Police Violently Attack Peaceful Indigenous Blockade in Peru
At least twenty indigenous Awajun and Wambis have died and hundreds more have been injured after a brutal confrontation this morning (June 5) on the Fernando Belaunde Terry Road in the Peruvian Amazon.
JUNE 7 UPDATE, 2:00PM EST - Fortunately, there have not been any further reports of violence. However, the previous report that three children were killed has been confirmed by the international NGO "Save the Children." Several media outlets have also confirmed that the police took injured indigenous people from hospitals. The report of midnight raids, on the other hand, appears to have been false.
Keep an eye on http://noticiario.baguaperu.com/ and http://peruanista.blogspot.com/ for further updates. Also here's a radio interview with Tupac Enrique about what's happened, and a a pretty good Analysis of events by Gerardo Rénique
June 6 Updates
6:30PM EST - The situation seems calm for the moment, but there have been a couple recent and concerning updates. 1) A couple hours ago a report came out that the military started entering hospitals and taking injured indigenous people to an "unknown location." strong>2. Another report from around the same time, indigenous people in are saying the military have been entering towns "in vengeance."
2:30PM EST - The situation is ongoing. Early this morning there was a police raid that ended with 9 officers dead and seven reported missing (source). These and 22 others were being held by a group of indigenous people after yesterdays attack, which has since been termed "a massacre" by the Vice President of the UN Indigenous Forum (source). It has also been reported that a total of 3 indigenous children lost their lives in the attack. Another state of emergency has also been declared (source).
Finally,though unconfirmed: the very latest news is that the MILITARY is preparing to take control of the Amazon regions of Bagua & Utcubamba at midnight TONIGHT.
See below for previous updates, videos and web resources from DAY 1: June 5, 2009
June 5 Updates and Resources
UPDATE, 8:30PM EST - A local indigenous leader has stated that indigenous people are still being killed, and that the police are actually burning the dead and dumping the remains into the Marañón River (source) Early in the day the government was accused of committing genocide. Painfully, this confirms it.
UPDATE, 6:30PM EST - According to one local report the total number that have died may be as high as 84. And in the last couple hours a group of 38 policeman were taken hostage. Meanwhile, the government is squarely blaming everything on "a group of 'poor peruvians' who were plotting against democracy and the country." (source)
MORE VIDEOS (ES): (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)
UPDATE, 2:00 EST - Carlos A. Quiroz has posted a detailed update on his blog with a full list of things you can do to help. He states by email:
"The government of Peru has ordered for the National Police to attack the Amazonian Indigenous peoples. Civilians were shot from buildings roofs and helicopters.
More than 38 people have died so far – at 2:00 PM U.S. Eastern time- including 28 civilians and 18 police men, according to a Tweeter sent by a Peruvian journalist who is in the area of Bagua, a city located in the Amazonas region of Peru. Hospitals collapsing.
Amazonian Indigenous leader Alberto Pizango, of AIDESEP said the government has committed genocide and that they will continue their fight and will rally in cities of Peru.
Peru’s president Alan Garcia is on national TV right now and has accused the Indigenous leaders of the violence “They want to play a revolution game,” and later on he added that “brave Police forces have fallen in defense of the nation,” and said he might send the military this is just beginning. Peru minister Mauricio Mulder calls indigenous protesters "terrorists".
PLEASE TAKE ACTION!
Demand an immediate end of violence!. Please send emails to Alan Garcia, the Congress of Peru, the Peruvian Embassy in the US, the US Embassy in Lima, go to this link:
http://peruanista.blogspot.com/2009/06/alert-massacre-in-peru-police-shoots-at.html"
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: ES (1)(2)(3) EN (1)(2) (3) (4) (5)
Below, an initial report from Amazon Watch on the assault
Police Violently Attack Peaceful Indigenous Blockade in the Peruvian Amazon
5 June 2009
Four confirmed dead and 18 injured in a pre-dawn attack on peaceful demonstrators
Source: Gregor MacLennan, Amazon Watch
Bagua, Peru (June 5, 2009) - At approximately 5 am this morning, the Peruvian military police 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 northern Peruvian Amazon. Several thousand Awajun and Wambis indigenous peoples were forcibly dispersed by tear gas and real bullets, among them are confirmed reports of at least 18 injured and four people confirmed dead, although the number of dead is likely to be several times higher.
At 2am police began to approach the demonstrators as they were sleeping along the Fernando Belaúnde Terry road. Demonstrators refused to move from the roadblock as helicopters dropped teargas bombs from overhead. Eyewitnesses report that police attacked from both sides firing real bullets into the crowd as people fled into the hills. As the unarmed demonstrators were killed and injured some wrestled the Police and took away their guns and fought back in self-defense resulting in deaths of several Police officers.
