Up to 250 Indigenous Peruvians Killed in Bagua

[L. Coyote]

Up to 250 Indigenous Peruvians Killed in Bagua, Says Leader Miguel Palacin
by Carlos Quiroz June 11, 2009 - http://www.groundreport.com/World/Up-to-250-Peruvian-Indians-Killed-in-Bagua-Says-In


I just finished a phone conversation with Miguel Palacin, he is the president of Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indigenas (CAOI) or the Andean Coordination of Indigenous Organizations.

....Right now, opposition Congress members of Peru are under hunger strike inside the Congress building, blocking all debates and protesting against what they consider "a mockery" to the demands of Indigenous peoples.

Today people of Peru starts a national day of protest, and many regions will start strikes until the government of Lima responds to their demands, including the controversial Garcia decrees, and other issues like the economic crisis. There are several rallies going in different parts of Lima right now walking towards Plaza Dos de Mayo ...

............

Miguel Palacin says that the official version of the government on the Bagua massacre says there are 25 police and nine indigenous people dead. But his organization contacts in that area reveal that there are more than 250 people missing, all of them Indigenous leaders who are presumably dead. These missing people are not in the list of injured nor detained, and there is a national commission to investigate this crimes and they were in Bagua yesterday but they found only blood in the road -in an area that is now under the control of Peruvian military.

"How can those with guns and prepared to attack have 25 dead, and those who were unarmed and were defending themselves had only nine people dead. Most people don't believe that anymore" said Palacin, ...........

[L. Coyote]

1. MUST SEE Video: Peruvian Government Massacres Indian Protesters

Award-Winning Actor Q’orianka Kilcher Heads to Peru to Support Indigenous Rights

June 10, 2009 - WATCH VIDEO = http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/10/peru
As Tensions Flare in Peruvian Amazon, Award-Winning Actor Q’orianka Kilcher Heads to Peru to Support Indigenous Rights
Peruvian indigenous leader Alberto Pizango has been granted asylum in Nicaragua after leading protests against oil and mining projects in the northern Peruvian Amazonian province of Bagua. Over the weekend, an estimated sixty people died after police tried to break up a blockade. We speak to actor Q’orianka Kilcher, of part Indigenous Quechua descent, who is heading to Peru to support the Amazonian protest. (includes rush transcript)

June 10, 2009 - Peruvian Police Accused of Massacring Indigenous Protesters in Amazon Jungle
WATCH VIDEO = http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/8/peruvian_police_accused_of_massacring_indigenous

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.

includes rush transcript

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"Go ahead and shoot the dogs in the head": Garcia's police shoot, bomb and gas protestors in Peru!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5805063

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Pictures Peru killings
Sat, 06/06/2009 - http://catapa.be/en/north-peru-killings
Some pictures are shocking.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. 250! Just the other day it was only 35. What the hell is going on?

When will the GOP-controlled media begin discussing the horrifying crimes in our own hemisphere?

[L. Coyote]

3. Watch the first video link + Police Concealing Bodies of Indian Dead, NGO Charges

June 10, 2009 - WATCH VIDEO = http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/10/peru

Peru Police Concealing Bodies of Indian Dead, NGO Charges
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=336792&CategoryId=14095

BAGUA, Peru – An international advocacy group for the indigenous peoples in Amazonia said Monday that Peruvian police are seeking to conceal the bodies of Indians killed during last week’s confrontations in and around this northern city.

“Numerous eyewitnesses” saw police dump bodies from helicopters into the Marañon River and burn other remains to impede identification, Amazon Watch’s Gregor McLennan said in Bagua.

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COMPILATION here also: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5811137

[ColbertWatcher]

4. What I don't understand is that if there's video, why can't the mass media outlets air any of it?

I collected some pictures when I first heard about it and the picture below says a great deal.

[L. Coyote]

5. You can find the video of shooting on YouTube. Most reports are in Spanish

Reporters in Peru claim they and their families are being threatened.

The media in Peru is controlled, and repeating propaganda.

[ColbertWatcher]

7. I'm talking about the U.S. media. Why isn't this being discussed at all?

There are plenty of groups concerned about the rainforest, but does that mean they only care about the trees and not about the people who live there?

There are so many groups in the U.S. who could easily make this fight their own and get it some exposure.

Yet no one is.

[L. Coyote]

9. Why don't people on DU seem to care either? Sarah Palin gets lots of views

over idiocies like wardrobe. But genocide?

The USA was built by killing Indians, so the USA has a huge vested interest in DENIAL.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Every Friday I post a poll asking which is the most important news story for the previous week.

I always mess up and forget something, but I always keep the Palinish idiocy off them, no matter how many threads and responses there are for them.

I keep them on my journal and know they're not exciting or sexy, but it's interesting which threads get the most attention and which choices get the most votes.

