Peru

Felicia Huarsaya is one of many Indigenous artisans whose crafts were sold at the Cultural Survival Bazaars this year.  She comes from a small community in the Peruvian province of Azangaro about 15,815 feet above sea level near Lake Ti

At four the morning, Quechua farmers in the high altitude Andean communities of Amaru and Paru Paru, Peru are beginning the day in their fields, or chacras.

The territory of the Achuar, the people of the swamp palm, is a vast and remote territory straddling the long-disputed border of Peru and Ecuador, spanning nearly three million acres of forest.

On September 6, 2011, Peru’s President Ollanta Humala signed a historic law guaranteeing Indigenous Peoples the right to prior consultation about any mining, logging, or petroleum projects affecting them and their territories.

President Humala said he wanted Indigenous People to be treated like citizens who must be consulted where their interests are involved. 

The Peruvian Congress has unanimously adopted a historic bill recognizing Indigenous Peoples' rights to prior consultation. The law, which was passed August 23, is based on the International Labour Organization Convention 169 and requires companies to consult with Indigenous communities before undertaking any type of development project such as building mines or drilling for oil. The law is a radical change from the laissez-faire policies of the previous administration, which led to protests and police violence. 

On July 5, 2011, the Peruvian Congress officially recognized Indigenous languages by passing Law 29735, the Law for the Use, Preservation, Development, Revitalization, and Use of Indigenous Languages, proposed by Congresswoman Maria Sumire.

For many Indigenous people in Peru, the best way to keep their land is to move to the city and keep a foothold in both worlds. It’s homesteading in reverse, giving Indigenous people new options and creating a new kind of city, one built on their terms.

My people, we are fighters for the Amazon, warriors who have long struggled for our territory. Finally, yes, finally, we now have lands in the city that are our own.

Police and army officials have been sentenced by the Peruvian court for deaths and violence carried out in Bagua, Peru, against Indigenous protesters.

A year and a half following the deaths of at least thirty three indigenous and non-indigenous civilians and police near the town of Bagua, Peru, anthropologist Frederica Barclay suggest that the Peruvian government has failed to impleme

He was not very tall, but he was considered more Indigenous that other people from our country. His skin was almost white, like a Creole’s, and his eyes were the color of the sky. Some of his children took the same eye color.

The village of Huilloc is home to about 200 traditional Quechua families living in stone-and-thatch houses at 12,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes north of Ollantaytambo, near Machu Picchu.

Typical of many traditional Quechua communities, daily life in Huilloc revolves around farming and weaving. The main crops are potatoes—some 140 varieties—and beans, which the people of Huilloc trade for corn with communities at lower elevations.

Climate change is now a fact of life, and one all humans must increasingly confront on a daily basis.

On December 6, 2010, the Achuar of Peru were allowed to proceed in U.S.

Forum of Indigenous Peoples Mining, Climate Change and Well Being

National Museum, Lima, 18 to 20 November 2010

After a three-day Forum on Mining, Climate Change and Well-being at the Museum of the Nation from November 18 through 20 in Lima, Peru, Indigenous delegates from all over Latin America issued the so-called Lima Declaration demanding the end of large-scale mining by multinational corporations on Indigenous lands.

The Zápara people live in the Amazon jungle on the border between Peru and Ecuador in the area currently known as Pastaza, bordering on territories of Kichwa, Huaorani, and Achuar peoples. The Zápara were once one of the most important and populous peoples in the area, with 28 ethno-linguistic groups divided into 217 tribes and a population of 98,500 spread across a vast territory. They are now one of the smallest, with no more than 500 people.

The Initiative for the Regional Integration of Infrastructure in South America is the latest and largest in a series of bank-financed schemes to bring "development" to the Amazon Basin—and more trouble to the region's indigenous communities.

When most people think of reparations, they tend to think of things like money, land, or legislation. Certainly those are useful tools for helping victims regain their sense of dignity and move forward.