Last June, Cultural Survival and Global Response members sent letters to the Peruvian government protesting its violent repression of Indigenous Peoples in the northern Amazon. The conflict, centered in the town of Bagua, left 34 people dead and over 200 people injured. The Indigenous protests ultimately convinced the Peruvian Congress to repeal decrees that would open Peru’s Amazonian region to unfettered exploitation by mining, oil, and logging companies.
While the Indigenous communities celebrated this victory, the Peruvian government pressed charges against Indigenous leaders, forcing them into exile. Alberto Pizango, leader of the national Peruvian Indigenous organization, AIDESEP, fled to Nicaragua where he was granted asylum. Yesterday, nearly a year later, he returned to Peru and was immediately detained at the airport. Cultural Survival joins other international and Peruvian human rights groups in calling on the Peruvian government to release Pizango and instead address the root causes of the conflict with Indigenous Peoples.
Pizango returned to Peru just days before Peruvian President Alan Garcia's scheduled meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on June 1st. The Indigenous protests last year were sparked when President Garcia used the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement to justify the promulgation of a series of decrees that roll back Indigenous land rights and open much of the Peruvian Amazon to foreign corporations. Given the U.S. connection to the conflict, we are urging President Obama to raise this issue with Garcia.
In February 2010, the International Labor Organization (ILO) of the United Nations asked Peru to "suspend the exploration and exploitation of natural resources which are affecting [Indigenous Peoples]" until the government has developed consultation and participation mechanisms in compliance with the ILO convention 169 on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. International norms such as ILO Convention 169 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples obligate governments to respect Indigenous Peoples’ right to decide their own future. Governments are legally required to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before moving ahead with policies or economic activities.
Watch a video about this case.
Action: Please write to Peruvian government officials in Spanish or English.
- Urge them to guarantee the safety of Indigenous leader Alberto Pizango and to drop all unsubstantiated charges against him.
- Press them to address the root causes of the 2009 Indigenous protests and to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ right to free, prior, and informed consent concerning all development projects that would affect them and their lands, in accordance with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Address your letters to:
Sr. Alan Garcia Perez
Presidente de la Republica del Peru
Palacio de Gobierno
Plaza Mayor
Lima 1, Peru
Fax: +511 311 3940
Email via website: http://www.presidencia.gob.pe/cartas_presidente.asp
Dra. Gladys Margot Echaiz Ramos
Fiscal de la Nacion/ Ministerio Publico
Av. Abancay cdra. 5 s/n
Lima 1, Peru
Fax: +511 426 2800
If possible, send copies to the Indigenous organization Alberto Pizango leads:
AIDESEP
Av. San Eugenio 981-Urb.
Santa Catalina
La Victoria / Lima 13 Peru
Fax: +511 472 4605
Email: aidesep@aidesep.net.pe
POSTAGE FROM THE U.S. IS 98 CENTS.
THANK YOU FOR TAKING A FEW MOMENTS TO STAND WITH THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF PERU.
