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.
The UK-based advocacy group Survival International has published an eyewitness account of the killings in the Peruvian Amazon that caused shockwaves around the world. The report contains dramatic photos by two Belgians, Marijke Deleu and Thomas Quirynen, who were caught… Read morePeru: eyewitness account of Amazon massacre published
Indigenous groups in Peru called off protests after the country’s congress voted to overturn controversial laws decreed by President Alan GarcĂa to implement the US free trade agreement.
Peru recalled its ambassador to June 16 after President Evo Morales described the recent killings of indigenous protesters in the Peruvian Amazo as “genocide.”
Senior figures in Peru are threatening a clamp-down on both Peruvian and foreign NGOs in the wake of the violent protests which have erupted in the country’s Amazon region.
Peru’s Prime Minister Yehude Simon said he will resign after submitting a bill to congress to repeal President Alan GarcĂa’s decrees on opening the Amazon to corporate exploitation.
