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VENEZUELA: Rain God Gets His Own Planet

Humberto Márquez - Tierramérica*

CARACAS, Sep 4 2003 (IPS) - A "mini-planet" far out in our solar system, discovered by astronomers at a Venezuelan observatory, will bear the name Huya (Juyá), the rain god of the Wayúu Indians who live on the arid Guajira Peninsula of northern Venezuela and Colombia.

The Wayúu hope that their god, from his new vantage point in the company of Neptune and Pluto, will work some miracle to alleviate the thirst their lands have suffered for several generations.

Juyá measures some 600 km in diameter and is composed of rock and ice. It is located in the outer reaches of the band of celestial bodies beyond Neptune, known as the Kuiper Belt, after the man who discovered it in 1951, Dutch-U.S. astronomer Gerard Kuiper.

Larger than the asteroids in its group, it is a tiny planet, barely a quarter the size of Pluto, the smallest of the nine in the solar system.

It was discovered "the night of March 14-15 in 2000 by researcher Ignacio Ferrín, using the Schmidt telescope with a 100-cm lens, at the University of the Andes Astronomy Research Centre," the research team’s spokesman, Johnny Cova, told Tierramérica.

"It was named Object 2000-EB173, until recently, when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) accepted its new name," publishing it in an official list Jul. 7, said Cova.

It takes Juyá 243 years to complete its orbit around the Sun, a path that is an elongated ellipse. The possibility of life on the little planet has been ruled out, as its surface temperature is 180 degrees below zero Celsius, according to Ferrín.

The planet was formed by a shower of rocks, as occurred in the formation of Earth, says the scientist. He pursued a name that would represent the place from where the planet was discovered – Venezuela – and its native peoples, while also evoking the idea of rain.

"There was consensus that it should be an indigenous name. But that wasn’t enough, because it needed literary or mythological references and to have traits in common with the mini-planet," Ferrín said.

It could have been named María Lionza, mythical native princess that protects the flora and fauna of central-western Venezuela. But that option was ruled out because the name represents a cult object for hundreds of thousands of people.

Ferrín finally turned to the Wayúu because they are the largest indigenous group in the country.

The name Juyá was chosen from among more than 20 names considered by astronomers, anthropologists and Wayúu leaders, headed by Jorge Pocaterra. Juyá – god of rain, a warrior, hunter, seducer and inhabitant of "the place beyond the Sun".

To facilitate its pronunciation in English, the spelling has been altered to "Huya".

"It is a new recognition for our people and a reminder to the world about our existence and our demands," Wayúu leader Noelí Pocaterra, vice-president of the Venezuelan parliament, said in a conversation with Tierramérica.

The Wayúu, also known as "Guajiros" after the land where they live, are the most numerous of the 31 indigenous nations of Venezuela: some 200,000 out of a total 511,000 Indians in this country of 24 million people.

Another 150,000 Wayúu live on the Colombian side of the border. Their language is of the Arawak family.

The Wayúu are goat herders, weavers, fisherfolk, salt miners and merchants – and there are even known to be smugglers among them.

Pocaterra recognises that since 1999, when President Hugo Chávez first took office, indigenous rights have been reinforced, such as the constitutional provision that Venezuela’s Indians have the right to enjoy the riches of their lands.

But in the sun-beaten Guajira Peninsula, there is a dire need for development. "One of our demands is the demarcation of our territory. There was a time when the entire Guajira belonged to us. Now we have been granted just a few dry parcels, so water shortages are a pressing problem," said the Wayúu leader.

"The lack of water is the biggest problem. Whether through rain, the construction of lagoons or the activation of desalinisation plants, we hope that Juyá, god of the rains now recognised the world over, will perform the miracle of water," she said.

(* Humberto Márquez is an IPS correspondent. Originally published Aug. 30 by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.)