Following the 1968 Guyanese elections, the First Conference of Amerindians Leaders, named the "Cabacaburi Congress", presented demands to Prime Minister Forbes Burnham who represented the community of around 40,000 indigenous people of the Rupununi district. The movement defended the integration of natives to Guyanese society, inconsonant with Bunham's afrocentrist policies. Factions within the indigenous society in South Esequibo felt threatened by the possible distribution of agricultural parcels among the sectors that had supported the Minister, which caused some of the inhabitants to rebel. Guyanese Agriculture Minister, Robert Jordan, declared that the government would not recognize the inhabitants' land ownership certifications and warned that the zone would be occupied by the African American population. Afterwards these declarations, Valerie Hart was appointed as president of the Provisional Government Committee of Rupununi.