Indigenous representatives across Latin America demanded Thursday to be integrated into discussions on poverty and development as part of a the Congress of Indigenous American Parliamentarians, hosted this week in Panama.
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The conference featured representatives from 18 countries, including Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay and Venezuela.
"Without the participation of the indigenous populations, poverty will not be eradicated," said Ausencio Palacio, president of the Indigenous Parliament of Latin America.
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Palancio added that “another kind of roadmap is important for our participation to be effective." Moreover, she continued, we must be "actors in the projects to be carried out.”
The congress, established in 1988, will adopt resolutions on the issue, as well as on the environment, sustainable development and political participation of indigenous women.
About 50 million people in the Americas identify as indigenous, 90 percent of which live in Latin America.