|
 |
A protest in 2008 against mining decrees in Peru. Another protest, in June this year, resulted in a death toll of 33 people. (AFP Photo)
|
WORLD: Amnesty calls for Peru to remember Indigenous victims
Issue 192 - 10 Dec 2009
By Amy McQuire
ISSUE 192, December 10, 2009: An investigation into the deaths of ten Indigenous and local people should be held alongside an inquiry into the deaths of 23 police officers, all of whom died after a violent clash at a Peruvian road blockade in June, a human rights group has said.
The bloody uprising broke out when about 400 police officers moved in on a blockade attended by Indian protestors in the town of Bagua, about 1,000 kms north of the capital of Lima.
The protestors had been blocking the highway with tree trunks and boulders, rallying against decrees signed by the country's President Alan Garcia in 2007 and 2008 that would have lifted restrictions on mining, oil drilling and farming in the Amazon rainforest.
Two of the decrees have since been revoked after debate in the country's congress.
It had followed a series of protests by 65 Indigenous groups, who had demanded to be consulted on behalf of more than 1000 Indigenous communities living in the rainforest.
But the death toll from this protest was considered one of the worst in the country in 20 years. It resulted in the resignation of the Prime Minister Yehude Simon, whose reputation was tarnished over the incident.
According to human rights advocacy group Amnesty International, not only did it result in the death of 23 police officers and ten Indigenous and local people, but the clash also injured about 200 people.
Before police moved in, the protest had been described as "peaceful".
Last week, Amnesty raised concerns that while protestors had been detained and charged due to the deaths of the police officers, as well as Indigenous leaders being harassed by authorities over the clash, there had been no action taken on those suspected of killing the protestors.
In its own investigation, the group spoke to Violeta Piitug Wampush, the widow of Indigenous leader and radio journalist Felipe Sabio César Sánchez, who was shot while coming out of the town's hospital and intended to report on the clash.
Ms Wampush told Amnesty that there should be acknowledgement by the authorities of the protestors who were killed on the day.
"...They should acknowledge [my] husband too [he] fell in defence of the Amazon Territory," Ms Wampush told Amnesty.
Amnesty's Deputy Americas Director Guadalupe Marengo last week said that there needed to be reparations and justice for all of the victims, not just the police officers.
"Measures must be taken to bring all the alleged perpetrators of these serious abuses to justice and provide reparation to all the victims", Mr Marengo said.
His call had been preceded by a similar one earlier in the year by UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, James Anaya who, on visiting Peru, had heard "worrisome" accounts of alleged abuse by security forces on Indigenous protestors, according to the Associated Press.
Mr Anaya had called for a committee to investigate the clash and also to monitor efforts to find Indians who have gone missing since the rallies against the decrees began.
After the violence, many Indigenous leaders had gone into hiding or fled, with the most notable being prominent Indian leader Alberto Pizango, who sought political asylum in Nicaragua.
 
|
|