cyu
23rd June 2009, 23:07
Excerpts from http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14066
http://www.globalresearch.ca/coverStoryPictures/14066.jpg
The daily La Republica reports, “The president admitted that he was mistaken for having excluded the indigenous people when drafting the laws, and that the lack of dialogue provoked the death of 34 people, among natives and policemen.”
Government figures claim that 24 police and 10 natives were killed in the confrontation. Hospitals and religious organizations in the area, however, have reported a far higher civilian death toll, and eyewitnesses told of police burning the bodies of slain protesters and placing them in black bags and dumping them in the river.
Throughout the nine-week conflict that led to the massacre of Bagua, Garcia had repeatedly made arrogant and aggressive declarations disregarding the natives’ rights, while saying he “did not have to consult with anyone,” and that his government would not “give in to blackmail.”
Garcia had to bow to the demands of the indigenous people when it became clear that his government had lost control over the Amazon territory, and the repression it had unleashed had sparked nationwide outrage and mass protests by Peruvian working people that threatened the stability of his government.
The struggle in the Amazon basin had also received international support, particularly from indigenous groups in other Latin American countries. According to the news agency EFE, Mexican Indians threatened to occupy the Peruvian embassy in their country, “if the massacre against the indigenous people continues.”
Encouraged by the hundreds of thousands of workers and students that joined them in a nationwide day of protest June 11, as well as the growing international support from Mexico, as well as native organizations from neighboring Ecuador and Bolivia, indigenous organizations had stepped up their protest, taking control of major roads used to carry produce from the jungle to the coastal cities, including the capital, Lima.
At checkpoints, the natives, armed with spears, decided which trucks could pass and which not. With the majority of Peruvians blaming the government for the massacre of Bagua, the police were in no position to intervene.
Under these conditions, the use of force would have provoked a nationwide conflict that could potentially have brought down the government.
The US government was also forced to retreat from its initial position of intransigently backing the use of force. Prior to the massacre of Bagua, Washington was indicating to Peruvian officials that if Lima failed to enforce the decrees opening up the Amazon region to exploitation, the US would consider annulling the Free Trade Agreement.
At a ceremony last week in which the US delivered $4.4 million of arms and equipment to the Peruvian armed forces, the American ambassador, Michael McKinley, said that now Washington “will support the dialogue between the Peruvian government and the Amazon natives.”
The people of Andahuylas, for example, started an indefinite strike in support of the Amazon natives and their demand to overturn the 1064 and 1090 decrees. Now the struggle continues with its own demands, among which are the call for the president and his cabinet to resign. In recent weeks similar, independent struggles emerged in other cities like Chiclayo and Chimbote.
García has attempted to shift blame for the massacre onto his Prime Minister Yehude Simon, who has offered his resignation over his role in the repression.
García and other officials have continued to allege that the mass upheavals in Peru are the work of “outside forces”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/coverStoryPictures/14066.jpg
The daily La Republica reports, “The president admitted that he was mistaken for having excluded the indigenous people when drafting the laws, and that the lack of dialogue provoked the death of 34 people, among natives and policemen.”
Government figures claim that 24 police and 10 natives were killed in the confrontation. Hospitals and religious organizations in the area, however, have reported a far higher civilian death toll, and eyewitnesses told of police burning the bodies of slain protesters and placing them in black bags and dumping them in the river.
Throughout the nine-week conflict that led to the massacre of Bagua, Garcia had repeatedly made arrogant and aggressive declarations disregarding the natives’ rights, while saying he “did not have to consult with anyone,” and that his government would not “give in to blackmail.”
Garcia had to bow to the demands of the indigenous people when it became clear that his government had lost control over the Amazon territory, and the repression it had unleashed had sparked nationwide outrage and mass protests by Peruvian working people that threatened the stability of his government.
The struggle in the Amazon basin had also received international support, particularly from indigenous groups in other Latin American countries. According to the news agency EFE, Mexican Indians threatened to occupy the Peruvian embassy in their country, “if the massacre against the indigenous people continues.”
Encouraged by the hundreds of thousands of workers and students that joined them in a nationwide day of protest June 11, as well as the growing international support from Mexico, as well as native organizations from neighboring Ecuador and Bolivia, indigenous organizations had stepped up their protest, taking control of major roads used to carry produce from the jungle to the coastal cities, including the capital, Lima.
At checkpoints, the natives, armed with spears, decided which trucks could pass and which not. With the majority of Peruvians blaming the government for the massacre of Bagua, the police were in no position to intervene.
Under these conditions, the use of force would have provoked a nationwide conflict that could potentially have brought down the government.
The US government was also forced to retreat from its initial position of intransigently backing the use of force. Prior to the massacre of Bagua, Washington was indicating to Peruvian officials that if Lima failed to enforce the decrees opening up the Amazon region to exploitation, the US would consider annulling the Free Trade Agreement.
At a ceremony last week in which the US delivered $4.4 million of arms and equipment to the Peruvian armed forces, the American ambassador, Michael McKinley, said that now Washington “will support the dialogue between the Peruvian government and the Amazon natives.”
The people of Andahuylas, for example, started an indefinite strike in support of the Amazon natives and their demand to overturn the 1064 and 1090 decrees. Now the struggle continues with its own demands, among which are the call for the president and his cabinet to resign. In recent weeks similar, independent struggles emerged in other cities like Chiclayo and Chimbote.
García has attempted to shift blame for the massacre onto his Prime Minister Yehude Simon, who has offered his resignation over his role in the repression.
García and other officials have continued to allege that the mass upheavals in Peru are the work of “outside forces”