Photos available upon request
Read Alberto Pizango’s Public Declaration: “Reasons I Went into Exile”
Lima, Peru – Indigenous peoples in Peru are celebrating a victory today, as their leader Alberto Pizango has been released from detention. Pizango was arrested yesterday at the Lima airport, immediately upon his return after nearly a year of exile in Nicaragua, on the basis of charges widely regarded as politically motivated and unsubstantiated.
At a private hearing this morning, the Peruvian court granted Pizango’s request to reverse the capture order and to release him on his own recognizance pending trial. The judge placed a series of conditions on his release including that he is not allowed to leave the country and he must report to the court each week, among others.
Once released, Pizango was reunited with his family. His son, Plinio Pizango Huallaga, called the judge’s decision “a victory for indigenous peoples,” and “the first step to proving my father’s innocence.”
While celebrating Pizango’s release, human rights and indigenous organizations are continuing their call for the Peruvian government to dismiss all unsubstantiated charges against Pizango and to ensure that he receives a fair trial. In a statement issued yesterday, national human rights organization APRODEH urged the Peruvian government to peacefully resolve the root causes of the conflict with indigenous peoples rather than criminalizing protest by prosecuting leaders like Pizango.
The charges against Pizango were issued when the Garcia administration attempted to hold him responsible for fatalities during the violent June 5th army raid on indigenous protestors outside the Amazon town of Bagua. The incident, which left 34 people dead on both sides and more than 200 people injured, eventually led to the Peruvian Congress repealing two of nine contested Presidential decrees that had sparked nationwide indigenous protests. Human rights organizations have maintained that Pizango, who was not in Bagua on June 5th, never called for violence and was not responsible for the tragic events of that day. Pizango has repeatedly expressed his feeling of “compassion and sorrow for those that were lost,” and frustration that the government has tried to shift blame for its own act of provocation, without acknowledging that “Peruvians on both sides have suffered.”
Pizango said that he chose to return now, despite the risk of arrest, to prove his innocence and to improve relations between the Peruvian government and indigenous peoples: “I am coming out of exile for my people, love for my community and my country. I need to help us look for reconciliation and solutions to some of the problems we face.”
Despite today’s victory, the Peruvian government continues its assault on indigenous peoples’ rights by auctioning off the Amazon, much of which includes indigenous territories. The Peruvian hydrocarbon leasing agency recently offered 24 new oil concessions in the Amazon. The national Peruvian indigenous federation AIDESEP has demanded that those concessions be suspended until proper consultation can be carried out with affected communities, as required by international law.
The Peruvian congress recently passed a new law to require consultation with affected indigenous communities before this type of development project can go forward. AIDESEP has acknowledged that – while the new law does not go far enough – it is a positive step forward, and they are urging President Garcia to sign it into law. AIDESEP is also demanding that new extractive concessions be suspended until the law can go into effect and until affected indigenous communities can be properly consulted.
“Pizango’s release is a positive step. Hopefully it is a sign that he can receive a fair trial and that the country is ready to re-engage indigenous people in good-faith dialogue and resolve the underlying problems that are at the heart of the protests in 2008 and 2009,” Gregor MacLennan of Amazon Watch reacted.”
International norms such as ILO Convention 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples obligate governments to respect indigenous peoples’ right to decide their own future. Governments are legally required to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of affected indigenous peoples before moving ahead with policies or economic activities.
Pizango is appearing at a press conference this afternoon at 4pm, hosted in the offices of the organization he leads, AIDESEP.
For more information: Amazon Watch | AIDESEP
