Peru's Amazon Indians Warn Of Renewed Protests

[Judi Lynn]

LIMA, Peru, Aug. 26, 2009
Peru's Amazon Indians Warn Of Renewed Protests
Peru's Amazon Indians Warn Of Renewed Protests, Say Government Has Not Honored Accords

(AP) Peruvian Amazon Indian leaders are warning of renewed protests, alleging Friday that the government has not honored promises made in the aftermath of June violence that left at least 23 police and 10 Indians dead.

Indian leader Salomon Awananch accused the government of blocking the formation of an independent truth commission to investigate the June violence. The government agreed to the comission more than two months ago but has not appointed its representative to the proposed seven person comittee, he said. Calls to President Alan Garcia's Cabinet chief, who is leading negotiations, were unsuccessful.

Talks "haven't advanced at all. It seems they lack the good will" to resolve the conflict, said Awananch, a member of confederation's national council. Awananch is a leader of the Awajun people, who suffered 10 deaths during the June 5 government crackdown at an Amazon highway blockade manned by Indians protesting development on their ancestral lands. Twenty-three police were killed in the ensuing violence.

Indians say police opened fire with assault rifles on some 800 protesters bearing spears and rocks, but Garcia's government says Indians with firearms initiated the violence.

More than 100 Indians are charged with murder and rebellion and 17 police have been charged with homicide. Three Indian leaders have taken asylum in Nicaragua. The confederation demands that the government drop the charges.

Awananch said Indian leaders will decide Saturday whether to resume blockades on highways, waterways and oil pumping stations.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/26/ap/latinamerica/main5265858.shtml

[Peace Patriot]

1. You gotta wonder about these figures...

"...violence that left at least 23 police and 10 Indians dead."

"More than 100 Indians are charged with murder and rebellion and 17 police have been charged with homicide."

--------------------

Indians with spears and rocks. Government with assault rifles. And it's the Indians who called for an investigation--which the government is, of course, avoiding.

Alan Garcia is a scumbag--a Bush crony with a Bush-level approval rating (25%). He is the enforcer in Peru of "free trade for the rich." That's what our "war on drugs" millions are being used for in Peru--to kill Indians. I wouldn't believe a word he said. And we know well how these lies go about protests. My guess: It's exactly as the Indians said it was. Government troops open fired with assault rifles on a peaceful protest of 800 people. As men, women and children dropped dead, warrior Indians picked up spears and rocks, and fought back in defense of the helpless who were facing imminent death and grave injury from the bloody boot of this US-funded "free trade" client state.

These are the heroes of Peru who will one day turn this filthy government out.

I mourn for the police who were "trained" and brainwashed into doing this. They are poor, too. And they no doubt were lured in by secure jobs, regular meals and nice uniforms--in a country that has been looted and ravaged by the rich for centuries, most recently by "free trade." We mustn't forget who is ultimately pulling the trigger--Bush and his fellow criminals and our own Democrats, including Obama, who supported this "free trade" deal with its paper-only "protections" for labor and the environment, and their tool Garcia. Those assault rifles may even have been directly paid for by our tax dollars. The "war on drugs" is the enforcement mechanism for "free trade." True in Colombia. True in Mexico. True in Honduras. True in Peru. WE're paying for this! Paying for it unto the 7th generation! Brutal assaults such as this for the benefit of the rich, at the cost of everything we hold dear, and at fantastic financial cost--billions of dollars that we don't have.

Indians with spears and rocks. Government with assault rifles.

That about says it, for US policy in Latin America.

[Bacchus39]

2. Indians with "spears and rocks" wow do you have an antiquated view of "Indians"

the perception of latin americans from our experts as a population of campesinos and naked Indians with spears would be sad if it weren't so completely wrong and amusing.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Don't forget the helicopters! The Peruvian military also fired down into the spear-armed protesters

from above, which made the expected right-wing, despicable impact on these deeply helpless people.



http://dailyreporter.com.nyud.net:8090/files/2009/06/amazon-061609.jpg http://www.minnpost.com.nyud.net:8090/client_files/alternate_images/8310/mp_main_wide_BaguaProvinceProtest452.jpg http://www.landcoalition.org.nyud.net:8090/cpl-blog/wp-content/uploads/large_indians-block-road-peru-060909.jpg http://www.ens-newswire.com.nyud.net:8090/ens/jun2009/20090619_ashanika.jpg

http://assets.survival-international.org.nyud.net:8090/pictures/306/peru_protest_ashanika_screen.jpg http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org.nyud.net:8090/TPV3/media/blogs/blog/10/murder_in_amazon3.jpg http://assets.survival-international.org.nyud.net:8090/pictures/309/protester_arrested_screen.jpg

http://earthfirst.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/deadly-peru-clash.jpg http://static.guim.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/6/7/1244367061825/Police-officers-take-up-p-001.jpg http://www.landcoalition.org.nyud.net:8090/cpl-blog/wp-content/uploads/blood-in-the-jungle1.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_xgFlEuz0tGs/SjZlSqAlCiI/AAAAAAAAAHM/6GGIs2l0pxk/s320/Peru-Amazon-police1.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/3624/3604660373_177f318597.jpg


Clearly there are some deteriorated people who would attempt to feel superior to the poor people of the earth, but they will discover life has some significant surprises in store for those who arrive at cheap, contemptuous views of people they have never met.

