Margarita Mbywangi

Margarita Mbywangi (born 1962) is an Aché indigenous leader and in 2008 was the Minister of Indigenous Affairs in Paraguay. Her main goals focus on gaining indigenous land rights, protecting Paraguay's forested lands and improving indigenous access to potable water, food and health care. Margarita is a skilled poet and was quoted by BBC as saying 'For an Indian the forest represents "his mother, his life, his present and future"'.^[1]

On August 18, 2008, President Fernando Lugo named Margarita Mbywangi, a member of the Aché indigenous group of eastern Paraguay, as minister of indigenous affairs, the first indigenous person to hold such a position in Paraguay.^[2]

According to various news sources, at the age of 4 she was captured in the jungle near the Aché community of Chupapou and was sold several times into forced labour to families of hacienda owners. She had also been sent to school, so she could read and write. In 2008 she was completing a high school diploma. The mother-of-three promised to meet those who opposed her appointment, in order to ease their concerns, she said "We are immediately going to help colleagues from different communities who are experiencing a difficult situation due to lack of potable water, food and clothing."^[3]

References

1. ^ BBC Paraguayan Indian named minister, Tuesday, 19 August 2008
2. ^ http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/19/inauguration_of_paraguays_new_president_fernando
3. ^ Guardian Paraguay: Former slave gets cabinet position Margarita Mbywangi becomes first indigenous person to oversee ethnic Indian affairs in the country guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 August 2008 [1]

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Name	Mbywangi, Margarita
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Date of birth	1962
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