Tourists return but Easter Islanders draw lessons from Covid isolation

RTL – AFP, 10 August 2022

Easter Island's giant human moai statues were carved by the indigneous
Rapa Nui people some time between 1200 and 1500 AD / © AFP

During more than two years of the coronavirus pandemic, Easter Island was closed to tourism -- forcing inhabitants to turn to a more sustainable way of life and relearn forgotten skills. 

Now that the island's borders are open once again, local people, including the Rapa Nui indigenous population, want to resist the temptation to return to their pre-pandemic lifestyle. 

"The time has come that the ancients predicted," Julio Hotus, a member of the Easter Island council of elders, told AFP. 

Hotus said the Rapa Nui people's ancestors had warned about the importance of maintaining food independence because of the risk the island faced of one day becoming isolated, but that recent generations had ignored the warnings. 

Before the pandemic, the island's food supply was almost exclusively provided by Chile. 

Easter Island lies 3,500 kilometers (2,100 miles) off the west coast of Chile and is world renown for its monumental statues of human figures with giant heads, called moai. 

With a population of just 8,000, it used to attract 160,000 tourists a year -- "an avalanche" according to Hotus -- but in March 2020 Easter Island closed its borders over Covid. 

No tourists, no income 

Olga Ickapakarati used to sell small stone moai figurines to tourists but once she was left without an income, she turned to agriculture and fishing to survive, just as her ancestors had lived before contact with European explorers. 

Easter Islanders pay their respects to the Mother Earth outside the island's
airport ahead of the arrival of the first tourists in 28 months / © AFP

"We were all left with nothing, we were left in the wind .... but we began planting," Ickapakarati told AFP. 

She took advantage of a program that delivered seeds before the island was shut off from the outside world. 

Ickapakarati planted spinach, beets, cilantro, chard, celery, basil, pineapple, oregano and tomatoes. 

What she didn't eat, she shared with neighbors, just as many families did in creating an island-wide support network. 

"All the islanders are like this. They have good hearts. If I see that I have a surplus of something, I give it to another family," said Ickapakarati, who lives with her children and grandchildren. 

This new focus on sustainable living does not mean an end to tourism on Easter Island. 

Last week, the first airplane of tourists for 28 months landed on the island, to much excitement from the locals desperate to see new faces. 

But there will be no immediate return to the two flights a day of yesteryear. There will be just two a week for now, although the number will gradually increase. 

Large hotel chains have decided to stay closed.

 "We will continue with tourists, but I hope that the pandemic has taught a lesson that we can apply for the future," said Hotus. 

'Archeological heritage at risk' 

Another thing the pandemic did was to create awareness of the necessity to look after natural resources affected by climate change, such as water and energy. And also the emblematic moais. 

Local Easter Island inhabitants like Olga Ickapakarati took to growing their own
 food during the pandemic as their tourism based income disappeared due to
the islands' borders being closed / © AFP

Carved from volcanic rock by the Polynesian Rapa Nui people between 1200 and 1500, there are more than 900 on the island, which measures 24 kilometers by 12 kilometers. 

The statues can measure up to 20 meters in height and weigh more than 80 tons. 

Most remain at the quarry where they were originally carved but many others were carted to coastal areas to look inland, presumably for ceremonial purposes. 

The moais have been damaged by heavy rainfall, strong winds and the ocean waves crashing against the statues and their bases, leading to fears for their future. 

"Climate change, with its extreme events, is putting our archeological heritage at risk," said Vairoa Ika, the local environment director. 

"The stone is degrading" and needs to be protected. 

"The problem with the moais is that they are very fragile," added Pedro Edmunds Paoa, the island's mayor, who says the statues' worth is "incalculable."

The iconic moais have turned Easter Island into a tourist destination but these
stone sculptures are at risk from the elements / © AFP

He said that authorities need to "forget about the tourist" vision and take protective measures, even if that means covering the statues "with glass domes", which would ruin not just the authentic view but also tourists' photographs. 

He also wants inhabitants to make maximum use of natural resources and to prioritize locals in employment, while resurrecting the ancestral practise of fostering community solidarity. 

"From now on the tourist must become a friend of the place, whereas before they were visiting foreigners," said Edmunds Paoa.

