PANAMA ESTABLISHES COMARCA EMBERÁ-WOUNAAN AUTONOMOUS REGION
By Law No. 22, Panama created the Emberá-Wounaan Comarca—an indigenous territory set aside for the collective use of the Embera and Wounaan indigenous groups. The Emberá-Wounaan Comarca is in eastern Panama within the territories of Chepigana and Pinogana districts, Darién Province, with its capital Unión Chocó. The region is divided into two districts. The law guarantees that the properties and rights of the inhabitants within the region, the collective property of the land, in addition to bilingual education and use of natural resources, shall be respected. The Emberá-Wounaan General Congress is the highest decisional body of the Emberá-Wounaan peoples, and includes both territories, which have their own cacique (chief), and their regional congress is divided into local congresses. The purpose of the law was in order to dedicate the groups to agricultural and industrial activities, as well as to other programs that promote their integral development.
Sources:
“Embera (Panama). Comerca Embera-Wounaan,” Pueblos Originaris. Retrieved 7/18/2019, https://pueblosoriginarios.com/centro/confluencia/embera/embera.html
Wikipedia
Graphic: Shadowxfox, 4/4/2011. Permissive Use pursuant to the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en