Peruvian National Indigenous Movement and Policy
Bagua and Criminalization
Bagua: One Year After Violent Clashes in Peru, Situation for Indigenous Rights Little Improved
June 5th, 2010 marked the one-year anniversary of the violent clashes in Bagua and Oil Pumping Station 6, which resulted in 34 deaths and dozens suffering serious wounds over the 5th and 6th of June 2009. The incident was sparked when the Peruvian government sent military police to suppress peaceful indigenous protesters who were blocking a road near the Amazonian town of Bagua. Even though the protesters had already reached an agreement with police to disperse later that morning, the police attacked. Indigenous communities had been protesting across the Peruvian Amazon for almost two months in response to Peruvian President Alan Garcia's announcement of a series of legislative decrees designed to roll back indigenous land rights and open up the last vestiges of the Peruvian Amazon to destructive oil and gas drilling. Government officials had claimed the new decrees were required for the implementation of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement.
Many Peruvians came together to commemorate the anniversary of this tragic event and to assess the current state of indigenous rights in Peru. Amazon Watch was on the ground immediately following the 2009 clashes, and again in 2010 to help bring indigenous voices to the international media.
Criminalization of Indigenous Leaders and Social Protest
Another major concern is the government's pursuit of baseless criminal charges against numerous indigenous leaders. Alberto Pizango, the President of AIDESEP who returned to Peru following almost a year in exile in Nicaragua. While Pizango was released within 24 hours of his immediate detention, the serious charges against him have not been dropped. Over 200 criminal cases are still pending against indigenous leaders across the country, most arising out of the events of Bagua. According to Peruvian human rights experts, the criminal cases are based on unfounded, politically motivated charges and appear to represent a government strategy to weaken the indigenous movement by criminalizing indigenous leaders and legitimate social protest.
Amazon Watch is working to support indigenous leaders in fighting these baseless charges. Trials are expected to begin in September 2010, and those accused need support in order to prevail in Peru's biased, and often compromised, judicial system.
Legislative Reforms
Indigenous peoples have faced numerous challenges in recent years as the Peruvian government continues a policy that marginalizes and discriminates against them while aggressively promoting the extraction of natural resources in the Amazon. The tragic clashes in Bagua in 2009 occurred as a result of protests over new laws unilaterally passed by President Alan Garcia in 2008 that instituted major changes to land rights and forestry, in the name of ensuring compliance with the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement. Following the clashes, the government responded to international pressure by establishing four discussion roundtables to investigate what happened, analyze the problematic legislation, develop a consultation law and prepare an indigenous development policy.
Unfortunately, while some important advances were made, the government reacted by criminalizing indigenous leaders and their supporters and denying responsibility for what happened in Bagua. Nor has the Peruvian government implemented the legislative reforms recommended by the post-Bagua roundtables. In Spring 2010, the Peruvian Congress approved a bill mandating consultation by the government with indigenous peoples on any proposed projects that would affect their territories. The law represented months of hard work to achieve consensus between indigenous groups and government officials, but President Garcia sent the law back and refused to sign it. The Garcia government has come under increasing fire within the United Nations for failing to fulfill its obligations under international law and implement a legal process to consult with indigenous peoples.
