The Amazon
Colombia apologizes for Amazon genocide
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Día de La Raza issued an official apology to indigenous communities in the Amazon for devastation caused by the rubber boom.
Tag: Peru
The Andes
US to revise defense pact with Peru
Leon Panetta in Lima secured an agreement to revise Washington’s 60-year-old defense cooperation pact with Peru—as Sendero guerillas attacked pipeline infrastructure.
The Andes
Peru warned on repression of peasant protests
Human Rights Watch urged Peru’s President Ollanta Humala to take steps to prevent the unlawful killing of peasant protesters, noting growing incidents of deadly force.
The Andes
Peru: indigenous consulta rejects mineral project
The village of Cañaris in northern Peru held a consulta rejecting a proposed open-pit copper mine—but the Canadian firm that holds the contract rejects the vote as illegitimate.
Peru: court rules for indigenous sovereignty
Peru’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of an indigenous rainforest community seeking to bar a road that illegal miners and timber cutters want to build through their territory.
The Andes
Peru coca crop rises for sixth year: UN
A new report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says that Peru has now achieved rough parity with Colombia in coca production, with vast new areas coming under cultivation.
The Amazon
Peru: jungle shoot-out as narco-flight intercepted
Peru’s National Police say a Cessna full of cocaine intercepted at a clandestine jungle airstrip reveals that Sendero Luminoso guerillas are working with Bolivian drug lords.
The Andes
Peru: Cajamarca regional strike remobilizes
Campesinos in Peru’s Cajamarca region pledge to block operations of Newmont Mining company that they say are preparatory to the controversial Conga gold mine project.
The Amazon
Peru: first ‘prior consultations’ on Amazon oil development
Peru’s government is set to convene the first “prior consultation” with Amazonian indigenous peoples on oil development in their territory—but local skepticism runs deep.
The Andes
Peru: justice sought in slaying of mine opponent
An employee of the controversial Yanacocha gold mine in Peru’s Cajamarca region was arrested for the slaying of a local campesino leader who opposed the mine’s expansion.
The Andes
Peru: protests as ‘terrorism denial’ law introduced
A proposed law in Peru would impose a prison term for “denial” of Sendero Luminoso’s terrorism, but critics insist that if the law is instated it should also include “state terrorism.”
The Andes
Peru: mine tailing spill contaminates RĂo Huallaga
Authorities in Peru admitted that wastewater laced with heavy metals from a major zinc mine has spilled into the RĂo Huallaga, a major tributary of the Amazon.