MEXICO CITY (IPS)�Indigenous organizations throughout Latin America held a variety of protests to commemorate the 507th anniversary of the arrival of the Spaniards to the Americas.

The "D�a de la Raza," "D�a de Hispanidad," Columbus Day or Discoverers� Day are just a few of the names used by governments on the American continent to refer to October 12, a date that indigenous groups do not want to see celebrated because to them it represents the start of exploitation and oppression.

An estimated 75 million indigenous people died in the 16th and 17th centuries in Latin America due to forced labor, wars and epidemics under Spanish colonialism. And although they enjoy a greater political presence today, a majority of the roughly 45 million indigenous members of 400 ethnic groups found in the Americas, mainly in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico, remain firmly in the grip of poverty and marginalization.

In a number of countries in the region, including Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador, indigenous groups organized protest marches, arts festivals and debates, demanding that their governments recognize the rights of native groups to ownership of ancestral lands, autonomy and respect for their culture and identity.

Honduras highlighted the various aspects of the continuing struggle waged by indigenous people in Latin America.

A demonstration outside the presidential palace by around 5,000 indigenous and Black protesters was broken up by the National Police using tear gas, rubber bullets and batons. At least six demonstrators were injured.

Minister of the Presidency Gustavo Alfaro admitted that the protesters had been granted a permit to march past the presidential palace. "We lament this incident,�� he said.

Earlier, the demonstrators had successfully blocked a constitutional reform project in the Honduran parliament, which would have authorized the sale of public land in coastal and border areas for the development of tourist projects.

Indigenous leader Salvador Zuniga said communities living in those areas would be displaced by national and foreign investors if Congress approved the proposed amendment.

The reform of article 107 of the constitution�which reserves for the state property rights over, and bans the sale of, all land around the country�s coast and borders, as a means of defending national sovereignty�made it through a first vote last year in Congress. But, it still must undergo another vote.

However, the president of Congress, Rafael Pineda Ponce of the governing Liberal Party, assured reporters that the amendment of article 107 had been ruled out.

"Indigenous blood runs through my veins, and we must address the just demands of our brothers,�� said Mr. Pineda Ponce, who added that he had given instructions to pull the draft amendment off the legislative agenda.

The demonstration outside Congress was organized by the Civic Committee of Indigenous Organizations and Blacks of Honduras, along with several associations of subsistence-level farmers.

The protesters also called on the Ministry of Security to resolve the murders of around a dozen indigenous leaders, killed in disputes over land by gunmen hired by landowners and ranchers in western and northern Honduras. Furthermore, they called on the National Agrarian Institute to speed up the paperwork involved in granting indigenous groups titles to their land, and to expedite the agrarian reform process.

Lastly, the demonstrators gathered outside the Supreme Court to protest a legal ruling over land disputes and demand the release of imprisoned peasant activists.

But the momentum felt throughout the region seven years ago seems to have waned.

"The 12th of October is symbolic, but it is no longer a reference point, as it was in 1992, for pushing for substantial changes in the situation of indigenous peoples,�� said Jos� del Val, director of the Inter-American Indigenist Institute, an Organization of American States (OAS) agency based in Mexico.

The 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas was marked by massive protest demonstrations, government pledges, the awarding of the Nobel Peace prize to Guatemalan indigenous leader Rigoberta Mench�, and the election of V�ctor Hugo C�rdenas, a member of an indigenous group, as vice- president of Bolivia.

Discussions in the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations on draft declarations on the rights of indigenous peoples were also given a new impulse.

The draft declarations on the rights of indigenous peoples have been under discussion in the OAS and UN for over 10 years. Analysts say the discussions have been held up by the reluctance of governments to recognize the right to autonomy of indigenous communities.