Peruvian battle for oil - up to 50 dead and rising

[cactusflower]

The reported death toll from a pitch gun battle in Peru is still rising, with over 30 Indians and 9 police claimed to have died yesterday. Latest reports are saying that there are at least 50 people dead.

Up to 5,000 indigenous people were blocking a motorway in Bagua, North West Peru, to prevent oil exploration and were fired on from helicopters. They later took over a police station and disarmed police. 2,000 seem still to be active in trying to block the attempt to enter their lands.

Reuters AlertNet - Dozens dead and wounded in Peruvian Amazon clashes

Massacre of Indigineous Amazonians in Peru - 25 dead and counting - Indymedia Ireland

Garcia's government has been shelling out oil drilling permits hand over fist since 2007 with a vast area of rain forest being potentially devastated. Along with this the new roads are used for extracting timber for illegally logging.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Peru's Amazon oil deals denounced

Some 7,000 indigenous activists gathered in Peru Friday for the Continental Summit of Indigenous People to show support for Amazon tribes who are protesting against the package of laws they say will threaten their native lands. Thousands of Amazon Indians have been on strike for more than a month over a series of presidential decrees that open up natural resource sectors like gas, lumber and oil to private investors.

This resource war resembles the battles over gas in Bolivia in which there were many protestors killed, before the election in which Evo Morales came to power as the first elected indigenous head of state.

[dunk]

1 day, 2 events: HOME, the film + Massacre of 25+ Indigenous Amazonians in Peru defending their (and our) HOME

It is clear; To survive on Earth we must change our ways, QUICKLY, or face the consequences.

Yesterday was World Environment Day, and was celebrated by a global event in which I was happy to participate in my home city of Barcelona; the CCCB free projection of the amazingly beautiful, shocking film HOME:

In our 200,000 years of existence, mankind has destroyed the equilibrium of almost 4,000 million years of evolution of the Earth. The price to pay is considerable, but it is too late to be pessimistic.

In this film that took three years to produce, Yann Arthus-Bertrand presents previously unreleased images of over 50 countries seen from the sky, sharing with us his wonder and his concerns, and laying a stone in the edifice that we must all rebuild together.

More than a movie, HOME will be a major event all over the globe. On June 5th, World Environment Day, HOME will be released in over 50 countries and on every format : movie theatre, TV, DVD and Internet.



(The entire film can be freely watched online - 90mins, 88,000 people participated in magic the global event happen) - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU"]HOME[/ame]

It was a profound experience, feeling the fear that perhaps it is too late, but also filled with HOPE that indeed we can get out of our mess and create a better, more sustainable, more beautiful, more enjoyable and just world.

So that was the first Exceptional event for exceptional times

Now part 2... next post

[dunk]

Then, late last night, when checking email lists, horrific news was coming in from people connected witht the Indigineous Peoples movements. I wrote about things this morning in an article entitled:

Massacre of Indigineous Amazonians in Peru - 25 dead and counting
"This government disregards the indigenous people.” was what they said a week before being shot at from helicopters

Awajun, Wampis, mestizos y blancos unidos en defensa del territorio, luchando para derogatoria de los DS

Awajun, Wampis (native tribes), mestizos (mix of native and spanish blood) and whites united in defense of the land, Struggling to repeal the Court Orders

An ongoing, many month old peaceful protest in the Bagua region of the north western area of Peru was brutally attacked yesterday by state forces, resulting in the deaths of, at least, 25 native Indigenous Amazonian Peruvians. A motorway in the "curve of the devil" region had been blocked by local communities of the area who feel their land, health, livlihood and community is threathened by the governments giveaway of the area, and its precious resources, to multinational oil and gas exploration. They are perhaps right to feel sad, threathened and terrified, knowing how things have faired in neighbouring areas with a similar story, Sion, Equador and beyond... Perhaps even as far a field as Rossport...

Now hours later, and there is still no news of this massacre on either the Irish Times or RTE, why is this? If it was a massacre in Europe would we have been told quicker? I am angry at the situation, having many Peruvian friends here in Barcelona, I know some of the bloody history of the country. I wonder is it because, in fact, we unconsciously echo the racist sentiment expressed by the Peruvian head of Government Alan Garcia, when he stated: "They (Amazon indigenous) are not first class citizens."

I am also angered further as reports, videos and photos that are coming in showing the brutality and cynicism of the goings on there in their bloody World Environment Day in the Peruvian Amazon - peaceful protestors being fired upon by helicopter gunships, picked off by snipers, bodies being burned by police to lessen the massacred tally, even young Peruvians being shot tortured and shot through the face...

