Robert Guimaraes Vazquez -- Ucayali, Peru

Robert Guimaraes Vazquez is a Shipibo activist from Ucayali, Peru and is in charge of Territories and Natural Resources for the regional federation ORAU.

Q: How many Shipibos are there?

A: A population of about 135,000 in about 4 provinces in the department of Ucayali.

Q: Where do you live?

A: I was born in Flor Ucayali, a community that disappeared because of a change in the course of the river. So we moved to another community. We have two territories, one that is legally constituted, which is in a flood zone. The other is in a high altitude area. So we have basically two activities, summer and winter. In winter we are in the high zone and in summer the low zone.

Q: How do you make a living?

A: Basically, from the production of corn, yuca and banana . . . and from fish.  There’s a great abundance of fish.

Q: And each family fishes for their own food, or do they sell?

A: In general each family fishes for food, but if it’s for market, the whole community works for a month and takes it to the city.

Q: What is your position in the federation?

A: I’m in charge of territories and natural resources. There are communities that have no form of recognition. There are others that have formal recognition, the first step; there are communities that are titled, that is to say legally recognized; and others that received titles 30 or 40 years ago, but with very small territories that need to be enlarged.

Q: Each community has its own territory, or it’s by federation?

A: The communities are autonomous, that is they have their own territories. A federation groups together the communities. My federation has 32 communities and was the first to organize among the Shipibo.

Q: You work in the ORAU office. Do you have a house in Pucallpa?

A: No. In general I come for a month or two months, and stay in Pucallpa, and then go to my community. But I also have a small place in Harinacocha [a smaller city near Pucallpa].

Q: And your family?

A: They stay in the community.

Q: How do they live when you’re away?

A: I have the advantage that my wife is a teacher.

Q: Do you have children?

A: Two girls, 10 and 7.

Q: They study with your wife?

A: No, because then [when the girls were little] she was not yet a teacher. They study in Harinacocha where there’s a bilingual school for Shipibos.

Q: How did you get to the Amazon School and what do you hope to get from it?

A: The organization recruited by region, and I’m part of the ORAU team. At a meeting of the directors they evaluated the candidates and our availability, and decided on me.  ORAU, and me personally, has a special interest in the experience of the Amazon School, its curriculum, how it is run, because one of the ideas of ORAU, in its institutional plan, is to create an Amazon School in Peru. We have a lot of problems with logging concessions, oil and mining as well. There’s a process of privatization of all resources. I think in fewer than five years, we will have serious problems in the Peruvian Amazon, although there have already been some. But the indigenous people have been sleeping, seeing the problem without realizing what’s happening. So the idea of ORAU is to create an Amazon School to increase the capacity of indigenous people at the national level. And in the future, we can create a good plan, a campaign, because we have some major challenges.