A letter from a New Tribes missionary

November 1, 2005

Matt wrote this in the comments, I thought it was worth making it a post:

I grew up in Venezuela, my parents worked with New Tribes
Mission. I also went back under NTM and worked for 18 year in Venezuela
with the Ye’cwana. I grew up playing soccer, hunting and fishing with
them. I speak their language and know their customes. As do my wife
and children, (Three of them born in Venezuela)
I was disapointed in your lack of information on the mission. I have
lived in Tamatama since 1964 and know ALL the Indians, Piaroa, Yanomamo
& Ye’cwana. I’ve played soccer with all and the big division amonst
the tribes
is political. Don’t blame missions.
Also the Ye’cwana have not tried to oust the mission. The tribe as a
whole is very supportive. Look at Ayacucho last Friday.
The Guardia Nacional have had a presence in Tamatama since 1980. I live
two houses from the comando for years. If I was mining why didn’t they
know? The GN always used my boat motor to patrol the Orinoco river as
they don’t have one. They were in my house lots.
In Parima also where the mission has worked for years among the
Yanomamo the Ergesito have had a comando for about 13 years. Can we as
a nation (Venezuela) not trust our Fuerzas Armadas to pick out groups
that are a threat to our nation? So what is this about illegal planes?
We as a mission flew GN in and out of the Jungle.
I have liked you blogging but felt you were under informed in this area.
SALUDOS

Note: I did not claim to “know” about the issue, I just told what I
knew about it and I thought it should be the natives, not Chavez, that
should say whether they like or not the New Tribes near them.I also
said that Chavez should not (did not) have the power for such a
decision. Additionally, it is interesting than in the end, nothing has
happened, the Governor of Amazonas did not issue the decree and Chavez
has done nothing either, for the simple reason that he had no legal
instrument to do so. In fact, the tribes defended the New Tribes and
some Venezuelan missionaries started asking: Am I going to be kicked
out of my own country? Comments and posts that will enlighten us on the
subject are welcome (pro or agaisnt)

This entry was posted on November 1, 2005 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Venezuela.

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