At least 60 and possibly up to 100 people are dead after a brutal confrontation Friday on the Fernando Belaunde Terry Road in the Peruvian Amazon. Police opened fire from helicopters on indigenous protesters, who were blockading a road to protect their land from oil companies opening wells and mines in their rainforests without their consent.
Police claim the protesters opened fire first, but the tribes were only armed with traditional spears.
The Peruvian government has declared a state of emergency, stripping citizens in some areas of the Amazon of their constitutional rights. Some reports say police have raided hospitals where indigenous people were recovering from their injuries and taken them to an unknown location. Tribe members say up to 35 people are missing and that three children are among the dead.
Peru has already opened up 75% of its Amazon territory to oil exploration and President Alan Garcia has signed contracts for 15 more oil concessions just in the past month.
From Reuters:
An indigenous leader said 40 protesters were killed and the government said 23 members of the security forces perished in two days of battles over Garcia’s push to open up the rainforest to billions of dollars in foreign investment.
Thousands of Indians armed with wooden spears vowed to dig in at blockades on remote Amazon highways to defend their ancestral lands from outside developers.
Dozens of police were held hostage by protesters, but most were freed hours later. On Sunday, two were still missing.
Hundreds of natives who sought refuge at a Catholic mission in Bagua Grande drew up a list of dozens of missing people and sought guarantees to search for bodies of the slain.
“We have been told that many of our dead brothers have been thrown into the Maranon river to cover up the killing,” said Carlos Anchanchi, one of the [indigenous] group’s leaders.
Video via BBC News
Many major news sources are only reporting on the dead police officers and playing down the violence against the indigenous tribes. Some human rights organizations are saying that the indigenous death toll is far higher than has been reported.
Amazon Watch has put out an urgent action alert asking people to send Peruvian President Garcia a message that the international community won’t stand for violent repression of indigenous people. Add your voice today.
Link [Reuters] + [Amazon Watch]
Photo credit: Peruanista