Peru's Machu Picchu reopens... for one Japanese tourist

Yahoo – AFP, October 13, 2020  

Machu Picchu has reopened for a single lucky visitor, a Japanese man
stranded in the country by the pandemic

Peru's best-known tourist site Machu Picchu has opened after months of coronavirus closure, but for just a single visitor -- a Japanese man stranded in the country by the pandemic. 

"The first person on Earth who went to Machu Picchu since the lockdown is meeeeeee," Jesse Katayama posted on his Instagram account alongside pictures of himself at the deserted site. 

"This is truly amazing! Thank you," he added in a video posted on the Facebook pages of the local tourism authority in Cusco, where the famed site is located. 

Katayama spoke against the backdrop of the majestic mountaintop dotted with ancient ruins that once attracted thousands of tourists a day but has been closed since March because of the coronavirus. 

The Japanese boxing instructor, identified by local media as a 26-year-old from Nara, has been stuck in Peru since March, when he bought a ticket for the tourist site just days before the country declared a health emergency. 

He told a Peruvian newspaper he had only planned to spend three days in the area, but with flights cancelled and movement limited by the virus, he found himself stuck there for months. 

Eventually, his plight reached the local tourism authority, which agreed to give him special permission to visit the Inca city, reopening the site just for him. 

"I thought that I wouldn't be able to go, but thanks to all of you who pleaded with the mayor and the government, I was given this super special opportunity," he wrote in Japanese on his Instagram account. 

Machu Picchu is the most enduring legacy of the Inca empire that ruled a large swathe of western South America for 100 years before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. 

The ruins of the Inca settlement were rediscovered in 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham, and in 1983, UNESCO declared Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site. 

It was originally scheduled to reopen to visitors in July, but that has now been pushed back to November. 

Just 675 tourists a day will be allowed in, 30 percent of the number allowed before the pandemic, with visitors expected to maintain social distancing. 

Since it first opened to tourists in 1948, it has been closed just once before, for two months in 2010 when a flood destroyed the railway tracks connecting it to Cusco.

Brazil indigenous chief Raoni set for hospital release

Yahoo – AFP, July 21, 2020

Raoni Metuktire, a chief of the Kayapo people in northern Brazil, is an iconic
defender of the Amazon rainforest who is in his 90s (AFP Photo/CARL DE SOUZA)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazil's best-known indigenous leader, chief Raoni Metuktire, is improving and expected to be released soon from hospital after a health scare, doctors said Monday.

Raoni, an iconic defender of the Amazon rainforest who is in his 90s, has been diagnosed with two gastric ulcers and an intestinal infection, his medical team at the Dois Pinheiros hospital in the state of Mato Grosso said.

But "his clinical condition is improving," they said in their latest update.

"He is expected to be released from the hospital soon."

Raoni, a chief of the Kayapo people in northern Brazil, was hospitalized Thursday for weakness, shortness of breath and diarrhea.

He was first taken to a hospital in the small town of Colider before being transferred Saturday to Dois Pinheiros, a larger hospital in the city of Sinop, when his condition deteriorated.

Raoni's health began to decline after he lost his wife of more than 60 years, Bekwyjka, who died in June after a stroke.

Known for his colorful feather headdresses and the large disc inserted in his lower lip, Raoni has traveled the world raising awareness of the threat posed by destruction of the Amazon.

Doctor Fernanda Quinelato said he had received two blood transfusions.

"His general health is good, he is lucid, with controlled blood pressure and no fever," she said in the statement.

A test for the new coronavirus came back negative.

The virus has hit Brazil's indigenous communities hard. It claimed the life of another top indigenous leader, Paulinho Paiakan, last month.

Another of Brazil's best-known indigenous leaders, chief Aritana Yawalapiti, 71, is in serious condition with suspected COVID-19, his son told AFP Monday.

Amazon indigenous protesters vow indefinite roadblock

Yahoo – AFP, Joao Laet,  August 20, 2020

Members of the Kayapo indigenous tribe are blocking a highway through the Brazilian
Amazon demanding help against the new coronavirus and an end to illegal mining
and deforestation

Armed with spears and bows, dozens of indigenous protesters in Brazil vowed Thursday to maintain a roadblock on a key highway until the authorities listen to their demands for help fighting COVID-19 and deforestation.

Members of the Kayapo Mekranoti ethnic group have been blocking highway BR-163 through the Amazon since Monday outside the northern town of Novo Progresso.

