Ambassador: Venezuela backs Caricom's call for reparations, apology

Venezuela's ambassador to TT Alvaro Sanchez Cordero, says that country fully supports the Caricom ten-point plan including demands for a full formal apology from the former European empires for the native genocide and chattel slavery.

He added that the South American country also supports the call for funding by these former colonial powers to establish an Indigenous Peoples Development Programme.

"In this regard, we call on the global community to recognise the success of our constitutional commitment and join us in demanding that those who profited from the original crimes – the European states – finally pay their due," Cordero said.

Newsday contacted the ambassador on October 7. He shared remarks he delivered at the Indigenous People Conference on October 6 at the Nalis public library in La Horquetta, during the opening ceremony of the two-day event. Cordero also expressed Venezuela's support and solidarity with the people of Palestine.

"Just as we have spoken about the genocide committed against indigenous people centuries ago, we must equally raise our voices against the genocide currently taking place by the US and Israeli governments against the Palestinian people. Such a massacre must cease," he said

The theme of the conference was: Celebrating the resilience of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean: Advocating for reparations for native genocide and enslavement.

The conference was a collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, the Caribbean Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (COIP), the Caricom Reparations Commission, and the Santa Rosa First Peoples community.

Cordero said Venezuela stands in unwavering solidarity with the Caribbean Reparatory Justice Programme.

"We therefore recognise that the search for justice is indivisible. The legacy of the transatlantic slave trade cannot be separated from the initial, brutal native genocide and centuries of colonial resource extraction that blemished our Americas, the Abia-Yala."

He explained that for over two decades, Venezuela worked to close the historical gap between constitutional recognition and lived reality for its indigenous people.

These include the Wayuu, Yanomami, Kariña, Pemón, and the Warao – the latter community which is found in both Venezuela and Trinidad. Venezuela is home to over 50 other indigenous nations. "The only way to demand justice globally is to first enact it at home," he said.

"Our journey of internal reparations, known as the Bolivarian Revolution, is a model for decolonisation, restoring the dignity and sovereignty of the original inhabitants of our land."

Cordero said while previous Venezuelan governments maintained a complicitg silence on colonialism, the 1999 Bolivarian Constitution was revolutionary in its recognition of indigenous rights.

"For the first time in our history, the rights of indigenous peoples were elevated to a complete chapter, fundamentally transforming the Venezuelan State into a pluricultural and multilingual nation."

He also outlined key constitutional provisions in Venezuela, including the Ancestral Territorial Rights and the Cultural and Linguistic Sovereignty.

He also recalled that deceased former president Hugo Chávez replaced "the humiliating" Day of the Race with the Day of Indigenous Resistance on October 12, 2002.

The day now honours the centuries of struggle led by indigenous heroes like Cacique Guaicaipuro and Cacica Apacuana.

"The political recognition was immediately followed by dedicated social action. In 2003, Commander Chávez launched Mission Guaicaipuro, a comprehensive social programme specifically designed to address the historical debt and advance reparations by restoring rights, lands, and culture," he said.

Mission Guaicaipuro has been instrumental in accelerating land titling.

"We have delivered communal land titles to hundreds of communities, reversing centuries of dispossession and affirming collective property rights as mandated by Article 119," the ambassador said.

The programme also integrated indigenous communities into Venezuela national social protection system, including permanent public health services, and bilingual literacy programmes.

"The contemporary challenges faced by our Indigenous communities are the direct consequence of European conquest and the ongoing threat of neo-colonial exploitation," Cordero said.

"The primary debt of reparations is not owed internally. It is owed by the historical colonial powers to the Indigenous and African descendants of the entire American continent."

He concluded with a quote from liberator Simón Bolívar, who said, "If there is no liberty for all, there cannot be liberty for anyone."

Dr Claudius Fergus, chair of the National Committee on Reparations, gave an overview of the conference.

Greetings were also delivered by Chief Ricardo Bharath Hernandez of the Santa Rosa First Peoples, and Cacica Anicia Benjamin of the Warao nation of TT.

Representatives from Indigenous groups across the Caribbean, including Dominica, Barbados, Belize, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Bonaire, also gave remarks.