AMERICA/NICARAGUA - Miskita communities in Rio Coco region in conditions of hunger and total isolation

Thursday, 6 September 2007

Rio Coco (Agenzia Fides) - 12,000 Miskita families in the Río Coco region are completely abandoned, assaulted by armed bandits which steal and extort food from the subsistence farming communities.
This was reported by a group of students from Trópico Seco Catholic University in the diocese of Estelí who, during a recent visit, found Miskita communities in San Andrés de Bocay and Tuburus, north of Jinotega, in conditions of extreme hunger and poverty.
One of the University teachers Roberto Petray, regional coordinator of the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights, said that in San Andrés de Bocay there is only one army post, one health clinic and one doctor.
Moreover the journey to the area is complicated. First you have to go to Wiwilí, and from take a three day boat journey on the River Río Coco.
The University has offered 15 young Miskito people in San Andrés de Bocay study grants for courses in Agronomy, Medicine and Theology at the Northern Nicaraguan Centre for Higher Studies.
Groups of students and teachers from Trópico Seco Catholic University make three visits to this area every year. The next visit, planned for January 2008, will be funded by the diocese of Estelí. (AP) (6/9/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:19; Parole:217)


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