We suffer the consequences
of the wrongly called "civilization"

Mamo Dwinimaku (Manuel Chaparro)

This is not a fancy of we Mamos. We inherited it; it is imprinted in the ancient lore of the four tribes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The kankuamo have their own system of authority; the Kogi have theirs, as well as the Arzario; and we, the vintukua or arhuaco have our own system, based on the wisdom that the Mamos have been impressing upon us for millenia.

As far back as I can recall, no one of us was literate, nor had any aquaintance with universities, schools or any kind of educational center. On the contrary, at that time nobody could read. But our authorities, our organization, walked in harmony. There was more respect for all things; internal rules were obeyed; we offered our "pagamentos" in the proper way; there was more reverence in them, more respect.

That is what we do not see now. Instead of growing strong through the Mamos thought, it seems they are going further and further away from our wisdom; and that is what worries me at this moment.

We, as I see things today, together with our thought and identity, have been castrated since the moment the Spaniards knew of our existence here in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. That is why this spanish mentality did not bring us natives any good. On the contrary, it brought us the knowledge of disintegration, of our loss of identity, religious sense, and respect for nature. The rules of the game that our ancestors left us were changed. And they were humble, wise, and practical; and the rules of the game were changed for rules of want that distort our wisdom, change our customs, even the way we address our elders was changed. In short, there is a total mutilation of our wisdom.

This is what has been happening until now. That harmful effect was first suffered by the kankuamo, and that harmful effect on the kankuamo affected a part of our territory too. We arhuaco suffered it painfully as well; particularly since 1916, when the Capuchin friars first settled in Nabusimake in what was then called "The Orphanage". The first harms to our community gestated there. Thenceforth, in all places, in all regions, an educational system has been imposed on us, in which our speech is completely left aside, and the thought of the Mamo is wholy disregarded.

In it, none of our functions were taken into account, for they thought that the functions of the Mamo were harmful, heretical, devilish, heathenish.

And I wonder today if it is not more heathenish the educational system they are forcing on us, on our children, paying no attention to us at all, being ashamed of us. Is it not more heathenish, since what they are contriving is the destruction of the Sierra Nevada? That is what I wonder.

However, we —vintukua, arzario, kankuamo, and kogi—, the ones who still remain, and are suffering the consequences of the wrongly called "civilization", know that we still have a part of that wisdom; and we want to summon our community to follow the rules of our ancestors, lest we be destroyed. In the strength of the Mamo's wisdom lies the force of our roots.

Although it is said that the Government has done many things for us, I do not know of any rule for our benefit, and I am getting old now. On the contrary, there has even been strife among us brothers!

For instance, let's remember what happened in Nabusimake Plains: as we considered those plains comunal, they imposed the wire-fence system. Such was the mentality of the Spaniards, who managed to make us fight among ourselves. The wire-fence system is thus a system by which you stab your own mother, so to say; and that brings us, her children, to fight among ourselves. That traditional lore of harmony and brotherhood that the Mamos usted to infuse us with is now totally forgotten. It is now a law of the wire fence, a law of the knife; its a law of rivalry, of opulence, of the strongest. But this law is not a law of ours; it is a completely alien law. What, then, is happening at the present? We Mamos are not recognized; and the few ones who still speak, who keep on insisting on those matters, are being isolated, ignored. And why just now? What they think is that we do not represent the majority of the authorities. We do not know where we will end up. But what I am sure of is that up to now the only thing they have been doing is bringing forth our destruction.

We had our own traditional way of managing livestock. And for that traditional system we Mamos were permanently "paying" through sacred offerings. And this traditional way with animals is also vanishing. Tapirs are not to be found anymore, nor wild turkeys, deer, peccaries, capybaras, squirrels, and countless fowl that were common in our natural "livestock". They have been supplanted by another kind of livestock, which, instead of serving us for our support, are ruining us.

No society on earth could ignore our millenary laws. There were bestowed to us from the beginning of Seynekan, our Mother Earth. These rules can not be suddenly changed; they were bestowed to us in order that we live in harmony, in balance with everything. But now, in the succession of the diffrent authorities and governments, they have made up one other thing to keep confusing us, to go on laughing at us.

Now they have made up the tale of the environment, as if it could be a solution for us, the arhuaco of La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. They ignore that we are the true keepers, the true stays of the balance of all water sources in these high snowy mountains. And that is no fancy of us, that is because we deeply understand the meaning of every one of these sources, and how, through our Mamos, we have to make the "pagamentos"; our offerings to the sea, the rain, the dry seasons, the mountains, the little animals, and every living being.

