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FinalCall.com News
World News
Native groups seek justice after ‘massacre'
By Franz Chávez
Updated Jul 2, 2009 - 9:40:16 PM
LA PAZ (IPS/GIN) - Social organizations in South America are backing the struggle of native communities against opening up Peru's Amazon jungle to mining and oil companies, which resulted in clashes in which at least nine indigenous people and 25 police officers died.
The recent violence near the town of Bagua, in the northern Peruvian province of Amazonas, is seen by indigenous organizations in Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador as an attack on people who are defending life, nature, human rights and the rational use of natural resources.
Native communities in the Peruvian rainforest are demanding the repeal of a series of decrees to promote foreign investment on indigenous lands, issued by President Alan Garcìa's administration in the framework of the free trade agreement signed with the United States.
A two-month protest by indigenous people outside the northern Peruvian town of Bagua ended in bloodshed on June 5, when the police violently broke up a roadblock there.
In line with the argument from native groups, a multi-party parliamentary committee declared in December that the decrees in question are unconstitutional.
In an open letter to the region's presidents, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador called on them to defend native peoples and confirm their commitment to peace and justice in South America.
Representatives of the Confederation of Indigenous People of Bolivia urged the United Nations and the Organization of American States to send a team of investigators to Bagua to verify the June 5 incident.
While official accounts say that nine indigenous people and 25 police officers were killed, eyewitnesses told the press that bodies of indigenous protesters were thrown into the river from a helicopter.
"We consider this violent action by the Peruvian government to be a massacre and a flagrant violation of the life, integrity and fundamental rights of indigenous communities," the Colombian National Authority of Indigenous Government said in a letter to President Garcìa.
"We join our voices with the Amazonian indigenous communities who are demanding an end to the violation of their rights and the repeal of the free trade agreement decrees that open the doors to the invasion and plundering of their territories.
"We condemn the violent actions of the Peruvian government against our peoples," the letter continued, also calling for medical attention for the injured and policies to prevent a repeat of the incident.
In response to the violence, President Garcìa alleged that "foreign meddling" was behind the protests in the Amazon. He later specifically mentioned Bolivia's left-wing president, Evo Morales, the first indigenous leader of that country.
In the midst of the political crisis triggered by the violent incident, Mr. Garcìa accused President Morales of inciting the protests with an "inflammatory" letter sent to the Fourth Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples, held May 29 in the Peruvian city of Puno, on the border with Bolivia.
Although he was the most distinguished guest invited to the summit, Mr. Morales instead sent a letter by the hand of Senator Leonilda Zurita, an activist for women's rights and political and trade union freedoms.
"That meeting discussed uprisings and insurgency," Mr. Garcìa maintained. "A president of a neighboring country sent messages about our countries being governed by indigenous peoples, who are victims of exploitation and utterly neglected, which is not true, because the statistics on employment and welfare have improved in the jungle areas."
Bolivian Vice President Álvaro Garcìa Linera, a recognized leader on indigenous rights, said in response from La Paz that "letters do not kill," referring to the violence unleashed in the Peruvian Amazon.
"We confirm the contents (of the letter) and we are proud of every word and every letter in it," said the deputy minister for coordination with social movements, Sacha Llorenti, one of Morales' closest associates.
"From resistance we have gone on to rebellion, and then to revolution. This is the second independence," said Deputy Minister Llorenti, in support of Mr. Morales' policy of nationalizing Bolivia's abundant natural gas reserves, which had been handed over by previous governments to foreign companies.
President Morales' letter to the indigenous leaders' summit also said "free trade agreements break up harmonious human relationships with nature. They commodify natural resources and national cultures; they privatize basic services; they try to patent life itself."
(Constanza Vieira in Bogotá and Angel Páez in Lima contributed to this article.)
