A federal court in Brazil ruled that work on the Belo Monte dam being built on the Xingu River in the Amazon rainforest may continue, finding that the consent of indigenous people is not a prerequisite for construction.
Raquel Yrigoyen Fajardo, fired as head of Peru’s indigenous affair agency, is publicly accusing the government of removing her because she annulled the agency’s approval of an environmental impact study for expansion of the Camisea gas-fields.
After the cross-country Eighth Indigenous March arrived in La Paz to a tumultuous welcome, President Evo Morales announced that he would alter plans for the road linking Bolivia with Brazil so that it will not pass through the TIPNIS indigenous reserve.
A ranger in Peru’s remote Manu national park was lightly wounded in a confrontation with an “uncontacted” indigenous band, which fired arrows on a patrol boat. Authorities expressed concern for the health of the isolated bands if they are contacted.
Despite a new law that supposedly halts the controversial highway through the Bolivian rainforest, construction in fact continues. Supporters of President Evo Morales rallied in La Paz in favor of the road, as the cross-country march in protest of it continues.
A Colombian photographer who works with the threatened Nukak indigenous group received a death threat accusing him of being a guerilla—while the FARC guerillas hijacked a shipment of medical supplies bound for the Nukak.
Bolivian lawmakers voted to approve President Evo Morales’ decision to halt a controversial road project through the country’s eastern Amazon rainforest in order to consult with the local population. But protest marchers continue to advance towards La Paz.
Peru leased its first five oil contracts since passing a law designed to protect the country’s indigenous peoples, while Bolivia has unveiled an investment fund through which the GuaranĂ people will access proceeds from local oil development.
Authorities in Peru say National Police rescued 293 women from sexual exploitation in raids in the country’s Amazonian region of Madre de Dios. Four were arrested in the regional capital Puerto Maldonado on human trafficking charges.
Indigenous protesters in Bolivia resumed their cross-country march, a week after their progress was halted by a police assault. Scattered confrontations were reported along the way, as demonstrations were held in their support across the country.
Bolivia’s Interior Minister Sacha Llorenti became the latest cabinet member to resign in the wake of National Police repression of an indigenous protest march in the eastern Amazonian rainforest region of the country.
Bolivian Defense Minister Cecilia ChacĂłn resigned in protest the day after National Police used tear gas and mass arrests to halt a cross-country march by indigenous protesters in the Amazonian department of Beni.
