World

Several dead in Peru land clashes

by Barbara McPherson | June 5, 2009 at 01:37 pm

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Clashes between the indigenous people and govenment police in Peru have resulted in at least 20 dead. The indigenous people are protesting against the exploration for oil and gas by foreign companies on their ancestral lands.
Details of how the situation erupted into gunfire are unclear as the government police claim that they were fired upon while the protesters claim they were fired upon from helicopters as they slept.

Up to 20 people are thought to have died in the Peruvian Amazon during clashes between police and indigenous Indians protesting against oil and gas exploration on ancestral lands.

Indigenous leaders told AP news agency that 15 protesters had been killed in the unrest, while officials told local radio that five police officers died.

Jose Sanchez Farfan, Peru's national police director, told Reuters news agency that officials were attacked by people with guns when they tried to clear a highway blocked by protesters.

However, protesters told Reuters that police had opened fire on them from helicopters.

Rights group Amazon Watch on Monday condemned what it described as a "violent raid" by police, saying witness reports indicated the unarmed demonstrators were attacked by police while sleeping alongside a road.

It also said some wrestled guns off police officers and fought back "in self defence"

Government officials acknowledge that the country's indigenous groups have historically been marginalised, but insist that Peru's constitution makes the state the owner of the country's mineral wealth

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 stand 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.