The communities of the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve in Peru’s rainforest region of Madre de Dios announced a decision rejecting the operations of Hunt Oil on their territory.
Peru’s Amazon indigenous aliance AIDESEP hailed the government’s formation of an investigative comission on the Bagua massacre as “an important step” towards reconciliation.
Indigenous leaders in Peru’s Cordillera del CĂłndor issued a statement giving the Dorato mining company 15 days to quit the territory.
Peru issued a formal request to Interpol for the capture of Amazon indigenous leaders who have taken asylum in Nicaragua.
The UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called for Peru to open an “exhaustive investigation” into the Bagua massacre.
As a condition of peace with the government, Peruvian indigenous leaders are demanding a “truth commission” to investigate the June violence at Bagua, dubbed the “Amazon’s Tiananmen.”
Peru’s Prime Minister Javier Velásquez is proposing legislation that would authorize the National Police to use deadly force against civilians if they believe a violent confrontation is imminent.
New aerial photos have revealed illegal loggers operating inside the Murunahua Reserve in the Peruvian Amazon, set aside for uncontacted and highly vulnerable indigenous tribes.
The first cases of “swine flu” have just been reported among Amazonian indigenous peoples, raising fears of a devastating contagion among peoples with no immunity to outside diseases.
The state agency PeruPetro pledges to go ahead with delayed Amazon oil auctions by year’s end—despite the threat of renewed protests by indigenous groups.
Ecuador signed a deal to export oil to China—as indigenous organizations in the Amazon accused President Rafael Correa of violating their territorial rights.
Peru has approved Anglo-French Perenco’s contract to drill for oil in the Amazon—in the wake of a wave of unrest over government develop plans in the region that left at least 30 dead.
