BOREV: "Keeping Up with Latin America's Second Best 'Democracy'"- Peru

Go to URL to pick up all the links.

"Keeping Up with Latin America's Second Best Democracy

BaguaBloodbath.jpgPeru celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square with a bloody massacre of its own! So far dozens of Indigenous and paramilitary forces have been killed. What the hell, right? Better bloggers have been giving the blow by blow over the weekend. We've just got a half-assed Monday morning roundup:

* Indigenous leaders are upset because the government forced through a series of oil, mining and logging deals turning over large swaths of the Amazon to multinational companies without ever consulting the tribes who actually live on the land.

* After weeks of peaceful protest, dipshit President Alan Garcia decided to respond "with serenity and firmness," which basically meant sending in 400 paramilitaries forces to fire on people from helicopters.

* Protesters took some of the paramilitaries hostage during the melee. Rather than negotiate, the government decided to bust them out, Steve McQueen style, except they bungled the operation, killing nine cops.

* Human rights groups claim up to 100 indigenous have been killed. Douchey government reports say: 9.

* President Alan Garcia has charmingly referred to the Indians as "barbarians," and argues that technically they are "not first class citizens."

* DON'T WORRY b/c the massacre is "unlikely to sour investors in the medium-term or threaten his presidency." Whew!

* The Wall Street Journal says Garcia can't concede to any indigenous demands because Peru's "free" trade agreement with the U.S. won't allow it.

* Average Peruvians (and the UN) have been shocked by the massacre, so the Government has started a hilarious media campaign to blame...Hugo Chavez! Christ nobody would buy that, right?

* Haha: actual headline from Today's Washington Times, "Suspicions Link Chavez to Peru Revolt"

* Here are lots of bloody pictures of the whole awfulness, in case you're into that sort of thing.

Tags:

* Alan Garcia
* Indigenous Resistance
* Massacres
* Peru"
http://www.borev.net/2009/06/keeping_up_with_latin_americas.html

Peruvian Police Accused of Massacring Indigenous Protesters in Amazon Jungle

Dozens of people are estimated to have been killed in clashes between police and indigenous activists protesting oil and mining projects in the northern Peruvian Amazonian province of Bagua. Peruvian authorities have declared a military curfew, and troops are patrolling towns in the Amazon jungle. Authorities say up to twenty-two policemen have been killed, and two remain missing. The indigenous community says at least forty people, including three children, were killed by the police this weekend.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/8/peruvian_police_accused_of_massacring_indigenous

that undermines indigenous rights was given to Garcia in order to implement the FTA.

Just saw information someone posted in the last day or two that Alan Garcia formed death squads in his FIRST term as President in the 1980's. Apparently that's just fine with the oligarchy in Peru who got him elected again, even with his hideous economic record, as well.

He's a Bush baby. Undoubtedly he couldn't have been elected without some heavy pressure from Washington. You remember how WILDLY popular the populist is, Ollanta Humala, who ran against him.

Garcia clearly can't be trusted with extended powers. He's like _{George W. Bush.} People will get killed.

and he used death squads in the 1980's.

He knows Peru has a hideous policy of suppression, and he's probably counting on that for assurance it will work for him now.

Hope he runs out of luck in this term. Any man who will kill innocents like this needs to be in prison, not in the President's office.

I hope Ortega is on board.

You know that monster Garcia will move heaven and earth to get to him, to show him who's the boss in Peru.

We've seen Ortega stand up to others before. Sure hope there's no way he can be forced to relinquish this man to the genocidal puffball Garcia. Can you imagine a larger insult in life than being killed by someone you find absurd? You don't know which would be worse, being shot by his military, or having him sit on your head or hug you close to his big sweaty bosom.

If I'm not mistaken, I saw an article mentioning Garcia has put out a "wanted, dead or alive" notice on some of the indigenous leaders. I was in a rush so I didn't read it closely, and I'm not completely sure what was involved. It looked like he means to make examples of them.

Actually, he should take the time to think it over, since a LOT of Peruvians, including non-indigenous citizens believe Garcia should not have gone this violent route. He could drop below his current 30% favorable rating.

protest.

reply to this message of yours. Sorry, trying to do too many things too fast.

6. Yep, you are right and they were talking about that very thing at today's

protest.

I'll be keeping my eyes out for more info. on Garcia's attribution of HIS filthy genocide to Hugo Chavez.

I guess Chavez is responsible for his crimes in the 1980's, too. Yeah, Chavez is a time traveller, that's it!

Thanks for your heavy reality jolt today, magbana. A lot of information landed at one time in one place.

Peruvian police fire on unarmed indigenous tribes' oil and gas protest
Both sides report at least 30 deaths and many more
Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent, and agencies guardian.co.uk,
Friday 5 June 2009 23.20 BST

Indigenous tribes who are protesting about oil and gas projects in the Amazon clashed with Peruvian security forces on Friday, leaving dozens dead and injured.

The bloodshed broke out before dawn when police tried to lift a road blockade by thousands of Awajun and Wambis Indians near Bagua in the remote province of Utcubamba, 870 miles north of the capital Lima.

Both sides reported at least 30 deaths - including nine police - and dozens wounded. Each blamed the other for the mayhem.

Police in helicopters fired live rounds at peaceful protestors and dropped tear gas canisters, killing 22 protestors, indigenous leader Alberto Pizango told reporters in the capital Lima. "I hold the government of President Alan García responsible for ordering this genocide."

The government said police were attempting to retake control of a lawless area when they came under attack from tribes who were armed with guns and set fire to government buildings.

The advocacy group Amazon Watch backed the indigenous version of events. "Eyewitnesses report that police attacked from both sides firing real bullets into the crowd as people fled into the hills. As the unarmed demonstrators were killed and injured, some wrestled the police and took away their guns and fought back in self-defence, resulting in the deaths of several police officers."

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/05/amazon-tribes-police-protest-deaths

Page last updated at 15:10 GMT, Monday, 8 June 2009 16:10 UK
'Many missing' after Peru riots

Dozens of people are missing feared dead in northern Peru after some of the country's worst violence for 10 years.

At least 30 indigenous protesters and 24 police officers are reported to have been killed in two days of clashes.

Local people say a military curfew is preventing them from hunting for those still unaccounted for. Witnesses report seeing bodies dumped in a river.

President Alan Garcia has accused the protesters of "barbarity" and said "foreign forces" were also involved.

The violence erupted on Friday after 2,500 Indians - many of them carrying spears and machetes - protested over government plans to drill for gas and oil in what they consider their ancestral lands

~snip~
"The police were shooting to kill, but that's not all, because they hid the dead," one man told the BBC.

"They took them to the ravine and threw them from the helicopter in plastic bags. There are also dead on the river banks. Up there beyond the hill, there are more, as if it were a common grave."

President Garcia has roundly rejected the allegations. He accused the protesters of disarming, tying up and slitting the throats of the officers taken hostage.

President Garcia has blamed foreign forces - widely understood to mean Bolivia and Venezuela - for inciting the unrest, saying on Sunday they did not want Peru to use its "natural resources for the good, growth and quality of life of our people".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8088350.stm

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Peru's President Alan Garcia