At dawn on Friday, June 5th, 600 Peruvian police in helicopters and on foot opened fire on thousands of peaceful indigenous protestors blocking a road near Bagua in the Peruvian Amazon. Conservative estimates indicate that 60 indigenous and police have been killed. Police are accused of burning indigenous bodies, throwing them in the river and removing wounded from the hospital to hide the real number of casualties. For two months, over 30,000 indigenous have sustained nonviolent protests along the roads and waterways of the Amazon. These protests are in response to a series of Presidential decrees issued under the U.S.-Peru FTA implementation law that violate indigenous rights and open the way for an unprecedented expansion of new transnational petroleum, mining, logging and mono-cropping in the Amazon rainforest.
TAKE ACTION: Stand against repression and violence!
When: Friday, June 12, 4:30 pm
Where: Peruvian Consulate
Phone: 206.714.9037 Fax: 206.365.5378 Email: [email protected]
2. Call, fax, or email the Consulate: (talking points below)
If you are unable to be at the Friday protest (or even if you can be there), please help us send a strong message, and call and fax the Consulate between 4:30pm and 5:30pm Friday! (Or if you aren’t free at that time, please call, fax, or email sometime on Friday).
Directions to Friday’s Protest: Peruvian Consulate
Note: this address is near Lake City Way, just past the cemetery. Take Lake City Way past downtown Lake City and then continue past the cemetery towards Bothell, to 38th Ave NE. Take a soft left. Go 1 block to NE 157th, then turn left. The consulate is on this block.
1) From downtown: ST 522 Woodinville Express – leaves 3rd and Union at 3:32 PM, and would get folks there by ~4:15pm.
2) From the UW: Route 372, Woodinville Park and Ride Express – leaves NE Campus parkway at 3:42 pm – would get folks there by ~4:20pm.
In either case, get off the bus at NE 153rd ST, then cross the road and walk 2 blocks North on Lake City Way – Bothell Way to 38th Ave NE. Take a soft left onto 38th ave NE, then walk 1 block to NE 157th. Turn left on 157th to the consulate.
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DEMAND THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA DENOUNCE THE MASSACRE IN PERU!
This week, Peruvian officials will meet with the US Trade Representative in Washington for discussions on FTA implementation. We need to send a strong message to our government that we stand with the indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon and reject the killing and destruction which current U.S. free trade policies promote. Please send Obama a message that violence and unjust trade policies cannot stand!
We ask President Obama to:
1. Denounce the violence committed by Peruvian police and army against peaceful indigenous protesters under orders of President Alan Garcia.
2. Demand an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of police and army from areas where peaceful protesters are assembled.
3. Call on US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and the U.S. Government to respect the Constitution of Peru, ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and to modify the US-Peru FTA to conform with these laws. Reach the Trade Representative’s public line at: 1-888-473-8787 or fill out a message form here
CALL ON THE PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT TO PUT AN END TO THE VIOLENCE
Demand to cease the State of Emergency and martial laws that are a threat to other communities that are still protesting. Demand the end of violence against Indigenous peoples of the Amazon and Andean regions, to restore peace and to restart dialogue so that Indigenous peoples can keep their lands and the environment can be protected.
Click Here to Send a Message to the President of Peru
Click here to EMAIL: President of the Council of Ministers of Peru, Yehude Simon Munaro or Fax +51 1- 716- 87-35
Click here to EMAIL: President of the Congress of Peru, Javier Velásquez-Quesquén
Embassy of Peru in Washington, DC:
Telephone: (202) 833-9860 to 9869
Fax: (202) 659-8124
Ambassador Luis Valdivieso Montano
Emails:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Consulate General of Peru in Los Angeles
Telephone: (213) 252-5910
Emails:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Click here to EMAIL Public Ombudsman Office of Peru
More background with links and info available here
Talking points:
• The recent massacre and ongoing violence by the Peruvian police against the indigenous people of the Amazon is an absolute outrage! The government of Peru must stop such lawless and thuggish treatment of their own people!
• The recent Presidential decrees that took away rights from the local Amazonian communities and were enacted without their consultation are completely unacceptable, and must be rescinded. Indigenous people and the local communities must have a say in how (or whether!) their land is developed.
• The current crisis is a direct result of the anti-democratic and exploitative implementation of the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement by the government of Peru. Exploiting indigenous people and the environment is absolutely the wrong way to build the economy.
• We need to create trade agreements that are fair and sustainable, not this kind of “free trade” free-for-all.
• The Peruvian government is presenting this tragedy as if it was caused by the indigenous peoples, but this is not true. The Amazonian peoples protested peacefully for almost 2 months, until the police attacked them.
THANK YOU for taking action!
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I am living more than 13 years in Peru and know country and people well.
As an independent foreigner I express my deep discontent what happen in the Peruvian jungle. It is sad to watch that a beautiful country like Peru again make bad headlines and this just after few month after Peruvian parliament was resolved because of a corruption scandal in which all ministers were ask to resign.
I ask myself- How could a situation escalate and end up in blood sheet?
Was this not evitable with more dialogue and political wisdom?
Are we here dealing with possible professional, moral or mental incapacity from leading figures in charge?
International independent broadcasting gave quit different versions than some state controlled Medias.
Freedom of expression as one of most vital sign form democracy seems to be under pressure again.
It seems that some of corrupted countries elites don’t mind too much about selling out the country little by little- no matter the prize.
The world should be interested for what is happen here because if Peruvian jungle gets more damaged than effects of climate change on the whole planet will be worst, more hunger more poverty and more instability will be the consequence.
Peru should matter to all of us- no matter were we are.
I think it is a good sign that ONU spoke out about current events.
I hope for peace, for more Justice here, and more job giving investment in within respect of environment. Most of all I hope for a better way to understand the word democracy.
Hi Heather:
Thank for the oportunity to join the protest. Here is a link with a video that shows a protest in Lima and the police using tear gas. Please pass it along
http://lahabitaciondehenryspencer.com/2009/06/12/video-la-marcha-por-la-selva-nativos-de-bagua/#comment-52090