Anyway, the point I wish to make is this: What is happening in Peru, affects all of us.

In the film HOME, it is described how WATER, AIR, SOIL and TREES are the main things which sustain us. The Amazon is one of the main green lungs of the planet, it is being hacked to bits daily, this has to stop. The FTA (FREE TRADE AGREEMENT) deal done between the Peruvian government (of which there are much cries of corruption etc) and the US allows multi nationals to enter the indigenous area and to do as they please, which going by past records means destroy, destroy, destroy. So you can understand why the people have stood up to resist. After a bit of hunting, I found from BBC´s summary of Peru:

His (Garcia´s) government has come under fire from environmental and human rights campaigners over plans to auction off swathes of the Amazon to oil and gas companies. They say the amount of Peruvian Amazon territory now open to oil exploration has risen from 13 to 70% in two years.

(To get a sense of the severity of the situation in relation to the destruction of the Amazon rainforests, view about 48 mins into the film HOME)



And in case you feel that Democracy is functioning for the well being of the poor in Peru, and most other places of the world, and that FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS are benefitting them, please take the time to learn the full impact of the consequences of the OIL AGE; from neighbouring tribes who are dying slowly in the Peruvian area of Sion:

[ame="http://video.google.es/videoplay?docid=1789624491349502624"]Una Muerte en Sion[/ame]

Or perhaps you might want to find out about the Amazonian Chernobyl, which happened when Chevron (Then Texaco) entered Peru´s neighbouring country Equador. As was accurately explained in the new very powerful film CRUDE IMPACT


Here is a segment from the film: Oil Companies and the Environment
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLzelMyjBOw]YouTube - Crude Impact: Oil Companies and the Environment[/ame]

Even the wranglings on our own "Green Isle", both physical up in Rossport and the battle of minds like here on politics.ie

So in conclusion, might I encourage people to find out what is going on and to stand up with our brothers and sisters in Peru

We have to change, we dont have much time, we have to take action now.



Here is the statement seeking support, through occupying areas outside Peruvian embassies, from CAOIT, the Andean Coordinating Body for Indigenous Organizations:

URGENT SUPPORT needed for indigenous people in Peruvian
Amazon

A bloody World Environment Day in the Peruvian Amazon
Indigenous organizations call for support from the international
community

On April 9, local communities began what they call an "indefinite strike"
throughout the Peruvian Amazon region to protest the Peruvian
Congress' failure to review six government decrees that endanger the
rights of indigenous peoples. These decrees were issued by the
Presidency in the framework of the implementation of the Free Trade
Agreement signed with the United States, and pave the way to opening
up the Amazon region to socially and environmentally destructive
industries such as mining and oil exploitation.

In the early morning hours today (June 5) the Alan García government
unleashed a violent wave of repression in the Peruvian Amazon.
Reports from the area are conflicting and there are no official figures
available, but it appears that there have been between 10 and 20
deaths so far in Bagua, in the area around Corral Quemado and Curva
del Diablo.

The Andean Coordinating Body for Indigenous Organizations (CAOI),
which includes indigenous organizations from Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru,
Colombia, Chile and Argentina, describes the situation as follows:
"Once again they are trying to impose death over life, massacre over
dialogue. This is the dictatorial response after 56 days of peaceful
indigenous struggle and supposed dialogue and negotiation, which
ended with bullets as always, the same bullets of more than 500 years
of oppression."

The violent crackdown began only hours after the Peruvian Congress
decided once again to postpone debate on the repeal of the decrees
which would permit the invasion of indigenous territories. This close
timing clearly suggests collusion between the Congress and the
Presidency.

The CAOI is calling on "indigenous organizations, social movements
and human rights organizations around the world to take concrete
action, by writing letters to the Peruvian government, the United
Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, Amnesty
International, Survival International, the Nobel Peace Prize Foundation,
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the
International Labour Organisation (Convention 169), urging them to
send missions to Peru immediately to stop the violence and demand
respect for indigenous rights." The CAOI is also calling for "sit-ins in
front of Peruvian embassies in every country of the world until the
bloodbath is stopped and the legislative decrees for the Free Trade
Agreement with the United States are repealed."

The CAOI adds that "UN agencies should speak out firmly and join in
the demands made by the chair of the UN Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, to lift the state of emergency,
cease the use of repression, and fulfil international commitments that
guarantee the exercise of indigenous rights."

The World Rainforest Movement joins in this call for support for the
peoples of the Peruvian Amazon, whose lives, cultures and means of
survival are in grave danger.

