The following story was translated by me from an official document handed out by the mayor of the community of Lomas Campamento, Paraguay.Erna Hill had given a copy of it to my wife while she was on official business in Paraguay. Erna hoped that the knowledge of these people would lead to more interest in their circumstances and the possibility of prosperity for their dance groups.

My brothers: I write to you in my capacity as Director of the Ballet Camba, and as representative of the Community of Lomas Campamento and of the Commission for the Recovery of Our Lands. I welcome you to our story and regret that we cannot meet in person.

W would like to tell you a little bit about ourselves, how we arrived in Paraguay and how we live today.

Our ancestor, the honor guard for General Jose Gervasio Artigas, accompanied the General to Paraguay while he was seeking political asylum from Uruguay. From what the current Ambassador of Uruguay, Alberico Villar has told us, there were approximately 100 people in the group, mostly men, who decided to enter Paraguay with the General when he went into exile in 1821. The intention was that with the passing of time they would be able to return to battle in Uruguay. They were much surprised when the dictator of Paraguay at the time, Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, who had granted them asylum, dispersed them into three groups widely separated from each other. Sergeant Ansina remained with General Artigas in Caraguatay. A second group was sent to what is called Laurelty today, and our ancestors were sent to Lomas Campamento, which used to be within the city jurisdiction of San Loreno and is now within the city of Fernando de la Mora. Besides suffering the forced separation of our group. we were forbidden to leave our assigned locations. Given our situation, forced to look inside ourselves for the strength to continue our lives, I imagine that the sound and rhythms that accompanied our drumming took on even greater importance than before. Even today we carry on our early traditions and have a special place in our heart for the country of our ancestors in Uruguay.

We don't have much knowledge about these last 175 years in Paraguay. We do know that in the wars that Paraguay has fought there have been men from our people who played significant roles, such as Sergeant Candido Silva, a close relative of mine.

Little by little they took away our land that had been given to us, where we had become self-sufficient by raising cattle and by planting orchards. WE maintained our traditions, the sound of the drums and dancing, the festival of our patron saint, Baltazar.

Some years back some Uruguayan reporters came to visit, and "discovered" us. Since that time we have come to be in closer and closer contact with the country of our ancestors. The Ballet Camba Cua was invited, sponsored by the Uruguayan Ambassador to Paraguay, to participate in the "Pear" festival in 1992, where we won the honor of the grand prize. The Ballet Camba Cua was invited to Montevideo where we met, and spoke with the President of Uruguay, Luis Alberto Lacalle. We were received with open arms by the Uruguayan people. Last year we had the honor of a visit to Lomas Campamento by President Lacalle.

Some years back a group was formed to assure the survival of our traditions. This group came to be known as the Ballet Camba Cua. There are two age groups, one for children 4 to 8 years old, and another from 8 to approximately 14 years old. At the same time we are trying to encourage those who have an interest in learning how to play the drums, so that our traditions will never fade away.

To continue, we quote a letter that was written to us by the Ambassador of Uruguay, dated the 19th of July this year, in response to a request from the Uruguayan Congress regarding our present conditions.

...regarding the problem of the land that was confiscated during the dictatorship of Stroessner. We feel obligated to tell you that the Community of Lomas Campamento (Camba Cua) is extremely agitated. Toward the end of June, 1994 they heard rumors that outsiders were planning to invade their territory."

These lands are those from which we were separated by military force, and policemen, during the reign of Stroessner. First we were intimidated by them, afterwards came lawyers with documents for us to sign. They told us that if we didn't sign the papers then they would use force to drive us from our lands. We pursued legal channels for more than 20 years to recover our lands where we had lived with General Artigas. This unequal battle came to a conclusion during the dictatorship of general Stroessner, with the only result that one could expect in those days. We consoled ourselves with the idea that when democracy came to Paraguay we could renew our struggle to recover our lost territory.

We who were children at the time, too young to understand what the soldiers were doing to our parents, now continue the struggle, aided by those who suffered the loss of their livelihoods, the land where our traditions had been passed from generation to generation, brought from our ancestral land, Uruguay, the movements of the dance in veneration of Saint Baltazar, the respect for and the longing to know more about the country of our ancestors.