[Bacchus39]

4. any pics of the dead police killed by the Indian "spears"?

n/ts

[Peace Patriot]

5. Incredible photos, Judi! Thank you! And what are these people carrying spears for?

To defend MOTHER EARTH!

Their brave spears against assault rifles, helicopter gunships and cs gas--to try to stop the ravaging of the Earth by multinational mining corporations and other "free trade" monsters!

Against the horrible war machine of modern weaponry--the enforcers of those who would kill our planet, literally kill it, rip the matrix of life to pieces for short term profit--these Indians raise hand-hewn weapons and their colorful talismans and their warrior hearts!

What an amazing story these photos tell!

Rocks and spears and medicine bags against the most hideous Beast of Greed, that would place poor soldiers out in front of Greed, to protect Greed, to attack poor people assault rifles and helicopters for Greed--cowardly, disgusting, ugly Greed!

This conflict is occurring in the heart of the Amazon, where the Awajun peoples' lands are being sold off to multinationals without even consulting them, let alone receiving their consent. Sold off by the US puppet Alan Garcia! Sold off because of our own bought-and-paid-for politicians--Democrats and Pukes alike, and their rotten stinking US/Peru "free trade" deal!

-------

Here's part of an account that appeared at Huffington Post:

"The Awajun and Wambis indigenous peoples had been participating in a general strike called to demand the Peruvian Government repeal a series of laws and executive orders that would allow the government to make it easy to grant indigenous lands to multinational oil, mining, and energy corporations. A Peruvian congressional committee declared several of the laws to be unconstitutional, but President Alan Garcia and his APRA party (American Popular Revolutionary Alliance) have repeatedly blocked congressional debate that would vote to revoke the laws.

"The broad coalition of Amazonian indigenous peoples fighting the laws called a general strike on April 9 and has since been carrying out well-coordinated acts of civil disobedience throughout the region.

"At about 6 am on June 5, the police attacked the indigenous peoples' highway blockade, ignoring their pleas for dialogue and opening fire with automatic weapons on two sides of the blockade and firing teargas grenades and live rounds from helicopters. The protesters were unarmed or carrying traditional wooden spears . Many fled into the surrounding hillsides and became trapped. Many hid. And some fought back in self-defense.

"The government reports that 22 police officers have been killed; indigenous representatives report that at least 40 protesters have been killed by police gunfire and that over 150 are missing or being detained by police."

(MORE)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-gibler/indigenous-protest-and-st_b_214901.html

----------------------

Rocks and spears! ROCKS AND SPEARS! And prayers for Mother Earth!

The World Wildlife Fund gives us fifty years, at present levels of pollution and consumption--fifty years to the death of the planet! Fini! Kaput! No more! The beautiful Earth, and all its beautiful critters and the human race gone. No more. THE END.

And this is what these amazing people of the Amazon are opposing--for us, for everyone!--with wooden spears! The death of Planet Earth!

[Judi Lynn]

6. I just noticed 4 of the photos didn't survive the translation. I think they will work now.

They are unhappy images, but it's good to be a witness to what has happened to these absolutely innocent people, regardless of how many diseased greedy people there are also looking at these victims with a deep satisfaction some more poor people have been harmed.

These faces are innocent, and utterly open, as one sees in all people of good conscience. (How can anyone help but notice in the vast majority of images of Democrats, leftists, there is always far more intelligence, goodness, actual liveliness, openness than what you will see in the faces of fascists! How can anyone avoid noticing they are better looking (!), while wingers' hatred, greed, self-centeredness always shine right through, no matter what. Anyone can spot the difference.)

I hate to put these photos out, knowing the satisfaction it brings the infesting trolls who haunt message boards of people who have chosen, by faith, by experience, by character, a different way of living, thinking, being. I think they're like peeping toms, since they don't have anything in common with progressives, as peepers aren't part of the life going on inside the houses they're obsessed with.

It's like selling one's own sister to perverts when right-wingers also are given this information, but it's vital communication directed at those who might care.





Garcia stole their ancestral homeland, the very place where they expected to spend their lives, and the place where they believed their children and beyond, would live, right out from under them.

They will lose their entire world, and they are not equipped by language and by culture to cope with a completely alien set of reference points, customs, values, and strangers.

What was passed down to Garcia was the entire world of privileged European-descended elites. He was educated in Paris and Madrid, and the world he inherited was so large it gave him the power to steal their world from them. Odd, isn't it?

Actual work, personal investment in daily life, relatedness to the world around them without a doubt is far more real, more genuine, more responsible than anything someone like Garcia could possibly understand.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/media/images/41725000/jpg/_41725760_perugarcia1_ap416.jpg

http://www.hollow-hill.com.nyud.net:8090/sabina/images/garcia-dressingroom.jpg

"Coooomrades, in this historic and revolutionary moment, we call on you to take up the anti-imperialist fight..."

"No, no! You already gave that speech. Now you have to say: Gentlemen, we call on you to take up investment in privatizations and concessions..."

"Mr. García, you're on!"