Please send letters to the Peruvian embassy in your country,
demanding an immediate end to the current wave of repression and
full respect for the rights of indigenous peoples. Contact information for
Peruvian embassies worldwide is available at:

Overseas Embassies and Consulates of Peru

For more information:
Norma Aguilar Alvarado
Communications office
Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indígenas/Andean
Coordinating Body for Indigenous Organizations (CAOI)
Fax: 0051-1-2651061
Mobile: 980129692
Website: Minkandina

Please disseminate this information as widely as possible

[cactusflower]

Thanks for that information, dunk. Theft and murder to drive gas guzzlers.

[JollyRedGiant]

I must go and search who was telling me yesterday that capitalism doesn't kill people.

[Thranduil]

Garcia sees Peru as an economic unit only. The rainforest is doing little or nothing positive for Peru in overall economic terms so in the mind of Garcia it has to go and be replaced with ranches and oil platforms. The indigenous communities in the jungles were always living on borrowed time, what voices have they to stop him? Many of them have never even made contact with the rest of the world. The wealthy in Peru are probably cracking jokes about the look on the faces of the natives when the first exposure to outside life they see is a big oil drilling machine.

Pity the Earth for the biodiversity that will be lost. If we plan on sticking around on this planet for a few million years someday our descendants may regret the clumsy wastage inflicted on so many species, things too amazing to be replaced... We may find new power sources, we may find new ways of organising our society to protect the environment but it may be too late. I have sometimes thought that if they cannot look after them, the rainforests should be stripped from the possession of the countries in the region and given extra-sovereign protection such as what Antarctica enjoys... if we do it for Antarctica we should do it for rainforests that not only house huge carbon reserves that we don't want released, but a cornucopia of precious biodiversity and even human tribes.

Just as centuries of mistreatment provided every possible justification for Irish Independence from Britain, so if the Peruvians treat the Amazon and it's inhabitants as another country and massacre the people there - so the Amazon is clearly another country to Peru and Peru's 'ownership' is unjust, aside from the consideration that the two (settled Peru and the Amazon) are so different from one another.

[dunk]

interesting BBC article here with accompanying video, made last month when the army were called in to clear roads, bridges etc of the 10´s of thousands of protestors, this evening of which there are 30 less of (possibly a whole lot more) due to yesterdays actions:

Peru army call for Amazon protest

The other side of this coin, is that nearly all of us are to blame for whats going on in peru. We live in society, as outlined by the film HOME, in which so much of what we consider "normal" is fueled by oil; the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the stuff we use... And that is driving big companies, and trade agreements, to open up new areas for exploitation.

BUT, thankfully, we are waking up to this fact. Only very recently has the PEAK OIL idea hit home, and with that many communities are organising to change their ways to become less petro dependant and more locally resiliant, in terms of food, shelter, enjoyment, economy.


I suppose part 3 of WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL DAY, for me yesterday, was the happy moment of coming across the VERY VERY excellent film from the POWERDOWN crew in transition Ireland and Cultivate;

Transition Movement

If anyone is interested in learning more can i recomend the free online version of the The transition handbook, from petroleum dependance to local resiliance, also talks much about HOPE and VISION.


Here in Barcelona we are busy with our own transition stuff

[dunk]

Inca cola news: The United Nations is pissed at Twobreakfasts (Garcia), too

Let's see if this shameless President decides to ride roughshod over internationals, too:


The Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) expresses her shock and deep distress at reports received of atrocities committed starting 5 June against indigenous peoples in the Amazon region, resulting in the loss of lives, disappearances and grave injuries. The Chair sends her deepest condolences to the families of the victims. The Chair calls upon the Peruvian Government to:

* Immediately cease all violence against indigenous communities and organizations,
* Ensure immediate and urgent medical attention to the wounded and assist the families of the victims,
* Abide by its national and international obligations regarding the protection of all human rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples and human rights defenders, especially their right to life and security.


Victoria Tauli-Corpuz

President
United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues

No news as yet, as to what action is been taken by normal civil society, social movements etc, as to the call of occupying the entrances to Peru embassies around the world, Ireland does not have an embassy or consulate, London acts as our space. What other acts of solidarity might happen in support of the peaceful indigenous and against the further destruction of Peruvian Amazonian Rainforest

[cactusflower]

The fighting is still going on, with virtual martial law in Bagua, according to Channel 4 news. Over 60 dead and hundreds wounded.

Garcia said that the Amazon Indians are not first class citizens and they could not hold up the interests of millions of Peruvians. The whole thing has come about as a result of the Free Trade deal with the US.

[Frankie Lee]

Pure scum the leadership of Peru, a sickening story.

Another indigenous revolution is required.