50 days of protest and one massacre in the Peruvian Amazon

I'm writing this right now from Peru after having taken part in a 5 day Indigenous Peoples Summit held in Puno, Peru in the high Andes. At that gathering we heard from representatives, including Alberto Pizango, elected representative of the Peruvian Amazonian peoples, about the ongoing protests they were waging, and the repression faced as a result, from their opposition to some of the plans the Peruvian government has for 'developing' the Amazon region and opening it for oil, mineral, logging, and agricultural exploitation, on the homelands of many Indigenous communities. In response, there have been over 50 days of continuous protest, shutting down parts of the Amazon and the Andes.

Alberto Pizango addresses a crowd of around 3000 Indigenous Peoples from across the Americas gathered in Puno, on Lake Titicaca. He was interrupted repeatedly by cheers from the crowd, "Pizango, we're with you!"

This morning, the situation took a turn for the worst. The government reacted by sending in police to violently remove the protesters, with different reports claiming as many as 20, 30, or more lives lost in the violent fight that erupted. The protesters had been sleeping at a roadblock maintained over the past few weeks when helicopters arrived and shot at people below, according to witnesses and local journalists. The government has also put out an arrest warrant for Pizango, who spoke today in Lima, for instigating the violence, as if to pretend the intense anger and frustration isn't coming out of the communities themselves. This is not how World Environment Day should be celebrated.

The government has recently signed a number of free trade agreements, including with the US and Canada, and has been seeking to change their domestic laws to encourage foreign investment in the Amazonian region, for the benefit of those companies and the central government in Lima. Many of those new laws have been ruled unconstitutional, and have been in violation of Indigenous Peoples' rights to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, as well as participation in decision making, rights affirmed by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. They threaten the fundamental rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, and cannot be allowed to go through.

Representatives of the Association for Mining Impacted Communities of Peru, at a march during the Summit.

In response, there has been an upsurge of coverage of the situation, bringing the crimes of the current President Garcia into international light. Many Indigenous groups, human rights organizations, and environmental groups have called for him to step down and have also issued calls for demonstrations at Peruvian embassies around the world "until the bloodbath is stopped and the legislative decrees for the Free Trade Agreement with the United States are repealed.". Already demonstrations have been held in Washington, another one being held tonight in front of the Peruvian mission in Los Angeles. Indigenous groups in Peru are calling for letters to be written to the president, as well as international bodies like the United Nations and Amnesty International.

Indigenous Peoples protest in front of the United Nations headquarter two weeks ago, in New York City.

You may also donate to the cause with the following bank information: account number is 395-11-35-338057 (in nuevos soles, Peruvian currency) of the "Banco de Crédito del Peru" The contact information is Nicanor Alvarado Carrasco, coordinator of the "Vicaría del Medio Ambiente de Jaén". Phone: +511 076 433948.

Indigenous peoples gathered at the 4th Indigenous Continental Summit, held in Puno, Peru, May 27-31, 2009

Messages below from the Coordinating Body of Andean Indigenous Organizations - one of the main organizers behind the Indigenous summit of last week.

INTERNATIONAL DENUCIATION of President Alan García Pérez of Peru and his admistration for

Bloody Repression of Indigenous Peoples in the Peruvian Amazon, At least ten to twenty dead.

Urgent: Call to Peaceful Protest in front of the Peruvian Embassies of all countries
In Fulfillment of Commitment to Continental Indigenous Solidarity

The APRA government of Alan García Pérez has unleashed a bloody repression in the Peruvian Amazon this morning. The information is unclear, with no official figures, but reports vary that between ten to twenty dead in Bagua, Corral Quemado area and in the Devil's Curve. Once again, the intent is to impose death over life, slaughter over dialogue. It is the dictatorial response that after 56 days of peaceful indigenous struggle and attempted dialogue and negotiations ends with the bullets of massacres, the same of over 500 years of oppression.

Today, more than ever, it is urgent to implement the commitment of continental solidarity of the Fourth Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala (Puno, Peru, 27 to May 31) and to realize solidarity with the Peruvian People of the Amazon by conducting protests outside the embassies of Peru in all countries, every day, demanding a stop to the bloodshed and repeal of the legislative decrees of implementation regarding the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with United States. Further, to call for an international tribunal against President Alan García Pérez and his government, for its intrigue and repression: it is in debt of at least ten people dead.

The current events have occurred just hours after the Congress, in an openly provocative act, decided to postpone further discussion on the repeal of the legislative decrees of implementation for FTA that facilitate the invasion indigenous territories, while the executive branch moved to send an additional numerous police contingent to the Amazon region.

We call upon indigenous organizations, social movements and human rights organizations around the world to take concrete action: letters to the Peruvian government, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples, Amnesty International, Survival International, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Inter-American Commission Human Rights, International Labor Organization (ILO Convention 169) calling to immediately send missions to Peru, in order to stop the violence and respect indigenous rights.

The organizations of the UN must act resolve and join in the demand raised by the chairman of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Victoria Corpus Tauli, to lift the state of emergency in the Peruvian Amazon, to cease the repression and to honor the international standards that guarantee the exercise of indigenous rights.

