(Estimated Pub Date) the Challenge of Ethnic Conflict to National and International Order in the 1990S: Geographic Perspectives- October 1995

Approved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268
anything, it antagonizes the government. Most of
these governments have laws that any subsurface min-
erals belong to the state.
DR. WIXMAN: In the former Soviet Union, there is a
very interesting movement that I think parallels some-
thing happening in the United States in the environ-
mental movement. The preservation of indigenous
people, such as the native American and, in the case of
the former Soviet Union, the native Siberian, are por-
trayed as synonymous with the preservation of the
natural environments. Indigenous people who no one
had ever heard of or cared about have become a politi-
cal symbol. Do you see a movement of this type tak-
ing place in Latin America among any of the young
people in which the survival of a particular indigenous
group symbolizes either the survival of the country as
a whole or of its environment? Are there young Cen-
tral Americans, let us say among students in universi-
ties, that are beginning to hold up the Indian as the
symbol of the preservation?
MR. CHAPIN: Yes, especially in Mexico but also in
other places to some extent.
DR. ELBOW: It is occurring in Ecuador. One ofthe
things that I think is an interesting, unexplored topic,
is what causes a green movement to develop in certain
countries and not in others. Why Costa Rica? Why
now an emerging green movement in Ecuador, for
example?
QUESTION: Professor Elbow, you had mentioned, in
general, that there was not much in the way of evi-
dence for the ethnic conflict in South American. You
touched on two countries, Suriname and Trinidad and
Tobago, where there are mixtures of ethnic groups and
a lot of conflicts. The Trinidadian press is quite con-
cerned with the general upswing in violence. Is it your
impression that this is due largely to this ethnic inter-
action or to the economic downtum, or is it a combi-
nation of both?
DR. ELBOW; I suspect it’s a combination of both.
Trinidad had, 10 years ago, the highest per capita
income in Latin America. In addition, local political
parties have been built essentially upon an ethnic base.
Ethnicity is used, or perhaps exploited, as a political
tool. That is also true in Guyana.
QUESTION: What are the sources of support for
reform in Central and South America?
DR. ELBOW: That is a difficult question. To the
extent that reform is taking place, it comes from a
combination of groups and institutions. In the Guate-
malan case, it has been a cooperative movement with
inputs from the Catholic Church, the Peace Corps, and
NGOs. Benefits from these efforts include: leadership
training, education, the breaking down of linguistic
barriers so that the Indians can communicate with
each other in Spanish, and the development of Indian
self-awareness and a sense of Pan-Indian identity.
Ironically, often, it is when it looks like the Indians are
going to begin to have some political power and to
make some impact, that the tendency for a backlash
begins. In some cases the army has stepped in and
countered the development. If you look at Ecuador,
you can see this sort of scenario developing. In 1991
the Indians had a big sit-in in the National Cathedral.
In 1992 they had demonstrations against the 500th
anniversary of Columbus’s landing. Ecuador is not
Guatemala, however. It does not have the same history
ofwiolence that Guatemala has, but I could still imag-
ine the government getting to the point where it feels
so squeezed that the military steps in and says it has
had enough.
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Approved for Release: 2018/06/01 C00123268