Cuts to USAID severed longstanding American support for Indigenous peoples around the world
Miguel Guygapara Vakez fought for years to protect his homeland In the Berruvi Amazon From removing forests related to cocaine trade, even working at killing threats from drug dealers.
Vaskuiz, a leader in a group of rights of the indigenous people The United States Agency for International DevelopmentOr the American Agency for International Development, which has spent billions of dollars starting from the eighties to help farmers in Peru to move from coca cultivation to produce cocaine to legal crops such as coffee and cocoa for chocolate. The agency funded training and economic and agricultural technology, and helped farmers reach international markets.
But the overwhelming discounts in the Trump administration to the agency have threw this tradition of helping, and the analog of the Amazon population that without American support there will be a return to the cocaine market, the increase in threats facing their lands and the challenges of potential violence of their human rights.
“We no longer have the people of the people of the people of the people who are people who are people who are people who are people who are people who are people who are people who are people who are people who are the people of the people of the people of Shivbo Konipo. “We think the situation will get worse.”
Vasquiz said that many indigenous human rights defenders were killed in an attempt to protect their lands, and in some of these cases, US foreign aid provided funds to help the trial of murder. “We really needed these resources,” he said.
The sweeping cuts started in January
When the Ministry of Governmental Efficiency at Elon Musk, or Dog, began to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development shortly after President Donald Trump began from his second term, all of this canceled the spending of US foreign aid, including contracts of support for indigenous peoples around the world.
The American Agency for International Development with the original peoples sought to address a variety of global issues that affect the United States, according to former employees. Economic development efforts have created jobs in South America, which reduces people’s need to work in illegal drug markets and reduce the possibility of their migration to America in search of jobs and safety. And its support for the rights of the indigenous peoples to supervise their lands are available to alleviate climate change.
This included Vásquez, which was about to obtain a four -year grant worth $ 2.5 million to continue to combat illegal activity that affects the indigenous population in the region. Vakuiz said that the new administration was canceled by the new administration.
In January, I launched Dog Scalp Trump enables fire to government workers and reduce trillion in government spending. The American Agency for International Development, which managed about 35 billion dollars in the fiscal year 2024, was 2024, One of its main goals. Critics say that aid programs are luminous and enhance a liberal agenda. Trump, Musk, and Republicans in Congress accused the agency of which provides liberal social programs.
Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said in a statement issued in March. “Unfortunately, the American Agency for International Development has moved away from its original mission for a long time. As a result, the gains were very few and the costs were very high.”
Musk last week He announced his departure From the Trump administration, on the occasion of the end of the troubled separation, which included thousands of demobilization and litigation.
The former US Agency for International Development said that political pressure from the United States often prevents foreign governments from violating some of the rights of the indigenous population.
In the three months that have passed on the release of thousands of foreign relief workers and the abolition of assistance contracts, the Peru government quickly moved to Abstract the indigenous people of their rights and Tightening controls on international organizations Documenting human rights violations. It has now become a serious crime for non -profit organizations to assist anyone working to file lawsuits against the government.
The National Development Committee and a drug -free lifestyle, the country’s agency, which is fighting drug smuggling, did not respond to the request for suspension.
“The effect was really strong, and we felt that it quickly when the Trump administration changed its position on the US Agency for International Development,” said Vacoyez.
The United States spends less than 1 percent of its budget on external assistance. Tim Reader, one of the senior foreign policy assistants, who works for Democratic Senator Fairmont Peter Walsh, launched Duji’s discounts to a “sect” air conditioning agency for years of work.
The White House did not respond to a request to comment from the Associated Press.
The agency has arrived at the indigenous communities around the world
The American Agency for International Development has reached indigenous communities around the world. It sought to alleviate the effects of human rights violations in South America, create programs in Africa to enable the indigenous population to manage their own societies, and led the global effort of the United States to fight hunger.
One of the latest additions to the American Development Agency’s work is to integrate international concepts of the rights of indigenous people into politics.
For example, Rieeser was responsible for formulating the legislation that established a consultant within the United States Agency for International Development for Rights Protection and Treating the needs of indigenous peoples. The consultant called for the rights of the indigenous population to external aid programs, including the World Bank actions.
“This has provided that of the indigenous people everywhere with a way to listen here in Washington,” Riecer said. “It has been silent now.”
This advisor position is still not full.
Phil Lam, the US Agency for International Development Agency for the indigenous peoples, who said he was expelled in March as part of the reduction of the size of Dog, said the idea of the rights of the indigenous people, and the state to recognize them in foreign operations, was new to the US Agency for International Development. But she was gaining momentum during the era of President Joe Biden.
Vy Lam via AP
He said concepts like Free, advanced and enlightened approval The right of the indigenous people to grant or block any action that affects their lands or rights – is slowly implemented in US foreign policy.
Lam said that one of the roads that occurred came in the form of American political pressure on foreign governments or the private industry to negotiate mutual agreements between the original peoples and their governments.
For example, if an American company wants to build a hotel in an area that can affect an indigenous community, the United States can pay for the approval of the indigenous population, or at least consultation.
Lam said: “We had that great power, and this is the thing that saddened him more than others.”
Foreign relief workers in the United States also managed to facilitate the reporting of some human rights violations, such as when human rights or environmental defender is imprisoned without charges, or the indigenous peoples are forced to remove their lands to establish a protected area.
The funded funds attended at international meetings
In some cases, the US Agency for International Development has supported travel to the United Nations, where indigenous leaders and advocates can obtain training to move in international bodies and close violations.
Last year, according to the Biden Administration, the United States Agency for International Development granted a five -year grant to support the indigenous LGBTQIA residents to the United Nations Population Fund for indigenous people, an agency that provides financial support to the original peoples to participate in the United Nations
Fund Minister Morsi Flores said that at $ 350,000 a year, it was the largest grant from any member state of the United Nations. The money would have supported the presence in the international bodies to report human rights violations and testify in the areas of foreign policy and development that negatively affect their lives and societies.
In February, the fund received notice that the grant would be terminated. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not plan to fulfill its pledge to finance the remaining four years of grant to help the original peoples travel to the United Nations and other international bodies.
Flores said that people who receive assistance to attend the main meetings “are actual victims of human rights violations.” “For someone who is unable to come and speak, I mean, it’s just injustice.”