But they vowed that they would no longer lift their blockade periodically to let truckers through, as they had done for the past two days.

"We're going to stay right here until the government sends its representatives to talk with us," one protest leader, Mudjere Kayapo, told AFP.

The highway is the main artery to ship corn and soybeans, two of Brazil's main exports, from the country's central-western agricultural heartland.

A federal judge has ordered the protesters to stand down, citing the economic damage they are inflicting.

She rejected an appeal Wednesday, and has ordered the federal police to remove the protesters if they do not comply.

The Kayapo Mekranoti warned that would lead to violence.

"We do not want to fight. But we will not accept the army or police coming here and removing us by force. If that happens, there will be blood spilled on the asphalt," they said in a letter to the government's indigenous affairs office, FUNAI.

Wearing feather headdresses and body paint, the protesters burned a letter from FUNAI rejecting some of their demands and calling for patience on others.

The Kayapo Mekranoti are demanding far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's government release funds they say they are owed for environmental damage the highway caused to their land.

They also want help fighting illegal mining, deforestation and the new coronavirus, which has hit especially hard among indigenous people in the region.

In Brazil, the country with the second-biggest COVID-19 death toll worldwide after the United States, 26,000 indigenous people have been infected and 690 have died in the pandemic, according to the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples' Association (APIB).

"Our rights are being violated," the protesters said.

"Indigenous health is growing more fragile by the day... We are here to defend the Amazon and protect our territory. But the government wants to open indigenous lands to illegal projects, including mining, logging and ranching."

Bishop who defended indigenous people dies in Brazil aged 92

Yahoo – AFP, August 8, 2020

Spanish bishop Pedro Casaldaliga, shown here speaking to actor Eduard
Fernandes in an undated photo released by Minoria Absoluta Productions,
has died aged 92 in Brazil

The Spanish bishop Pedro Casaldaliga, a fervent defender of the indigenous people of the Amazon, died Saturday at the age of 92 in Brazil, where he had been living since 1968, his office said.

The Prelature of Sao Felix do Araguaia, in the central-western state of Mato Grosso, where Casaldaliga was bishop emeritus, announced in a statement that he passed away in the morning at hospital in Batatais, near Sao Paulo.

He had been in intensive care due to respiratory problems and was suffering from Parkinson's disease.

"Our land, our people are losing today an example of generous living for a better world; we will miss him very much," former left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tweeted.

Born in 1928 in Balsareny, Catalonia, and ordained a priest in 1952, he went on mission to Sao Felix do Araguaia, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, in 1968, while the country was under a military dictatorship.

He opposed the regime, the wealthy landowning class, and even the Vatican, defending the landless peasants and the indigenous people.

"In this land, it is easy to be born and die, but difficult to live," the prelate told AFP in 2012, as a TV series about his life was released -- "Barefoot on Red Soil," from the book of the same name by Catalan writer Francesc Escribano.

Living under the constant threat of hired killers in the pay of large landowners, he was one of the founders of the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) and the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), two key bodies in the struggle for agrarian reform.

In 1998 Bishop Casaldaliga was called to Rome, where he underwent a tough interrogation by the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who seven years later became Pope Benedict XVI.

At the end of last month, he and 150 other Brazilian bishops signed an open letter criticizing the extreme right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, castigating his "incompetence" and his "inability" to manage the coronavirus health crisis, which has caused nearly 100,000 deaths in Brazil -- including several hundred indigenous people.

Brazil's indigenous chief Raoni leaves hospital

Yahoo – AFP, July 25, 2020

A photo released by the Hospital Dois Pinheiros shows indigenous leader Raoni
Metuktire at a press conference at the hospital after being released by his doctors
in Sinop, Mato Grosso State, Brazil, on July 25, 2020 (AFP Photo/Diego OLIVEIRA)

Brasília (AFP) - Brazil's best-known indigenous leader, chief Raoni Metuktire, was released from hospital Saturday after a health scare and gave thanks for all the support he received during his convalescence.

"I want to thank everyone who supported me, who heard about me every day, about my health. I thank you, now I am healed," said Raoni, an iconic defender of the Amazon rainforest, in a brief statement as he left the hospital.

In a wheelchair and visibly emaciated, the 90-year-old chief appeared at a press conference at Dois Pinheiros hospital in Sinop, Mato Grosso state, where he spent one week being treated for gastric ulcers, an inflamed colon and an intestinal infection.

