Wednesday 20 August
2008, San José, Costa Rica
PERU:
Native Groups Protest
Laws Facilitating Sales
of Land
By Milagros Salazar
LIMA (IPS) - Defending
the state of emergency
declared in three
provinces in Peru to
crack down on protests
by indigenous
communities against a
law facilitating the
sale of their
community-owned lands,
Prime Minister Jorge del
Castillo said the
government was
safeguarding "the rights
of the great majority of
Peruvians."
Since Aug. 9, indigenous
demonstrators have been
demanding the repeal of
two decree laws that
promote private
investment in their
territory, and the
reestablishment of a
clause from the 1979
constitution -- which
was replaced by the new
constitution in 1993 --
which stated that
communally owned land in
indigenous territory
could not be sold or
embargoed.
They are also demanding
that the government and
Peruvian legislation
comply with
International Labour
Organisation (ILO)
convention 169 (which
was ratified by Peru),
that makes it obligatory
to consult with
indigenous communities
prior to any project or
works undertaken in
their territory.
Over the past 10 days,
protesters in several
provinces have blocked
roads and oil and gas
installations and
reportedly took police
officers hostage.
The 30 day state of
emergency declared
Monday in parts of the
northern Amazon jungle
provinces of Amazonas
and Loreto and in Cusco
in the south bans public
gatherings and suspends
free transit. In
addition, the army can
be sent in to break up
protests.
In a late Monday press
conference, Prime
Minister del Castillo
responded to criticism
of the decision to
declare a state of
emergency. "We are not
provoking native
communities but
safeguarding areas that
are of strategic
importance for the
country," he said,
referring to a gas
pipeline in northern
Peru and the Camisea gas
project.
After talks between the
administration of Alan
García and protesters
stalled on Friday, the
government announced
that it would not engage
in dialogue again until
the protests were called
off. But native leaders
said Monday that the
demonstrations would
continue.
"The government has
declared open war on
indigenous people and
the demonstrators will
stay there until the
problem is solved. They
prefer to die there,
they aren’t afraid,"
said the president of
the Interethnic
Association for the
Development of the
Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP),
Alberto Pizango,
accompanied by several "apus",
or indigenous chiefs.
Environment Minister
Antonio Brack alleged
that the indigenous
protesters were being
manipulated by an
"international movement"
that he said is inciting
Aguaruna Indians in Peru
and Ecuador to try to
form their own
independent territory.
"They are being
stage-managed by a group
of lawyers who are
deliberately
misinforming them," said
Brack, who was sent to
Loreto for talks with
native leaders on
Friday, but failed to
secure results.
Pizango said his
association is urging
Congress to revoke the
decree laws that were
approved by the
executive branch under
special powers granted
by the legislature for
the implementation of
the free trade agreement
signed with the United
States.
Under one of the
decrees, a mechanism
created in the 1990s,
which allowed indigenous
communities to sell or
lease collectively-owned
land to third parties if
approved by two-thirds
of the members of a
community assembly, was
modified to permit sales
with the votes of just
50 percent plus one of
the assembly members.
Roger Nájar, the new
chairman of the
parliamentary committee
on Andean and Amazon
peoples and the
environment, told IPS
that on Tuesday, in the
first session of the new
legislature, lawmakers
would study two draft
laws aimed at overruling
the decrees in question.
"We want to provide a
solution to the fair
demands of these
communities, because the
government continues to
act arrogantly, without
any ability to
dialogue," said the
legislator.
Nájar said he had
received no response to
two letters he sent to
the Council of Ministers
asking that the
indigenous peoples’
demands be addressed.
Pizango, meanwhile, said
that if Congress showed
a willingness to take up
the issue, the groups
would study the
possibility of calling
off the protests.
On Sunday, an Aguaruna
Indian and a police
officer were seriously
injured in clashes
between protesters and
the police at the
Aramango Hydroelectric
Plant in the province of
Amazonas, according to
the local La República
correspondent. Other
press reports mentioned
12 people injured --
eight police officers
and four demonstrators.
"The underlying problem
is that the government
is attempting to portray
indigenous people as
just another group of
poor people, without
admitting that they have
a different way of life,
a different cultural
viewpoint,"
anthropologist Oscar
Espinosa at the
Pontificia Catholic
University of Peru told
IPS.
"The authorities think
they can calm the
demands of indigenous
people by building
schools or medical
clinics, but the pending
debt to the indigenous
population is much more
complex than that," he
added.
"They should not be seen
as inferior because of
their attempt to block
the influx of private
investment into their
territories," said
Espinosa. "The problem
is that Peru has a hard
time seeing cultural
differences as something
positive, as part of the
country’s wealth.
Peruvian society sees
them instead as an
obstacle."
Vice President Luis
Giampietri argued that
"some non-governmental
organisations that are
active in these issues
are inciting people to
do these kinds of
things, which in the end
are subversive
activities, because they
are undermining the
foundations of
democracy.
"How have they achieved
the miracle of being
able to bring together,
in one place at the same
time, communities so
widely dispersed as the
jungle peoples? That
will have to be
investigated," said
Giampietri.
But the protests did not
come out of nowhere.
Indigenous communities
have repeatedly
expressed their
opposition to the two
decree laws.
And while the two
decrees are the main
irritant, indigenous
associations have a list
of 38 laws and
provisions that they
would like to see
repealed on the argument
that they undermine
indigenous rights.
"Peru, which in past
decades (in the 1970s)
was in the vanguard with
respect to indigenous
issues, is now in last
place on the list," said
Espinosa.
In the professor’s view,
the country has been
backsliding on the
question of indigenous
rights, to the point
that there isn’t even a
specific law on the
issue, only one 1978
provision on native
communities that should
incorporate, for
example, the latest
international
instruments safeguarding
indigenous peoples’
rights.
Nor is there any strong
state institution that
represents them, he
added.
The National Institute
for the Development of
Andean, Amazon and
Afro-Peruvian Peoples (INDEPA),
which would normally be
in charge of indigenous
affairs, has been
partially dismantled and
is still in the midst of
a process of "reorganisation"
by the government, two
years into García’s
term.
"These protests might
end in dialogue, but the
problem will continue,
because there are no
government policies that
value and respect
indigenous people," said
Espinosa.
The government ordered
military overflights of
the protest zones and
deployed some 1,500 army
troops to Bagua. |
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