In local radio reports, the chief of Police claimed that the indigenous demonstrators were armed with guns necessitating the use of bullets for dispersal. This claim is refuted by dozens of local eyewitnesses including local journalists. Marijke Deleu, a Belgium environmentalist from the local conservation organization reported from the scene that the Amazonian demonstrators have been entirely peaceful and only bear traditional spears and in no way provoked any violence.
The Garcia Government yesterday accused the indigenous movement of turning violent and issued an order for the police to begin forcibly removing indigenous demonstrations that have paralyzed the Amazon region of Peru for nearly two months.
Gregor MacLennan of Amazon Watch who is currently in Peru stated: “It is outrageous and absolutely untrue that indigenous peoples provoked violence. Rather, they are engaged in peaceful and non-violent civil disobedience in the tradition of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. It has been the Peruvian Government forces who have provoked violence against peaceful people who are trying to protect their forests, their sacred lands from shortsighted pollution and industrial development. They are sacrificing a lot to safeguard the Amazon for future generations and for all Peruvians.”
Indigenous peoples have vowed to continue protests until the Peruvian Congress revokes the “free trade” decrees issued by President Garcia under special powers granted by Congress in the context of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States.
In the past two weeks, the constitutional committee of Congress has ruled that legislative decree 994 and 1090 were unconstitutional. The Peruvian Congress was scheduled to debate the revocation of decree 1090 again yesterday, however, Garcia’s political party once again prevented the debate. The government Ombudsman office has filed a demand with the constitutional tribunal on the unconstitutionality of decree 1064, which affects the land rights laws in Peru.
The protests have provoked national debate about government policies in the Amazon that ignore indigenous peoples and encourage large-scale extractive industries and the privatization of Amazonian lands. Indigenous peoples claim that new laws undermine their rights and open up their ancestral lands to private companies for mining, logging, plantations and oil drilling.
A coalition of human rights and environmental organizations are urging the Garcia Government to step down and cease violent confrontations by the military and calling for solidarity demonstrations at Peruvian Embassies around the world.
AIDESEP, the national indigenous organization of Peru has called for a nationwide general strike starting June 11th.
For Background information see www.amazonwatch.org or www.aidesep.org.pe.
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Poor alan garcia for justice is coming for him those tribal people are and were under my wing the entire world and worlds now know the truth.Of what has happened out there,alan garcia you are guilty for the murders of those people out there and the police who died in the melee what did you expect them to do you attacked them like cowards while they were asleep.you sent an army in for war well you got one.Not only is the world upset over this but the great spirits are irate over this.so you now have two fronts alan garcia your own people TRAITOR!!and the spirits all around you have fun with your dreams for your peoples blood is on your hands traitor to your own kind.
Yes, it’s REPUGNANT! Beyond words. The police even shot a little girl in the stomach. She was 4 years old.
And Garcia announces to the world how proud he is for the courageousness of the police.
Anymore updates on the situation Ahni?and on the traitor alan garcia
Let me tell you about a strange event and this truly happened this morning i was attacked by an army of demons we fought them off and won but the fact of the matter is that at the same time the traitor sent his forces in to attack the tribes in Peru he says they are the terrorists and that they are the enemy to Peru no he is the terrorist and the enemy to his own country and people he will face spiritual justice for he has sided with evil over the good.He is not only a traitor to his own people but to God and Gia too,and i have foreseen him going to hell with the demons he has sided with and the gates of heaven are now closed to him and his minions.
I’ll go have a look. In the meantime, here’s a statement of international solidarity… (translated from Spanish, Thanks Tupac Enrique Acosta. Original version here.)
COORDINATING BODY OF ANDEAN INDIGENOUS ORGANZIACIONES – CAOI
Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Argentina
Call to International Tribunal
INTERNATIONAL DENUCIATION
of
President Alan García Pérez of Peru
and his admistration for
Bloody Repression of Indigenous Peoples in the Peruvian Amazon
At least ten to twenty dead.
Urgent: Call to Peaceful Protest
in front of the Peruvian Embassies of all countries
In Fulfillment of Commitment to Continental Indigenous Solidarity
Fourth Continental Summit of Indigenous Nations and Pueblos of Abya Yala
Date: June 5, 2009
The APRA government of Alan García Pérez has unleashed a bloody repression in the Peruvian Amazon this morning. The information is unclear, with no official figures, but reports vary that between ten to twenty dead in Bagua, Corral Quemado area and in the Devil’s Curve. Once again, the intent is to impose death over life, slaughter over dialogue. It is the dictatorial response that after 56 days of peaceful indigenous struggle and attempted dialogue and negotiations ends with the bullets of massacres, the same of over 500 years of oppression.
