For years, the dispute over Chinese Landing’s titled lands has played out through court proceedings, government offices and mining operations. It has now moved to a dirt road at Tassawini, where residents have mounted a round-the-clock blockade to prevent heavy equipment from entering the community’s territory.
At the centre of the confrontation is Toshao Nikita Miller, the elected leader of Chinese Landing and one of the community’s most vocal defenders of its land rights and the authority of the Village Council.
A Toshao is the elected leader of an Amerindian village, representing residents and working through the Village Council on matters including land, development and relations with government agencies and outside interests. For Miller, that responsibility has placed her at the centre of a longstanding dispute over a basic question — whether Indigenous title provides real protection when commercially valuable resources are found beneath community lands.
Miller has led residents in opposing the movement of heavy equipment into the Tassawini area, saying the machinery was brought in without the Village Council’s consent.
“We’re not allowing them to do anything. Residents are camped out there.”
The standoff began after equipment linked to miner Wayne Vieira was brought to Tassawini. Operators have said the machinery is intended for road construction, but Miller has questioned that explanation, pointing to the scale of the equipment and the history of mining in the area.
“There are enough machinery already in the backdam that pass in without the village consent. Why the need for all of these machinery now. They are going to do mining, and pretending that they are coming to do the road.”
For Miller, the central issue is not opposition to development but the legal authority of the Village Council over its titled territory.
“They haven’t gotten permission from the village. They never seek for permission to enter and that is based on which is stipulated in the Amerindian Act.”
She also points to the Mining Act, arguing that miners intending to operate on village lands must first obtain the council’s consent.
“The only intervention from Government, that they could help right now, and what we are standing up for right now is based mainly on the Amerindian Act – that when it comes to entry and access to village land, and it is also stipulated in the Mining Act, that if a miner wishes to carry out work on village land, he has to seek the permission of the Village Council before doing so.”
The dispute has a long history. Chinese Landing received title to its lands in 1976, according to the Amerindian Peoples Association, with the title reissued in 1991. The APA says the community’s title predates Vieira’s prospecting permits and that the disputed Tassawini area lies within the village’s titled boundaries.
Miller has described the conflict as a struggle lasting decades, saying the community has been fighting over its land since mining interests obtained access to the area in the 1990s.
The conflict has also attracted international attention. In 2023, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued precautionary measures concerning Chinese Landing following allegations involving threats, harassment, environmental harm and violations of Indigenous rights.
The Guyanese Government subsequently imposed a temporary halt on mining in the area and said it would work with the Village Council to address the concerns.
But Miller says the fundamental dispute remains unresolved.
As the latest standoff entered its fourth day, she said government agencies had not meaningfully engaged the Village Council, even as discussions were taking place between the miner and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.
“GGMC is talking with the miner. The village itself is not involved. No one has reached out to us.”
The dispute also extends beyond ownership and access to concerns about the environment. Miller has repeatedly raised alarms about mining’s impact on the Barama River, which residents rely on for fishing, washing and recreation.
“The mining, I can say, in whole in the Barama River, I can say not from Tassawini alone contributed to the pollution of the Barama River, but part of mining contributed heavily to the Barama River.”
She says families are now paying the price.
“We cannot swim, wash our clothing, or fish in that well. I wish as parents we could tie down our kids to keep them from playing in the water.”
Miller acknowledges that the dispute has taken an emotional toll.
“It affects me mentally. You just want to break down. You cry when you see these things happen and the government is not helping. It hurts your heart what Amerindians are facing with.”
She said she has at times considered resigning as Toshao, but fears that doing so would leave the community without a leader willing to confront the issue.
“Sometimes, you know, I choose to send in my resignation and just give up and look after my family instead, but then I said again, if I do this, who’s going to take up that role?”
Ultimately, Miller says she remains because the struggle did not begin with her and cannot end with her.
“The former ones that caused us to be here are already dead and gone, and we got to continue the fight.”
That fight now stands at Tassawini, where residents remain on the ground and heavy machinery remains at the centre of a dispute over land, mining and Indigenous authority.
The ongoing confrontation is about more than a road or a mining operation. It is about whether a community that holds legal title to its land has the power to decide what happens on it — and whether that right will be respected when gold is at stake.
