Lima, May 13, 2009 – Protests demanding the repeal of decrees affecting land rights of indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon have now spread throughout the country. Amazon Watch has received several alarming reports of violent crackdowns against peaceful demonstrators by government forces after President Alan Garcia declared a state of emergency in the Cusco, Ucayali, Loreto and Amazonas regions over the weekend.
For the past month, indigenous peoples have blockaded roads and rivers throughout the Amazon to protest new decrees which make it easier to transfer Amazon land and resource rights to oil, mining, logging and agricultural companies to the detriment of indigenous and campesino inhabitants. The decrees, which were passed to facilitate the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, also set the stage for the privatization of water resources.
In the town of Bagua in the Amazonas region near the border with Ecuador, there have been reports that on Sunday armed forces cracked down on peaceful Awajun and Huambis demonstrators on the Corral Quemado Bridge resulting in several serious injuries. Two people are reported missing.
In other actions, several thousand indigenous Shawi and Cocama Cocamillas have reportedly shut the road between Yurimaguas and Tarapoto, a major transport route.
In Loreto, the regional president, Yván Vásquez Valera, has issued a public statement condemning the state of emergency as a method for the government to repress the indigenous mobilization.
“It is unfortunate that the government is resorting to call a state of emergency and sending in troops to break up the peaceful blockades,” says Atossa Soltani, Executive Director of Amazon Watch. “We urge the Garcia administration to refrain from using force and instead enter into meaningful talks with indigenous peoples to resolve this conflict. Indigenous peoples have legitimate concerns and each day more Peruvians and more people around the world are joining them in solidarity.”
Last Friday 42 indigenous leaders staged a hunger strike in the Peruvian Congress to demand the full legislature debate the repeal of the decrees, and eight Peruvian Catholic bishops issued a statement saying the decrees were a “twisted concept of development” that “threaten to increase regional poverty” in the Amazon.
The Peruvian government has auctioned off huge swaths of indigenous lands to mining and energy concessions. During the month-long protest, the Garcia administration has signed contracts for another 15 oil concessions – the majority of them in the Amazon.
Concerns for uncontacted indigenous communities or people living in voluntary isolation in the rainforest were scorned this week by Daniel Saba De Andrea, the president of the Peruvian oil company Perupetro, who said he didn’t believe they existed. Perupetro is responsible for providing lucrative concession licenses to private exploration companies.
“The government has not defended us against the oil, mining and logging companies that continue to pollute our communities after they illegally entered our lands,” said Alberto Pizango, the president of AIDESEP, the leading indigenous rights organization in Peru. “The government is not abiding by international treaties signed by Peru as well as our own Constitution.”
Today in Lima, Peru’s Prime Minister, Yehude Simon was scheduled to meet with leaders of AIDESEP.
