Statement in view of the commemoration of 41 years of resistance in the Sauni As territory, Nicaragua
September 27, 2023: We received the following update from a source in Nicaragua.
Today, September 27, 2023, commemorates 41 years of the day of resistance and the historical battle of the Mayangna indigenous people of the Sauni territory, Musawas community, capital of the Mayangna People in Nicaragua.
On a day like today, September 27, 1982, there was a war of hostility perpetrated by the army of the State of Nicaragua of the government in power at that time, where at least 7 Mayangna men had fallen. We Mayangna resisted so that we would not be displaced from our communities, although later many members of the community and neighboring communities were forced to go into exile and take refuge in the neighboring country, Honduras.
For us, the Mayangna people mainly from the Sauni As territory, September 27 has much value and meaning of resistance and much more important than any other day of commemoration or national celebration. Every year we commemorate and remember the names of the Mayangna heroes who fell before an army of total asymmetry.
Musawas, an ancient community and people, defended their cultural roots, their rights, their mother land, their identity and ancestral heritage to obtain autonomy and thus positioned themselves before the cannons, with a high spirit of indigenism with the impetus of our ancestors, from Malam and They bravely marked a history that has remained indelibly in our memory.
Although we live in times of peace, after the war, they continue to kill us atrociously just for defending Mother Nature and her collective and individual human rights.
We advocate for justice, non-impunity and truth. May we not be criminalized, freedom for the Mayangna brothers who are unjustly imprisoned. Investigate impartially and determine those truly responsible for the crimes that have occurred during the last four years.
We also express that the main cause of all these crimes refers to the lack of implementation of the territorial sanitation stage and the lack of protection of indigenous communal property.
*Long live the Mayangna people, Long live Sauni As, long live September 27*.
Given on the 27th day of the month of September of the year 2023, capital of the Mayangna Musawas Nation, Nicaragua Bosawas.
