Ex slave joins Paraguay's cabinet

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Ex slave joins Paraguay's cabinet

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Barry Artiste. Now Public Contributor

Certainly a woman, who can say she came from horrific times and will understand the people of Paraguay, and issues at hand.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/08/18/pf-6493241.html

August 18, 2008 Ex slave joins Paraguay's cabinet

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASUNCION, Paraguay - An Indian woman who says she was captured in the jungle and sold into forced labour as a girl became a member of Paraguay's cabinet on Monday, pledging to improve life for the South American country's indigenous population.

Path-breaking President Fernando Lugo formally named Margarita Mbywangi minister of indigenous affairs as the former Roman Catholic bishop began setting up his government following his inauguration Friday, which ended 61 years of rule by the Colorado Party.

The 46-year-old Ache chief, a mother of three who is studying for her high school diploma, becomes the first indigenous person to oversee Indian affairs in Paraguay following a career as an activist defending the lands of her people, a group of several hundred who until recently were nearly all hunter-gatherers.