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Ofelia Rivas, co-chair of Indigenous rights working group, Cochabamba, Bolivia Photo by Ben Powless, Mohawk Crow Voices Radio -- Govinda talked with Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, live from Montana.  Photo by Jason Jaacks By Brenda Norrell Censored News On Crow Voices Radio, Govinda interviewed Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham, live from Montana today. Ofelia described the opposition to the Israeli spy towers of Elbit Systems, now being constructed on her Tohono O'odham Nation homeland. Along with the spy towers, integrated fixed towers, the vehicle barrier now prevents animals from migrating. The towers allow the U.S. government to watch and listen to traditional O'odham in their home communities. Rivas said the Tohono O'odham Nation government's opposition to the border wall is just rhetoric because the elected tribal government does not want to jeopardize its federal funding. Traditional O'odham continue their prayers for the protection of the water and Quitobaquito Springs. "We do need each others help to protect our lives and appreciation of Mother Earth," Rivas said. "We are all going through a lot of changes." Rivas said she is in a grieving mode, because there is a lot of destruction, and not just because of the pandemic. "The destruction of the sacred mountain affects our way of life." O'odham remember their ancestors and hold them dear. "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be sitting here today." As the number of O'odham communities on the south side of the border decreases, she said the Mexican government has not supported the O'odham on the south side. Rivas has been delivering water and food to O'odham. "We meet at that fence," she said, of deliveries to O'odham on the south side. "Stay strong, and be healthy, and be happy," she said. Oct. 28 live on Crow Voices. Ofelia Rivas' website: O'odham Solidarity Movement, O'odham Voice Against the Wall |
Welcome home message to Evo Morales, from Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham
By Ofelia Rivas
Censored News
Sending him my going home song and all the flowers for his walk to his community, to his family. Our prayer offerings are wonderfully fulfilled that no harm will come to the only Indigenous president of this world. I was a guest in his homelands and the people were so beautiful and they love President Juan Evo Morales Ayma. -- Ofelia Rivas, Tohono O'odham
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| Bolivian President Evo Morales invited members of the international press to join him at his mountain homeland in Bolivia, during the gathering in 2010. Here, he shared a traditional meal with us, fresh fish, purple potatoes and boiled corn on clay dishes, after Morales played a game of soccer. -- Brenda Norrell, Censored News Democracy Now! reports: "In Bolivia, a court in La Paz has dismissed terrorism charges and annulled an arrest warrant against Evo Morales, arguing the former president’s rights and due process had been violated. The charges were issued following a right-wing coup last year that overthrew Morales. This comes as Morales has vowed to return to Bolivia after Luis Arce of Morales’s MAS party won last week’s presidential election by a landslide. Morales has been in exile for nearly one year." |
World's Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth
Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 2010
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