Dear Editor,
Your Sunday leader on Amerindians and the Guyanese mining sector seems to pass over the existence of a national land use plan, developed over the past decade or more under the management of a respected local expert who subsequently, I believe, held a salaried post in the Office of the President.
Qualified observers may confirm the status of that plan and that planner, and additionally confirm or deny my impression that the State of Guyana has been signatory to one or more international conventions concerning indigenous rights. One of those is the right to Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) to any measure affecting the welfare of Amerindians, whose lifeways are more intimately bound to the natural landscape than the general population might appreciate. Discussion on that issue has been largely confined to titled lands, contrary to the international obligations of signatories to also respect this right in relation to untitled customary lands.
As a mere private citizen with no status in these high matters, except to note the unhappiness they cause many of my friends, I would welcome your publication of any further interventions you may receive on the topic.
Yours faithfully,
Gordon Forte
