At least 30 reported killed in Amazon land protest
Pastor Dale Morgan
At least 30 reported killed in Amazon land protest*
By CARLA SALAZAR
The Associated Press
Friday, June 5, 2009; 3:14 PM
LIMA, Peru -- Indians protesting oil and gas exploration on their lands
battled police in Peru's remote Amazon Friday, with authorities and
Indian leaders reporting at least 30 deaths.
The violence broke out before dawn as officers tried to end a road
blockade by some 5,000 Indians in an area called Curva del Diablo - or
"Devil's Curve" - in the northern province of Utcubamba.
Protest leaders said police opened fire from helicopters with bullets
and tear gas, while national police director Jose Sanchez Farfan said
Indians attacked officers with firearms. He said they also set fire to
government buildings.
Eight police officers were killed by gunfire and five wounded, said
Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillas.
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Indian leader Alberto Pizango said 22 Indians were killed in the clash
and he accused the government of "genocide" in attacking what he called
a peaceful protest. Another 50 Indians were injured, 14 of them
seriously, said Servando Puerta, president of a second indigenous
umbrella group for the region.
Indians have been blocking roads, waterways and a state oil pipeline
intermittently since April, demanding Peru's government repeal laws they
say make it easier for foreign companies to exploit their lands.
The laws, backed by President Alan Garcia as he implemented the
Peru-U.S. free trade pact, open communal jungle lands and water
resources to oil drilling, logging, mining and large-scale farming,
Indians say.
Garcia, who wants to ramp up foreign oil investment in the Amazon,
accused Pizango on Friday of "falling to a criminal level: assaulting a
police post, grabbing arms from police, killing police who are
fulfilling their duty."
Pizango denied that protesters killed police.
The government owns the rights to underground resources. A Duke
University study published last year said contract blocks for oil and
gas exploration cover approximately 72 percent of Peru's rain forest.
Indians say Garcia's government does not consult them in good faith
before signing such contracts, which could affect at least 30,000 Amazon
Indians across six provinces.
Pizango said last month that Indians would view any government security
forces as an "external aggression" and would give their lives to defend
the land.
Though he later rescinded what amounted to a declaration of insurgency,
it is unclear how much influence Pizango, president of the Peruvian
Jungle Inter-Ethnic Development Association, has over Indians in the
conflict zone.
Garcia declared a state of emergency May 9 and suspended some
constitutional rights in four jungle provinces as a result of the
ongoing protests.