As far as the denial goes, that's why I commented on the available video.

There are pictures, I cannot understand why the GOP-controlled media isn't airing any of it.

[Selatius]

18. If oil drilling is involved, the news outlets could be subject to lobbying by oil companies.

Companies like Chevron-Texaco, Exxon-Mobil, or BP-Amoco buy lots of ad time on television networks like FOX and CNN. Of course, there could also be big investors in these news networks who also have sizable stakes in oil companies as well and would want to silence the story.

[struggle4progress]

16. Good question!

[ColbertWatcher]

27. Thank you. n/t

[L. Coyote]

29. And teach people that peaceful protests can stop the flow of oil? of Profits?

and change laws?

Unthinkable education that!

The media exists to control the population for corporate interests, not for their own interests.

And especially not for their empowerment!

[malaise]

6. Adios Garcia

Start packing you murderous bastard.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. I hope so.

I just hope the rest of the world can shame him because not enough in the U.S. seem to be.

[tblue]

10. K&R! Kick it up, people!

I heard a report on this on Democracy Now. The official report said the peaceful policeman were mercilessly attacked by the local people. Uh huh, sure.

I visited Peru a few years ago. Fascinating place, and the color lines are very apparent. Thanks very much for this post.

[ColbertWatcher]

12. "the peaceful policeman were mercilessly attacked by the local people" Yeah right ...

[EFerrari]

20. Right. They attacked police guns with their bodies.

[ColbertWatcher]

21. Bullets. They attacked the police's bullets. n/t

[EFerrari]

22. Right, and the gas with their lungs and the ground with their blood.

[ColbertWatcher]

23. They're so viscious. These bodies. Blocking the market with their "rights." Savages. n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

13. I would think that more Americans would support their fight.

If they knew about it, of course.

[EFerrari]

14. I knew it.

:grr:
:cry:

[L. Coyote]

17. When the President calls them second-class citizens, this was to be expected.

[EFerrari]

19. Yes. And when we see his government threatening journalists

we should expect this, too.

[ColbertWatcher]

24. It seems there are a few parallels to what's happening here. n/t

[L. Coyote]

15. Peru’s Congress suspends land laws, but is it enough to calm Amazon conflict?

June 11th, 2009
Peru’s Congress suspends land laws, but is it enough to calm Amazon conflict?
Kevin Gray - http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2009/06/11/perus-congress-suspends-land-laws-but-is-it-enough-to-calm-amazon-conflict/


Peru’s Congress hopes to calm protests over President Alan Garcia’s plans to open up the country’s Amazon region to oil and logging by multinational companies but the conflict is far from being resolved.

Peruvian lawmakers temporarily suspended two decrees that triggered deadly protests by indigenous groups opposed to the move. ..........

The clashes have sparked vitriol from both sides with Garcia referring to the Indians as “terrorists” and indigenous leaders calling him a “murderer.”

Also complicating any agreement is that circumstances surrounding the clashes and the death toll remain murky.

Indigenous groups say police opened fire on demonstrators blocking a highway in protest at the laws ................

[ColbertWatcher]

25. Kick for late nighters. n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

26. Morning kick. n/t

[L. Coyote]

28. Peru's citizens start via Facebook a pacific anti-oil demonstration

10 June, 2009 < 12:13 >
Peru's citizens start via Facebook a pacific anti-oil demonstration
LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra - http://www.livinginperu.com/news-9306-announcements-perus-citizens-start-via-facebook-pacific-anti-oil-demonstration

A collective which started as group created in Facebook, is calling everyone for a pacific demonstration this afternoon in the Limean district of Miraflores.

“As citizens concerned about peace and environment, we must tell our governments, the current one and the ones yet to come, that continuing with the present oil exploitation model is damaging the environment and our health, and our Amazon brothers' culture as well” states the group's manifesto in its Facebook page, which can be visited in this link. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113400035844&ref=mf

.............

[L. Coyote]

30. NYT: Protesters Gird for Long Fight Over Opening Peru’s Amazon

Protesters Gird for Long Fight Over Opening Peru’s Amazon
By SIMON ROMERO - June 11, 2009 - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/world/americas/12peru.html?ref=global-home

IQUITOS, Peru — .... indigenous groups are digging in for a protracted fight, revealing an increasingly well-organized movement that could be a tinderbox for President Alan García. The movement appears to be fueled by a deep popular resistance to the government’s policies, which focused on luring foreign investment, while parts of the Peruvian Amazon have been left behind.

The broadening influence of the indigenous movement was on display Thursday in a general strike that drew thousands of protesters here to the streets of Iquitos, the largest Peruvian city in the Amazon, and to cities and towns elsewhere in jungle areas. Protests over Mr. García’s handling of the violence in the northern Bagua Province last Friday also took place in highland regions like Puno, near the Bolivian border, and in Lima and Arequipa on the Pacific coast.

