Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency conference report, dated October 1995, contains the proceedings of a conference on ethnic conflict held 30 September to 1 October 1993. The CIA's Geographic Resources Division sponsored it. Academic geographers, anthropologists and US Government officials presented papers on ethnic and territorial conflict in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and South Asia. They also discussed what these conflicts mean for US policy. The document contains no UFO material.
“Nevers”25 pages
C00123268 The Impact of Resource Development The expansion of national culturesfrom the core to As might be expected, governments have not peripheralareas is a direct prbduct of the increased attempted to solve the "Indianproblem" by dealing demandfor landand resources,and this, in turn, often with the root causesthat are noted above. Rather; they reflects nationalpolicies that govern the distribution have responded to pressure groups by passing legisla- of resources in the previously developed core areas. tion that is unenforced or by buying off the groups or Colonizationof the "empty" peripheryoften is viewed their leaders in other ways. Examples are minimalist by nationalpolicymakers as a way of relieving pres- land reform legislationor creation of largely unpro- sure for redistributionof land in the older core, where tected national parks, reserves, or dedicated Indian a combinationof concentrationof land in the handsof territories.If these time-tested Latin American strate- the elite, rapidpopulation increase in rural areas, giesfail to work, heavier-handedapproachesmay be degradationofpeasant-controlledland through ero- attempted, such as calling in the army or police; but sion and decliningfertility, and lack of employment these strategiesare resorted to less and less because opportunities contributesto substantial land hunger. of their negative consequences, both internallyand on Moreover,wealthy and influential members of the rul- the country's international standing.Mexico's rela- ing elites, along with members of the military or rep- tively benign treatment of the Zapatista NationalLib- resentatives of internationalenterprises,often erationArmy, at least until February1995, is a good promote colonizationas a means ofobtaining large example of how international opinion can affect gov- blocks of land.Mineral resource development, espe- ernment response to dissident groups. cially that relatedto high-value commodities such as oil and gold, is another cause of conflict. Frequently, In Brazil, the tendencies to expand development into mineral resource development is linked to multina- the Amazon Basin have been stimulated by the gov- tional enterprisessuch as oil Companies or interna- ernment's expansionistdevelopment policies. Since tional mining concerns. These developments may also colonial times Brazil has aggressively extended its have internationallinks through organizationssuch as politicalfrontiers at the expense of all its neighbors. OPEC,the LatinAmerican FreeTrade Association, or More recently, a nationalpolicy of building roads into the Andean Pact. the interiorand clearing the tropicalforestforfarm- ing and ranching, which was fostered in part by the Invariably, development of tropicallowland areas is geopoliticalstrategiesofsome military officers, has seen as favorable to nationaland international inter- led to large-scaledevelopment of that country's Ama- ests, and maintenance of land in an "undeveloped" zon lands. When Brazil builds roadand colonizes near state is viewed as wasteful, even if it provides suste- itspoliticalfrontiers, it triggersa counterresponseby 'nancefor native populations thathave lived therefor neighboringAmazon Basin countries such as Peru, centuries ormillennia. Conservationinterests lobby for Colombia, and Venezuela, which build roadsof their slow-growth or no-growth policiesbut to little avail. own and encourage colonizationofformerly undevel- Even when areas are set aside in parks or reserves, oped lowland tropicalforests to counter what is seen effective provisionsforprotecting them arelacking, and as a possible Brazilian threat to nationalsovereignty. the allocationof large blocks of land to Indian commu- Ecuadorhas embarked upon a similar policy of set- nities may create a backlash amyong landless or land tling its Amazon lowlands with highlandersin hungrypeasants and members of the urban working response to a longstanding border dispute with Peru. classes, who fail to understandthe reasonsfor giving so It remains to be seen how the flare-up offighting in much land to sofew people. Often these protests are early 1995 will affect these policies. supportedby members of the upper and middle classes who oppose the removal of large blocks of landfrom accessfor large-scaledevelopment. 91
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 205 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.