Ruth Buendía, awarded the Bartolomé de las Casas Prize./ Picture: House of America.
Julio García. Madrid.
Her contribution to the human and sustainable development and her long trajectory in defence of the environment are the jury’s reasons to award the Asháninka native from Peru, Ruth Buendía, the XXIII Bartolomé de las Casas Prize.
The jury also underlined that capacity of leadership that Buendía has as president of the Central Asháninka in the River Ene, grouping 17 native communities and 33 outside communities, to award her with this prize.
This indigenous activist could stop the hydroelectric project of Patizipatango, a dam that would had flooded the land where 10 communities are established. Besides, the jury especially highlighted her work she carried out to achieve access to public services, to health and to education for her communities, in the same conditions as the rest of the country.
The award wants to recognize the harmony with the indigenous people
The secretary’s office of the State for International Cooperation and for Latin America of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the House of America present, since 1991, the Bartolomé de las Casas Awards, to recognize the work in favour of the understanding and the harmony with the indigenous people, in the interest of the protection of their rights and the respect of their values.
This award has been named after the Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas (1484-1566), a symbol of the defence of the indigenous rights. The award has an endowment of fifty thousand euros, which is accompanied by a medal with the image of the Dominican.