His statement was translated by his grandson Paxton Metuktire.

"He is still a little weak because he is finishing recovering, but he is strong enough to continue leading his people," said Dr. Douglas Yanai, part of the team of eight specialists who treated him.

Raoni was to return by plane around 1:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) to his home of Metuktire, in the Xingu indigenous territory, the hospital reported.

Doctors said the "deep sadness" he felt on the death of his wife Bekwyjka, his companion for 60 years, on June 23 contributed to his condition.

Known for his colorful feather headdresses and the large disc inserted in his lower lip, Raoni, a chief of the Kayapo people, has traveled the world raising awareness of the threat posed by destruction of the Amazon.

In his brief statement, Raoni called for people to respect one another, because ill health can come "any day."

"Let's love, let's respect each other, because we don't know if tomorrow our friends are going to get sick. We have to be together," he said.

Brazil tops 10,000 deaths from COVID-19

Yahoo – AFP, Pascale TROUILLAUD, May 10, 2020

A funeral worker wearing protective clothing as a preventive measure against the
coronavirus walks through Caju Cemetary in Rio de Janeiro on May 9 (AFP Photo/
Carl DE SOUZA)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazil, the hardest-hit Latin American country in the coronavirus pandemic, has surpassed 10,000 deaths, according to figures released Saturday by the Ministry of Health.

While Brazil's numbers are high -- 10,627 deaths and 155,939 confirmed cases -- scientists think the real figures could be 15 or even 20 times worse, given the country's inability to carry out widespread testing.

Congress and the Supreme Court decreed an official mourning period of three days and lawmakers asked Brazilians to follow health authorities' recommendations to reduce infection rates while the country prepares for "a safe and definitive return back to normal."

Meanwhile President Jair Bolsonaro, who opposes stay-at-home measures due to their impact on the country's economy, was seen jet skiing on Lake Paranoa in Brasilia, according to the Metropoles news website.

Cemetary workers place the coffin of a coronavirus victim in a grave cubicle at Caju
Cemetary in Rio de Janeiro on May 9 (AFP Photo/Carl DE SOUZA)

Officials told AFP he did not plan to make a statement on the country reaching 10,000 deaths.

In the last 24 hours alone, the nation saw 10,611 new cases and 730 fatalities, Brazil's second-highest daily death toll, after a record set on Friday (751 deaths).

'Situation is dire'

Resisting pressure from Bolsonaro, the governors of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states have said they will extend the partial quarantine measures in force since March until the end of May.

The pandemic has given rise to ongoing governmental clashes, pitting the president against governors and mayors who have implemented social distancing and confinement measures to contain the virus' spread -- efforts supported by the country's Supreme Court.

Satere-mawe indigenous men navigate the Ariau River during the coronavirus 

pandemic at the Sahu-Ape community located some 80 kilometers from Manaus 

in Amazonas State on May 5 (AFP Photo/RICARDO OLIVEIRA)

In announcing that his state's lockdown would be prolonged, Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria said Friday: "We are at the height of this pandemic. The situation is dire."

His southeastern state of almost 46 million inhabitants has seen more than 3,600 deaths and over 44,400 cases.

Neighboring Rio de Janeiro state, home to more than 16 million people, follows with 1,653 deaths and 16,929 infections. Less populated states such as Ceara, Pernambuco and Amazonas already have around a thousand dead each.

Amazonas, home to a number of indigenous tribes that are extremely vulnerable to the virus, has recorded 232 deaths per million inhabitants, almost three times the rate in Sao Paulo state.

Workers dig graves at Nossa Senhora Cemetery in Manaus, Brazil on May 8 

amid the coronavirus pandemic (AFP Photo/MICHAEL DANTAS)

While Brazil's coronavirus peak is not expected for several more weeks, seven states have already seen their intensive care units fill to 90 percent capacity.

Bolsonaro, who has compared the coronavirus to a "little flu," tweeted Saturday that the country's "army of unemployed continues to grow" in reference to a factory closure in the northeast, before asking "is chaos coming?"

On Thursday the country's economy minister, Paulo Guedes, said Brazil could face "economic collapse" in a month's time due to stay-at-home measures.

According to the IMF, Brazil risks a 5.3 percent contraction in GDP this year.

Worldwide the virus has claimed more than 277,000 lives and the number of coronavirus cases has surpassed four million, according to an AFP tally.

