Toney Jones, the Chief of Chiefs for Upper-Takutu/Upper Essequibo Administrative Region in southern Guyana nearer Brazil told BBC Caribbean Radio the alleged sexual exploitation of Amerindian females by Afro and Indo Guyanese, who they call coastlanders, is a major problem.

"When these police from outside - even our own indigenous brothers - come here, we need to know if they are single or if they are married," he said.

"Because they come here and say, 'I don't have a wife' and the next thing you know three or four children will come and the woman is left with the children for her to fend for them and this is not fair."

Education campaign

Ethnic Relations Commission chairman Juan Edghill said the allegations will be investigated but he doubts whether the Commission can do much if two adults have agreed to sexual intercourse.

He believes that much will depend on public awareness and education, targeting the Amerindian communities.

"That will be out of our jurisdiction. We can't get into adults' lives and tell people who to sleep with or not to sleep with," he said.

"If you like the headmaster or the police officer, the ERC can't come in and determine that if it’s consensual," Edghill said.

"But if it's a case that we're seeing a widespread situation where men come in to communities, make children, disappear and it's a burden on the social services of that community to take care of those children then education and internal mechanisms would have to be approached, it can’t be an ERC approach."

Mr Jones said the Amerindians are also tired of being exploited by politicians in the run-up to general elections a time he calls the 'Mango Season'.

His comments come as the country gears up for the 2006 General Elections and politicians are visit Amerindian communities to try and secure votes by making promises and showering communities with gifts.

"Politicians come here and all you hear is 'who bad, who this, who that' all the time in our communities, election after election," the Chief of Chiefs said.

"What you find is you have a divide, so in between elections, we're ok but when the elections are coming near, the divisions begin and that is not a healthy situation."

Webmaster Notes:

Guyana

Amerindians

The Amerindians are the descendants of the indigenous people of Guyana; they are broadly grouped into coastal and interior tribes. The term tribes is a linguistic and cultural classification rather than a political one. The coastal Amerindians are the Carib, Arawak, and Warao, whose names come from the three language families of the Guyanese Amerindians. The population of coastal Carib in Guyana declined in the nineteenth century, but Arawak and Warao communities can be found near the Pomeroon and Courantyne rivers.

The interior Amerindians are classified into seven tribes: Akawaio, Arekuna, Barama River Carib, Macusi, Patamona, Waiwai, and Wapisiana. The Barama River Carib, Akawaio, Arekuna, and Patamona live in river valleys in western Guyana. Two Amerindian groups live in the Rupununi Savannah region: the Macusi in the northern half and the Wapisiana in the southern half. The Waiwai live in the far south of the country, near the headwaters of the Essequibo River. All of the interior Amerindians originally spoke Carib languages, with the exception of the Wapisiana, whose language is in the Arawak linguistic family.

By the 1990s, all of the Amerindian groups had undergone extensive acculturation. The coastal Amerindians were the most acculturated, sharing many cultural features with lower-class Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese. There had been considerable intermarriage between coastal Amerindians and Afro-Guyanese. The Waiwai and the Barama River Carib were probably the least acculturated of the Amerindians. Nevertheless, most Amerindians spoke English (or near Brazil, Portuguese) as a first or second language. Almost all Amerindians had been affected by missionary efforts for many decades. Finally, most Amerindians had been integrated in one way or another into the national economic system, though usually at the lowest levels.