THE KAWÉSQAR
PEOPLE
THE LAST
CANOEISTS OF PATAGONIA (CHILE)
Background. We, the Kawésqar represent the last
vestige of the ancient people of the Patagonian fjords and channels. Until
today we have survived policies of genocide and ethnocide, the predation of our
resources, and cultural, social and economic marginalization.
Today we are live in a single community, established in the village of
Puerto Edén, on the shores of Wellington Island, in the South of Chile (49° 08'
20" S - 74° 27' 10" W). Our only means of communication with Chile´s
urban centers is by sea.
Our village is located in the
Bernardo O'Higgins Park, the largest in the country, which has a rich
biological diversity, the source of our culture. Nearby is the Southern
Patagonian ice field, the largest reserve of fresh water in the southern
hemisphere, after the Antarctic. To the Southeast lies the Torres del Paine
National Reserve, one of the main tourist attractions of South America´s
Southern Cone.
The Patagonian channels are cold and
brackish waterways. They are the source of important marine resources - fish,
molluscs, crustaceans and marine mammals, which have been used since time
immemorial for the livelihood of our people-
The KAWÉSQAR Canoe people. Of the four indigenous peoples of
Patagonia, only two have survived. The Kawésqar people, whose community is
seated in Puerto Edén, and the Yagan people, settled in Puerto Williams. As a
result of the implementation of a livestock economy within their territories,
the land hunting peoples, the Aonikenk and Selk'nam were exterminated in a
shameful process riddled with crime.
Our canoeist cultures were able to
deal more successfully with the irruption of Chilean society, given our greater
geographic dispersion, high mobility, and because we represent marginal
competition for Western interests. However, politics of sedentarisation
developed by the Chilean authorities, as well as the introduction of
doctrines and 8 ethical concepts foreign to our communities, lead to the
progressive abandonment of our traditional practices. Today only one Kawésqar
community survives, based in Puerto Edén, with 8 people who keep the
culture of our people alive.
Our status as peoples linked to the marine environment is not included
within the indigenous policies implemented by the Government of Chile. Chilean
indigenous legislation has a strong terrestrial bias, lacking effective
instruments for supporting maritime indigenous peoples. While significant
resources are destined to land recovery, there are no parallel mechanisms that
enable the effective occupation of the marine spaces and their resources.
Furthermore, growing industrial aquaculture and tourism threaten with the
appropriation of our spaces, which are only protected today because they are
within a nature reserve.
Conditions and livelihoods. The Kawésqar community of Puerto
Edén lives in conditions of extreme isolation. Year by year this increases our
material poverty and the socio-economic and socio-cultural precariousness of
our people. This contrasts with the fact that we live in an environment which
is highly attractive in terms of natural resources, biodiversity and the
possibilities for generating productive and culturally and environmental
sustainable initiatives.
Our demands can be summed up as the
following:
a) Affirmation of rights: over the ancient, coastal and
terrestrial territory and its resources; and over our traditional and cultural
production, in accordance with the Chiles´ commitments with the international
community.
b) Effective access to our resources: recognition of the maritime and
terrestrial particularity of our culture and of the use of our resources.
c) Access to technologies: the right to benefit from
technological advances and adapt them to our ancestral practices, ensuring
access to these advances.
d) Training of people: implementing programmes consistent
with our culture for the training and development of our community.
Translated from Spanish by Sally Hinds.