Today in Lima, the Peruvian social movement organizations, articulated in the Community Front for Sovereignty and Life will mobilize at 5 pm from the Plaza Francia, demanding to put to a stop the suppression and the repeal of legislative decrees affecting the rights land of Andean and Amazon peoples and national sovereignty.

Entre diez a veinte muertos. Urgente: plantones ante las embajadas peruanas en todos los países, en cumplimiento del acuerdo de la IV Cumbre Continental de Pueblos y Nacionalidades Indígenas del Abya Yala

El gobierno aprista de Alan García Pérez ha desatado una represión sangrienta en la Amazonía Peruana la madrugada de hoy. Las informaciones son confusas, no hay cifras oficiales, pero varían entre diez a veinte muertos en Bagua, zona de Corral Quemado y Curva del Diablo. Nuevamente se pretende imponer la muerte sobre la vida, la masacre sobre el diálogo. Es la respuesta dictatorial luego de 56 días de lucha pacífica indígena y de supuestos diálogos y negociaciones, que terminan en las balas de siempre, las mismas de más de 500 años de opresión.

Hoy más que nunca es urgente cumplir el acuerdo de la IV Cumbre Continental de los Pueblos y Nacionalidades Indígenas del Abya Yala (Puno, Perú, 27 al 31 de mayo) y hacer efectiva nuestra solidaridad con los pueblos amazónicos peruanos, realizando plantones ante las embajadas del Perú en todos los países, todos los días, hasta que se detenga el baño de sangre y se deroguen los decretos legislativos del TLC con Estados Unidos. E impulsar el juicio internacional a Alan García Pérez y su gobierno, por su entreguismo y la represión: tiene una deuda de por lo menos diez muertos.

Esto ocurre horas después de que el Congreso de la República, en un abierto acto de provocación, decidiera postergar nuevamente el debate de la derogatoria de los decretos legislativos pro TLC que facilitan la invasión de territorios indígenas, mientras el Poder Ejecutivo enviaba nuevos numerosos contingentes policiales a la amazonía.

Llamamos a las organizaciones indígenas, movimientos sociales y organizaciones de derechos humanos de todo el mundo, a tomar acciones concretas: cartas al gobierno peruano, al Relator Especial de las Naciones Unidas para Pueblos Indígenas, a Amnistía Internacional, Survival International, a los Premios Nóbel de la Paz, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Organización Internacional del Trabajo (Convenio 169), para que envíen de inmediato misiones al Perú, para detener esta violencia y se respeten los derechos indígenas.

Los organismos de la ONU deben pronunciarse con firmeza, sumándose a la demanda planteada por la presidenta del Foro Permanente para Cuestiones Indígenas, Victoria Tauli, de levantar el estado de emergencia, no usar la represión y cumplir con las normas internacionales que garantizan el ejercicio de los derechos indígenas.

Hoy en Lima, todas las organizaciones del movimiento social peruano, articuladas en el Frente Comunitario por la Vida y la Soberanía, se movilizarán a las 5 de la tarde desde la Plaza Francia, exigiendo poner alto a la represión y derogar los decretos legislativos que afectan los derechos territoriales de los pueblos indígenas andinos y amazónicos y la soberanía nacional.

Comments

Submitted by thanks on June 6, 2009 - 6:30am.

thanks for this.

i wonder, as i have for twenty years, why do Indigenous peoples understand and vigorously oppose banker-corp investment deals (aka 'free trade') while most white residents don't ?

Submitted by thanks on June 6, 2009 - 6:34am.

i'm thinking about here in the north mostly- maybe i'm conflating too Southern activism with Northern 'aggressive apathy'...

Submitted by thanks on June 6, 2009 - 7:44am.

maybe its because financial centres are predominantly in the north.

so the investment deals are rigged always for northern bankers to profit.

white northerners get minimal benefits, to keep FTA politicians elected - all at the expense of, and enough to put supporters at some advantage over, Indigenous and other peoples particularly in the South.

these peoples suffer more, and see more clearly the roots of the problem.

Submitted by speek on June 6, 2009 - 12:37pm.

Ben - Thank you for posting this. At present I am in Chachapoyas approximately 3 hours from Bagua. Estimates here place the number of those killed at approximately 200 which includes children as young as 4 who were killed when Garcia´s forces opened fire from the helicopter.

Here, the community in partnership with the Municipality has been collecting donations of water, medical supplies and blood donations since yesterday which went out to Bagua this morning. A vigil was held from 8pm last night and continues this morning. Demonstrations also continue today as raised voices in solidarity with those in Bagua echo outside the internet cafe from where I am passing on this note.

Submitted by RAUL FLORES on June 12, 2009 - 2:33pm.

Ben - You should tell the TRUTH about this, all your blog is full of lies and misinformation. First of all you do not mention that the great majority of the deaths are policemen, this policemen were slaughtered by Alberto Pizango's gang. Please find out who really is their leader, Alberto Pizango, fyi the NGO that he lead received almost 4 million US dollars in the last two years, where is that money? and this is only the money he declared; behind all this revolt are the dirty hands of Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez. The law that caused all this is actually oriented to protect the natives, Have you ever read that law? I am sure that you not, please take the time to inform yourself.