Pope urges Amazon 'outrage' but stays silent on married priests

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine MARCIANO, Alexandria SAGE,  February 12, 2020

Pope Francis failed to recommend the controversial idea of married priests
(AFP Photo/Filippo MONTEFORTE)

Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis on Wednesday pleaded for social justice and environmental respect for the Amazon basin, but did not recommend the controversial idea of married priests.

In a highly anticipated text, Francis urged Catholics to "feel outrage" over the exploitation of indigenous people and destruction of land devastated by illegal mining and deforestation.

But there was no mention of priestly marriage, a controversial suggestion made by Amazon bishops last October as a way to increase the number of priests who could perform Mass in remote areas.

Instead, the pope argued for more missionaries and for women and lay people to take larger roles in the region. He also urged more training for priests to better interact with Amazonian cultures.

Francis has weighed in before on the hotly debated question of whether to allow "viri probati" -- married "men of proven virtue" -- to join the priesthood in remote locations.

In January last year, he said he did not believe that optional celibacy should be allowed but conceded "some possibilities for far-flung places", a statement that opened the door to speculation that he might make an exception for the Amazon.

In 2017, Francis convened 184 bishops -- over 60 percent of whom hailed from the Amazon region -- to reflect on the Amazon.

Among other proposals in a final document, the bishops suggested ordaining "suitable and esteemed men of the community" who had "a legitimately constituted and stable family".

But the suggestion aroused fierce opposition from traditionalists within the Church, concerned that exceptions could pave the way to the abolition of priest celibacy globally.

Francis' text released on Wednesday was a so-called apostolic exhortation in response to the bishops' document.

'Injustice and crime'

Francis has made his name as a defender of the marginalised -- whether the poor, migrants or prisoners -- and his Amazon text focused on the local people's "history of suffering".

Saying the Amazon's ecological problems should not be separated from social ones, he highlighted how marginalised indigenous people were forced out of their homes by illegal deforestation and mining.

Those people were now living on the outskirts of cities marked by "an increase of xenophobia, sexual exploitation and human trafficking," he wrote.

"We need to feel outrage, as Moses did, as Jesus did, as God does in the face of injustice. It is not good for us to become inured to evil," wrote the pope.

"The businesses, national or international, which harm the Amazon and fail to respect the right of the original peoples to the land and its boundaries, and to self-determination and prior consent, should be called for what they are: injustice and crime."

However, Francis acknowledged the challenges faced by the Church in remote areas of the Amazon, urging bishops to send out more young missionaries, in keeping with his status as the first pope from the Jesuit order -- famous for its missionary work.

The pope stressed the need for ministers who could "understand Amazonian sensibilities and cultures from within" and highlighted the potential role for nuns as well as lay women and men.

"It is not simply a question of facilitating a greater presence of ordained ministers who can celebrate the Eucharist," he wrote.

Among those he hinted could take a bigger role in the Amazon were "permanent deacons" -- men who serve as ministers in the Church but are not priests and so can be married.

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after the vote to allow female bishops. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God/Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There is a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness.  …”

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“ … Spirituality (Religions)

Number one: Spirituality. The systems of spiritual design on your planet are starting to change. This is not telling you that certain ones are going to go away. They're simply going to change. Some of the largest spiritual systems, which you would call organized religion on the planet, are shifting. They're going to shift away from that which is authority on the outside to authority on the inside. It will eventually be a different way of worship, slowly changing the rules while keeping the basic doctrine the same.

The doctrine of the Christ has always been to find the God inside. The teachings were clear. The examples of the miracles were given as an example of what humans could do, not to set a man up for worship as a God. So when that has been absorbed, the teaching of the Christ can remain the teaching of the Christ. It simply changes the interpretation. 

The teachings of the great prophets of the Middle East (all related to each other) are about unity and love. So once the holy words are redefined with new wisdom, the Human changes, not the words of the prophets. In fact, the prophets become even more divinely inspired and their wisdom becomes even more profound.

