. Its films, panel discussions, and Q&As showcased stories and stimulated deep conversations that are at once relevant to specific Indigenous lives and all of humanity.

Chile is the only country in South America that does not recognize Indigenous Peoples in its constitution, so it should not be a surprise that it has failed to adequately align its national legislation with international standards for the protection of their rights. One of its most evident failures has been the absence of respect for the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of Indigenous Peoples living in lithium mining and exploration areas.

By Jonathan González Quiel

Before narrating the latest events on the anti-mining struggle, it is relevant to clarify that we are not a mining country, despite the fact that during the time of the colony and the Spanish subjugation, some gold mines were established with the same logic of extractivist dispossession of a foreign power.

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