Anaya's report, which consists of 50 observations in 15 pages stresses his "concern" over the insistence on pressing criminal charges against some indigenous leaders "which clearly compromises the process of dialogue initiated between the Government and indigenous movements,” he remarks. According to Anaya, "there is still much uncertainty about the events of Bagua, which have been officialmente explained with differing versions and lack of coherence." Furthermore, Anaya states that he has heard “numerous stories that describe in detail serious abuses by police, including excessive use of force."

Sources: IWGIA, Livinginperu.com

Read the report in Spanish (PDF)

13 July 2009

The largest indigenous organizations in Honduras are calling for the immediate return of deposed President Manuel Zelaya, and they assert that the new administration is trying to hide the real reason for the coup, which was that the opposition feared a new constitution that could provide more rights and protections to indigenous and other Hondurans.

  Read more (Indian Country Today)

The indigenous population of Peru has won an important victory in their ongoing struggle to retain control over their resource-rich ancestral land. After weeks of militant protests, Peru’s congress was forced to revoke two land laws enacted in 2008 by President Alan Garcia as part of a free-trade agreement with the United States. The two laws stated that the government would decide how the land would be used and who could use it. Protesters exposed the deal for what it truly was—an open door for foreign companies to exploit the land and steal the oil, gas and other natural resources that belong to the people of Peru. Indigenous groups organized roadblocks, demonstrations and strikes, which Garcia ordered the police to break up. The Peruvian government, however, was unable to squelch the resistance, despite the fact that the police killed over 30 people and injuring many more.

 Read more (PSLweb)

19 June 2009

More than 24 million liters of toxic agrochemicals are employed in Paraguay every year, causing deformations, health problems — even death — and environmental damage. But Paraguayan lawmakers ignored this fact when they approved a farming chemical regulation law on May 22, which will still allow these toxic chemicals to be used.

 Read more (latinamerican press)

Lola García-Alix
Executive Director
IWGIA

Background information

The indigenous communities' protests started some months ago in response to a series of government decrees promoting the opening up of their lands to oil and gas companies. In recent years more than 70% of Peru´s Amazon has been auctioned off to oil and gas companies without indigenous communities being consulted.

Frustrated by the refusal of the authorities to negotiate with them, AIDESEP (National Organization of the Amazon Indigenous Peoples of Peru) called for a series of peaceful protests. Indigenous communities throughout central and northern Peru blockaded rivers and roads in successful attempt to halt the oil industry traffic.

The violent response used by the police, firing automatic weapons at indigenous persons who were protesting, resulted in many deaths on both sides. More than 20 police officers have been reported dead and at least 30 indigenous persons are thought to have been killed, but indigenous organizations believe the real figure is significantly higher, and have accused the police of throwing large numbers of bodies into the Marañon river.

Murder in Peru: Indigenous Rights and Corporate Interests

12 June 2009

Alan Garcia is no friend of the indigenous, thus his close relationship with the former Bush Administration should come as no surprise. Garcia’s sponsorship of regularizing the opening up of the Amazon to exploitation for oil exploration and logging was no accident, and the mess into which he has plunged his government could be viewed as predictive of things to come. This will not only be in Peru, but in Colombia as well, if the U.S. Congress proceeds to ratify a free trade agreement between Washington and Bogotá. Just as Peru has found itself in the predicament of being unable to fulfill obligations it has agreed to with both its indigenous population and foreign investors, the same fate could easily befall its neighbors.

 Read more (coha.org)

11 June 2009

OIL AND LAND RIGHTS IN PERU - Alan García's high-handed government faces a violent protest. For seven weeks tens of thousands of Amazonian Indians blocked roads and rivers across eastern Peru. They seized hydroelectric plants and pumping stations on oil and gas pipelines to try to force the repeal of decrees facilitating oil exploration, commercial farming and logging in parts of the jungle. Petroperu, the state oil company, had to shut a pipeline that carries 40,000 barrels of oil each day. Amid threats of energy rationing in eastern towns, the government of President Alan García this month ordered armed police to clear a stretch of road and retake a pumping station near Bagua, in Peru’s northern jungle.

 Read more (economist.com)

Video in Spanish

Between the last days of November and first days of December 2007, the UN Special Rapporteur of indigenous peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, visited different organizations from Bolivia to evaluate the situation of the natives in the country. A couple of months ealier, Bolivia had become the first country in the world to turn into law of the republic the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.

 Read more and order (in Spanish)

10 June 2009

Special Rapporteur on indigenous people urges Government of Peru to dialogue with indigenous peoples of the Amazon. “I urgently appeal to all concerned to avoid further violence and urge State authorities to implement measures already in place, as well as adopt all additional measures necessary, in accordance with international human rights norms, to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the affected indigenous peoples,” said James Anaya.

 Read the full statement of the UN Special Rapporteur on Peru (doc)

What essentially happened is that the Peruvian government wants to destroy the Amazon rainforest to use it for oil, mining, and biofuels, and they are attempting to do this in the name of free trade. When the indigenous people protested to protect their rights, they were brutally massacred.

 Read more (bilaterals.org)

Indian leader forced into exile - The President of Peru’s Amazon Indian organisation AIDESEP has been forced into exile. Alberto Pizango sought refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy in Peru’s capital Lima after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Nicaragua has granted him asylum. Pizango was charged with ‘sedition, conspiracy and rebellion’ following the violent confrontation between hundreds of indigenous protesters blockading a road near the town of Bagua in northern Peru, and riot police intent on breaking up the protest.

 Read more (survival-international.org)

 Read IWGIAs press release about the massacre in Peru (doc in Danish)

6 June 2009

Bagua, Peru – In the early morning hours on Friday, Peruvian Special Forces staged a violent raid on a group of indigenous people at a peaceful blockade on a road outside of Bagua in a remote area of the northern Peruvian Amazon resulting in 25 civilians confirmed dead and more than 150 injured. Over 600 police attacked several thousand unarmed Awajun and Wambis indigenous peoples including many women and children and forcibly dispersed them using tear gas and live ammunition.

 Read more (amazonwatch.org)

February 2009

Tierras duras (hard land) is about the fight for the land, the organization of indigenous towns and the role of the state. The book crosses twenty years of resistance of the indigenous organization Lhaka Honhat (Our Earth, in wichí language), conformed by 45 communities and 6000 people in the northeast of Salta. Far from being a theoretical narration, it is the chronicle of a punished town, that persists in claiming recognition of its territorial rights.

  Read more in Spanish

New book: El eco de las voces olvidadas

March 2009

"The echo of the forgotten voices" is a detailed ethnografic and historical study, a personal and collective story, and an ethnic autobiography of the Cavineños. The Cavineños are a particularly unknown indigenous society who speak the Tacana language and reside in the northwest of the Bolivian Amazon.

  Read more in Spanish