You're going to lose a pope soon. I have no clock. Soon to us can mean anything to you. The one who replaces him may surprise you, for his particular organization will be in survival mode at that point in time. That is to say that fewer and fewer are interested in starting the priesthood. Fewer and fewer young people are interested in the organization, and the new pope must make changes to keep his church alive. That means that his organization will remain, but with a more modern look at what truly is before all of you in a new energy. It is not the fall of the church. It is instead the recalibration of the divinity inside that would match the worship that goes on. It's a win-win situation. The new pope will have a difficult time, since the old guard will still be there. There could even be an assassination attempt, such is the way the old energy dies hard. That is number one. Watch for it. It's a change in the way spiritual systems work. It's a realignment of spiritual systems that resound to a stronger truth that is Human driven, rather than prophet driven.…”

"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

In Peru, 'they teach you to be ashamed,' indigenous trans candidate says

Yahoo – AFP, Carlos MANDUJANO, January 26, 2020

Gahela Cari hopes to become the first indigenous transgender person
elected to the Peruvian Congress (AFP Photo/Ernesto BENAVIDES)

Lima (AFP) - The first indigenous transgender candidate to run for parliament in Peru says it's time to end the culture of machismo in the South American country.

"I suffered, in my own flesh, the consequences of inequality, discrimination, violence and corruption," Gahela Cari, 27, said in an interview with AFP before Sunday's nationwide parliamentary ballot.

"We have to stop educating future macho men," she said during a break from campaigning.

Her candidacy comes as awareness of transgender people and their rights is growing in many countries.

"I'm an animal-rights advocate, an ecologist and a student leader," Cari told AFP. "I come from that part of the left that has always fought."

Cari, who has promised to support the anticorruption reforms of President Martin Vizcarra, is running as a candidate of the leftist Together for Peru party, which seeks to end the political crisis that led Vizcarra to dissolve Congress on September 30.

Small, thin and calm in demeanor, she sported an Andean hat over braided hair during her interview, with bright red lipstick and, tied to her left wrist, the green scarf that symbolizes support for legalized abortion.

What motivated you to run for Congress?

CARI: "We want trans people to have more opportunities. We don't enjoy the same conditions as the rest of the population. It's no coincidence that our life expectancy is less than 32 years. Here the state doesn't guarantee our rights."

Cari, who supports the anticorruption reforms of President Martin Vizcarra, is 

running for office amid growing awareness of transgender people and their rights 

globally (AFP Photo/Ernesto BENAVIDES)

"(Congress) has been more concerned with defending the corrupt. I'm tired of traditional politics. That's why I entered politics, to put Congress at the service of the citizenry."

How do you present yourself to voters?

CARI: "I introduce myself as a trans, indigenous, migrant woman. I was born in the south of the country. My mother is from Ayacucho and my father is from Puno. In this country we receive an education that aims to repress who we are, to repress our sexual identity and to repress our cultural identity. They force us to be ashamed of our roots."

"In a country that teaches you to be ashamed, a country that educates in order to repress you, to describe yourself as an indigenous trans person is already revolutionary. It is using your body to fight; fighting without even uttering a word."

What is the main point in your platform?

CARI: "We want to finish (Vizcarra's) political reform, to complete the reform of the justice system and to launch an economic reform that guarantees the voices of the citizenry and of vulnerable populations."

"We do not want the situation facing women and LGBTQ people to continue, which is why we are proposing a reform to put the fight against gender-based violence and all forms of discrimination on the table."

"We need to stop raising future macho men, future homophobes, future transphobes and woman killers. We need education with respect. I have suffered transphobic bullying in school."

"We're fighting to decriminalize abortion in all cases because we don't believe that a democratic state can continue to condemn a woman to be a mother against her will."

Facts about Peru (AFP Photo/Gustavo IZUS, Nicolas RAMALLO)

Is it true that you practiced prostitution?

CARI: "I had to be involved in prostitution though I didn't want to. It was for a short time... but it was the most complicated stage of my life."

"It was when I was about to finish university. I had gone five days without eating and my stomach was empty. It was a matter of necessity. I got out of it thanks to a network of contacts and thanks to feminists who saved my life."

Were you also a catechist?

CARI: "I was a catechist. I am a believer, I believe in a loving God. I believe that no religion can serve to justify hate."

If you studied law, why aren't you practicing as a lawyer?

CARI: "After finishing my university studies, those in charge refused to let me join the professional association. Without that membership, you can't work, though I tried hard. That depressed me for a while."

Is it difficult to campaign in a country with a tradition of machismo? 

CARI: "We have had to face situations of discrimination throughout the campaign. We have been threatened and have suffered situations of harassment and physical violence."