Lima, Peru (Aug 11, 2009) – Over 100 organizations and over 1000 human rights activists sent a letter today urging the Peruvian government to drop legal charges against Santiago Manuin Valera, the internationally respected Awajun indigenous leader currently recovering from eight gunshot wounds suffered during attacks on protesters by Peruvian Police on June 5th. Peruvian human rights organization APRODEH coordinated the delivery of the petition to the Governmental Palace in Lima timed with the United Nations International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
The open letter asks the government to open an investigation into the attempt on Manuin’s life, compensate him for his injuries and medical expenses and cease the politically motivated prosecution of Manuin and other indigenous leaders.
Police continue to raid indigenous organization offices and communities, while many leaders live in fear of imminent arrest. Government investigations have focused exclusively on indigenous people’s actions and not the police’s violent attack on protesters that resulted in over 200 people being hospitalized.
Last month the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, James Anaya, issued a public report on his field visit to Bagua. In his report, Anaya echoes many of the concerns of indigenous communities and civil society groups. The report highlights the immediate need for an impartial and independent investigation, review of charges against indigenous leaders including Santiago Manuin and AIDESEP President Alberto Pizango, and creation of a law on indigenous community consultation.
Although the government of Peru publicly supported the findings of the UN Special Rapporteur’s report, it has not followed a number of the report’s central recommendations including allowing and enabling a full, unobstructed and impartial investigation into the Bagua violence.
Families of the police officers killed in Bagua are echoing the UN Rapporteur’s calls, also demanding a full and independent investigation into the government’s actions in Bagua. In a recent press conference Flor Vasquez, widow of a Peruvian Police commander, pleaded for the government to “get to the bottom of the truth” calling into question the police’s orders and political motivations that attributed to the June 5th violence.
“Two months after the violent clashes in Bagua and there are still no answers about how an attempt to end a peaceful protest resulted in at least 33 dead and over 200 injured,” said Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch. “We join hundreds of people who are demanding that the Garcia government open a full independent investigation into the tragic events on the 5th of June. The politically motivated persecution of indigenous leaders must stop.”
The full text of the letter is found at www.amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=1896.
The Spanish version can be found at www.aprodeh.org.pe/casomanuin.html
James Anaya’s full report on the Bagua, Peru violence can be downloaded at
http://www.onu.org.pe/upload/documentos/Informe-Relator-Anaya-2009.pdf.
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