[R-P] Nicaraguan Human Rights Attorney Fighting for Indigenous Rights Target of Assassination Attempt

[Mike Friedman]

BTL:Nicaraguan Human Rights Attorney Fighting for Indigenous Rights Target 
of Assassination Attempt
by Between The Lines' Denise Manzari 6:40am Sat Nov 2 '02

address: BETWEEN THE LINES c/o WPKN Radio 89.5 FM Bridgeport, Connecticut 
betweenthelines en snet.net

Interview with Maria Acosta, Center for Legal Assistance to Indigenous 
Peoples in Nicaragua conducted by Denise Manzari

On April 8, Francisco Garcia Valle, a well-known university professor in 
Bluefields, Nicaragua, was viciously murdered in his home and was found 
bound, gagged, and shot in the chest. At the time of the murder, Valle's 
wife Maria Luisa Acosta was meeting with a delegation from IFCO/Pastors for 
Peace.

Acosta is an internationally known attorney who has received threats to her 
physical safety in the past because of her work on behalf of indigenous 
communities struggling to keep their land and protect basic human rights.

In September, a forensics expert traced one of the bullets which killed 
Valle to a weapon registered to Peter Martinez, attorney for Peter Tsokos, 
an American citizen and real estate developer who claims he "purchased" the 
Pearl Cays, seven small islands off the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, for 
$30,000. Since then, Tsokos has sold some of the islands for half a million 
dollars each.

But this land was guaranteed to local indigenous communities under the 
Nicaraguan Constitution and the 1988 Atlantic Coast Autonomy Act. Acosta 
represents the Autonomous Region of the South Atlantic Coast against Tsokos.

Despite these laws, the courts of Nicaragua have been accused of ignoring 
these rights and collaborating with U.S. corporations to privatize and sell 
indigenous people's lands.

Maria Acosta is coordinator of the Center for Legal Assistance for 
Indigenous Peoples or CALPI. She spoke with Between The Lines' Denise 
Manzari about her husband's murder and international concern for her 
continued safety.

For more information about the case, call Pastors for Peace (212) 926-5757 
or visit their Web site www.ifconews.org
*

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