Then, what they have made up lately, that tale of the environment, is a strange thing to us. It amounts to the creation of more burocracy, not for the sake of us natives but for their own. If it were a solution, everything would then have been solved long ago. But we see that it rather confuses us; it teaches us elements under new words, elements under new signs to be written differently just to confuse us. But what they have to understand is that we arhuaco, arzario, kogi, and kankuamo peoples were not the ones who destroyed the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

It is to the new settlers you have to address your environmental programs. They were the ones who ravaged the garden we had in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. They were destroyed by them new settlers and not by us natives. When we first settled there, we left those sanctuaries untouched, for we knew that there we had all our riches; the livestock that supported our existence were there, and while we worshipped there, we had no need to chase them because they came up to meet us. But with the destruction of all those mountains, of all those virgin forests by the settlers, everything finished, of course —water sources dried up to the lowest point.

These programs should then be imparted to those who destroy the mountains, the animals, and not to us, because we have our own way to keep the animals; for we are prepared to handle them, to keep the balance, to continue the dialogue with them. So I do not understand why they are setting up new programs now, new ways for us to preserve Nature, since we have been keeping all this for millennia. Ever since I have a notion of the existence of my grandfather, grandmother, and great-grandfather, I remember them telling us about this. This is not unknown to us, and therefore they should direct their programs to the people who are harming us. The Government already has all the information about these persons; it even has the denunciations we have personally made, but we have never been presented with a global solution. We, on our own account, have solved part of the situation: we alone, sometimes with an effort to raise money, making sacrifices, facing each and every one of those problems.

All this goes to show that the Mamos' law, the law of the Mamos' thought —which is a support, the strength for us to have a good self-rule, a true traditional authority endowed to them—, is being more and more neglected.

And this has turned us really thoughtful, restless, because that what is comming is no good. What is the use, then, of talking about other systems being implemented here in the Sierra Nevada?

I think that if things go on like this, as we are observing them, we will be getting closer to very serious events, terrible indeed.

That is not what we ourselves would wish, but as things are, we see them very grim, very difficult; and therefore we have to demand our children and our leaders to express their views about this grave situation; for presently our leaders and the persons who have to deal with our problems are somewhat silent. It seems that everyone is working only for their own interests, but not on behalf of their community and the sacred abode of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Since the signing of the early documents in the Avintukua's Kankurwa until now, we do not know of any document that denounces the situation as it stands today. Some of the deeds of those days had, it seems, a value, an echo, a force; but now we do not count with any such documents. And this worries us also. There is a leadership crisis, a crisis of authority, a Mamos crisis; there is a crisis in all aspects, even in illnesses themselves, for we do have been deprived of the strenght to face all this situations that we are living through. And all this worries me.

We would believe in a public declaration, a decree or a program issued from the state's high authorities, only if it took account of all the Mamos' demands. If the President, with his ministers and officials, were able to present us a document signed by them all and based on the demands that we —the arhuaco, kankuamo, azario, and kogi Mamos— are putting before them, we would then believe in the Government and all its authorities. Otherwise, we do not accept any kind of solution. We are not in a postion to.

That is what I have been thinking, and that is my opinion.

When the "cabildo gobernador" —or ruling council— system was implanted as a means to solve the problems in the Sierra Nevada, we thought it was going to be a solution for all the problems present at that time, due to the way the council and its general secretary were elected, with the advisorship of all different parcialities, "cabildos", and deputies. But we have realized that this did not bring any solution either.

Some things seem positive, but others appear to be negative. Among the negative ones, we have to say that when we had leaders prepared to interpret at least part of the problem, and who through documentes communicated our needs to the Government, at that critical moment, leaders like Luis Napoleón Torres, Angel María Torres, and Hugues Chaparro, were taken away from us. In fact, that caused other leaders to lie low, to keep silent, and their voices were never heard again.

At this moment, as I see things, there is a crisis of authority in all aspects; even in traditional authorities. There is a total incoordination among the Mamo authorities. Where will it all end up? How are we going to find a solution to this problem? There is practically no one to trust in. Who is right? For every leader that we listen to claims rightness for himself.

Then, a sort of jealousy takes place, and in the long run what we are doing is to distort our own message, the very wisdom of our internal organization.

Concerning our self-government we are trying to see who can represent the interests, the wisdom, and the true system we need for the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

And we are not the only ones undergoing this process, but also the kogi and arzario. The Kankuamo are gradually coming closer to it.

But if we, who supposedly have a little more understanding of our traditions, are not strong enough to face the situation, our internal government will grow weak. And we need strong leaders, very capable leaders who really express our true knowledge and needs. They must have a way to put it down on documents and writings, and to make the National Government pay heed to the Mamos government.