Today, more than ever, it is urgent to implement the commitment of continental solidarity of the Fourth Continental Summit of Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Abya Yala (Puno, Peru, 27 to May 31) and to realize solidarity with the Peruvian People of the Amazon by conducting protests outside the embassies of Peru in all countries, every day, demanding a stop to the bloodshed and repeal of the legislative decrees of implementation regarding the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with United States. Further, to call for an international tribunal against President Alan García Pérez and his government, for its intrigue and repression: it is in debt of at least ten people dead.
The current events have occurred just hours after the Congress, in an openly provocative act, decided to postpone further discussion on the repeal of the legislative decrees of implementation for FTA that facilitate the invasion indigenous territories, while the executive branch moved to send an additional numerous police contingent to the Amazon region.
We call upon indigenous organizations, social movements and human rights organizations around the world to take concrete action: letters to the Peruvian government, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples, Amnesty International, Survival International, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Inter-American Commission Human Rights, International Labor Organization (ILO Convention 169) calling to immediately send missions to Peru, in order to stop the violence and respect indigenous rights.
The organizations of the UN must act resolve and join in the demand raised by the chairman of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Victoria Corpus Tauli, to lift the state of emergency in the Peruvian Amazon, to cease the repression and to honor the international standards that guarantee the exercise of indigenous rights.
Today in Lima, the Peruvian social movement organizations, articulated in the Community Front for Sovereignty and Life will mobilize at 5 pm from the Plaza Francia, demanding to put to a stop the suppression and the repeal of legislative decrees affecting the rights land of Andean and Amazon peoples and national sovereignty.
¡No more repression!
¡Immediate repeal of anti-indigenous legislative decrees of the FTA!
Ok, According to one local report the total number that have died is now 84. And apparently, in the last couple hours a group of 38 policeman were taken hostage, but I don’t trust government (or anonymous “phoned-in”) claims… Especially since, at the same time, the government is blaming everything squarely on “a group of ‘poor peruvians’ who were plotting against democracy and the country.” (source)
I feel things have calmed correct Ahni?
doesn’t look like the situation’s changed, but I think the violence is indeed over. However some “spill out” has been taking place as a result of the police attack which has resulted in the government declaring a curfew in those areas. The government is also continuing to spin the situation in their favour—however several images have been published online which reveal the horrible nature of the attacks against the people. There is no “balance” in any of this.
WARNING: The following link contains images of deceased persons.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34173573@N08/sets/72157619302465028/
I just came across a very disturbing report that the police may be burning our dead brothers and sisters–no doubt an attempt to match the governments false claims.
Article in Spanish (English Translation)
Yes i have sensed this their are many lies coming out from the Peruvian government and they weren’t even there,they are trying to protect their hides by making it look like the people are to blame when they chose violence over peaceful talks.and yes they( the police) took there injured and dead and also the dead protesters and civillians to there barricks when they were done with the slaughter.So yes they did have their victims bodies and to hide the truth i feel they have burned the bodies but the world now knows what is happening out there some of the major media have wrote about it now.I feel sorry for all out there the protesters the police who were ordered to attack their own and the people of Peru for having such evil leadership.I am monitoring this situation closely and i feel i can count on the Canadian government on not attacking my people on the Mohawk land while i stay fully focused on a peaceful end.Once again thanks for your much needed help Ahni much blessings.
This is an awful tragedy. The ongoing insanity for greed and lust. They are taking innocent lives for these material possessions there is no excuse ad no sanity. Bullshit its going to help the people. Whats going to help the people is clean water and medicines that grow naturally in the jungle… This is serious. And I pray for judgement upon those who are behind such crimes on humanity.
As i Whiteowl as i judgement must come to all those that are responsable for crimes against humanity and this living planet that is crying out in anguish from rich mans actions.I am even considering starting a global movement to stop these eco-terrorists and criminals against our people even if it kills me.
Any updates Ahni?
The situation seems calm for the moment, but there have been a couple recent updates (nothing confirmed):
1. A couple hours ago, a report came out that the military started entering hospitals and taking injured indigenous people to an unknown location.
2. Another report by Ben Powless: he says he heard reports that the military is entering towns “in vengeance” – (undoubtedly over this mornings police deaths.)
And of course the government is continuing its spin… and the corporate news is more than happy to tow his line.
Two major media that are telling the truth to events out there is Al ajeera news and surprisinly BBC.The police are tortuing and murdering those people they kidnapped out of the hospitals.It is sickning what is going on out there.The people defended themselves people died on both sides now vengence has taken over,over peaceful endings and the Peruvian government is squarley to blame for using the policia as their personal judge,jury and executioner.But i have foreseen justice of the ages coming out of this.