We're not talking about a simple piece of earth. We were born there by midwives, crawling on all fours under the mango trees, listening for the first time to the sound of the drums, watching our elders dance to Saint Baltazar. There we heard our parent tell the unique story of our identity, where we came from. There we played in the playground "6th of January", there we prayed in the old oratory, there we began to dance, to play the drums, to continue the traditions that were brought to Paraguay in 1821. This place was the inspiration for Hipolito Sanchez Quell and Mauricio Cardozo Ocampo (famous Paraguayan composers and musicians) who first played their composition "San Baltazar" in 1954. The verses of the song told the story of the "6th of January", music that is now part of Paraguayan folklore. Many of our generations have lived on those lands.

It's not important that we recover our ancient lands because of their past and future significance. It isimportant that our people have a sense of their history, their identity, feeling that history of the land where their great grandparents walked the earth. We don't want our children to leave this land, far from where we could pass on our traditions to them, our roots, our rhythmic drumming and dancing., the veneration of Saint Baltazar, living these traditions every day. We dream of a future where we can have a school for our children, where the chapel can be rebuilt, perhaps even a central park, a place where we could teach our children the rhythm of the drums and the dances, a place to build our future homes.

The persistent rumors of occupation of our lands by outsiders was confirmed by two of our people who attended a meeting organized by those who want our land. On the 29th of June there was a first meeting of community members in la Capilla. It was decided that the time was right to begin another campaign to regain our lands. A commission was formed to advance the cause through legal channels. Already we had formed a group that was watching day and night for signs of invasion, and who would sound the alarm if someone tried to occupy our land. The decision was also mad to advise the municipality of Fernando de la Mora of what was happening, and to ask for their help.

The meeting of the Community Commission with intendant Julio Cesar Franco and the municipal councils led to positive results. The municipality would join with us to patrol the area, and advised him that the residents had formed a "Protection Commission" to watch over their land.

Teh Municipal Council voted to ask the National Parliament to ask for the return of these lands to the descendants of the Artigas guard. All the appropriate municipal departments seconded the petition. The juridical counsel has been give the task to validate the petition. documents from the archive of the Ballet Camba Cua have been sent to validate our claim. The results of the petition by the municipality are awaited this week. It will be evaluated by the Community Commission before its formal presentation to the parliament and to the general public.

This petition was taken to the National Congress by the municipality of Fernando de la Mora. A deputy of the LIberal Party (the same party of the Intendent) was charged with presenting the petition. To this point in time nothing has happened. The deputy seems to be very interested in our cause, but it is difficult to get in touch with him. We have many questions and we want to do what we cant to plead our cause. The Ballet has good contacts with the press, and can summon the press to present a positive image of our situation. The Ballet has often stressed the need to have our lands returned to us. The legislative session is about to end for this year, and apparently they will not consider this matter until next year. We should clarify that we are only asking for 5 1/2 hectares behind a large wall (that doesn't even refer to the streets that should be there, and that would ease the traffic between one side of the barrio a and the other side), in the midst of which is our present village, land that largely is also without title. We're not even mentioning the lands that were stolen from us in the forties under the government of Morinigo, that are now part of the National University. In the meantime, the so-called owner has apparently rented part of the land on one of the principal avenues to someone who is selling automobiles. We understood that the Municipality of Fernando de la Mora had zones these lots as prohibited from commercial development. We have been informed that the "owner" is free to do whatever he pleases. This is the first time that a development has occurred on this land since it was taken from us, although it has changed hands many times since then. Now we are trying to see what we can do to prevent the land from being developed, since the request for development is coming up next year.

We live in a village that is a half hour by bus from the center of Asuncion, with unpaved, unmaintained streets. Just recently we have had access to purified water. We do have electricity. What garbage collection we have is expensive and unreliable. We don't have a school and this is one of our most important needs.

We have written our story so that it can be shared with our black brothers in South America. We would like to meet them and to share experiences.

Lazaro Medina, Director of the Ballet Camba Cua.