“The government made the situation worse with its condescending depiction of us as gangs of savages in the forest,” said Wagner Musoline Acho, 24, an Awajún Indian and an indigenous leader. “They think we can be tricked by a maneuver like suspending a couple of decrees for a few weeks and then reintroducing them, and they are wrong.”

The protesters’ immediate threat — to cut the supply of oil and natural gas to Lima, the capital — seems to have subsided, with protesters partly withdrawing from their occupation of oil installations in the jungle. ... Foreign Minister José García Belaunde ... said the ultimate aim of the protesters was to prevent Peru from carrying out a trade agreement with the United States, because one of the most contentious of the decrees that were suspended on Thursday would bring Peru’s rules for investment in jungle areas into line with the trade agreement. .........

[L. Coyote]

32. NYT June 5: Fatal Clashes Erupt in Peru at Roadblock

Fatal Clashes Erupt in Peru at Roadblock\
By SIMON ROMERO- June 5, 2009 - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/world/americas/06peru.html?_r=1&fta=y


LIMA, Peru — Clashes between indigenous protesters and security forces on a remote jungle highway in northern Peru left more than a dozen dead on Friday, including 11 police officers, heightening tension over intensifying protests by indigenous groups over plans to open vast tracts of rain forest to oil drilling, logging and hydroelectric dams.

Initial accounts of the clashes varied. Indigenous leaders here said the killings unfolded early on Friday after the police fired from helicopters on hundreds of protesters who had blocked the highway in the northern Bagua Province, with at least 22 civilians killed. The Chachapoyas Medical Association, in the region where the killings took place, put the number of dead Indians at 25.

Peru’s interior minister, Mercedes Cabanillas, said the police did not initiate the bloodshed but were “victims of the frenzy.” Prime Minister Yehude Simon said Friday night that 11 police officers and 3 Indians had been killed, and that 38 police officers and a civilian engineer were abducted by the protesters.

.............

[L. Coyote]

31. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Peru: Investigate Violence in Bagua

Peru: Investigate Violence in Bagua
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/06/10/peru-investigate-violence-bagua

June 10, 2009

Ms. Gladys Margot Echaíz Ramos
Attorney General of Perú.......

Dear Ms. Echaíz,

I am writing to express our deep concern regarding the violent confrontation on June 5 in the province of Bagua that led to the death of at least 32 people, including several police officers and civilian demonstrators. To date, conflicting accounts of the events are being offered by the government and indigenous groups in the media. Given the seriousness of what occurred last week, it is urgent that your office conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation that is capable of identifying and holding to account those responsible for the commission of crimes.

We have received credible reports that police forces violently attempted to end a demonstration by indigenous groups ... According to some press accounts, police helicopters opened fire indiscriminately against a crowd of demonstrators, injuring several of them, including a well-known indigenous leader and activist. This apparently fueled the demonstrators' anger, which led to a violent confrontation between police officers and demonstrators that ended with the death of dozens of police officers and civilians. Demonstrators are also alleged to have violently assaulted and killed several police officers whom they had kidnapped in a nearby location.

There are conflicting accounts of the number of police officers and civilians who died ....

Human Rights Watch has learned that some witnesses allege law enforcement agents threw bodies of several protesters into the river.

Given the gravity of these allegations, to ensure proper accountability, it is critical that your office carries out a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into all the alleged crimes, including violence by civilians against security forces as well as crimes committed by the police. ...........

[L. Coyote]

33. VIDEO: Perú's Propaganda Spot = Bagua Massacre

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x323648

GRAPHIC IMAGES!!

[Judi Lynn]

35. Pathetic attempt, was it not? They left out the government's helicopters firing down on Peruvian

indigenous people, and they also seem to have forgotten to include views of government people throwing the bodies of dead indigenous people into rivers and canyons. Probably an oversight......

I hope this murderous assault on these citizens will bring Alan Garcia down.

It's not as if he hasn't been involved in treachery toward indigigenous people before. He should have been so ashamed of his FIRST presidential term and his massacres then that he would have spent the rest of his life repenting and trying to atone for his sins.

[L. Coyote]

36. How they handled this event will so backfire, but meanwhile hatred has been instilled

in a population with a long history of racism.

What will haunt the rightists after this event will be the unification of all Peru's indigenous populations.
You can't just call one group of Indians "not first-class citizens" and expect all the other Indians to accept such blatant racism.

Alan Garcia's Armed Assault and his revelatory Macaca Moment will destroy his political future and his government.
This propaganda is evidence of their deception, his words are evidence of their true intentions.

Genocide is always enabled by classifying a group as "others" just as Garcia did.

[Solly Mack]

34. K&R Thank you for this thread and all the information