Defense of the Amazon and the Rights of the Native Peoples of the Peruvian Jungle

Protest before the Peruvian Embassy in London, 15 June, 12 midday.
UK Peruvian Collective

Announcement

We condemn the massacre which took place on 5th June in Bagua Province in the Amazon Department, via circumstances which lead the native population of this region to protest by blocking the roadway. The tragic outcome of this brutal eviction has been an undetermined number of deaths, in addition to numerous wounded as well as many of the population now considered “disappeared”. According to official figures the fatalities have surpassed 10 indigenous people and 24 police.
However, diverse human rights organisations and independent reports, based on accounts from the inhabitants and eyewitnesses to the massacre, estimate a high number of natives to be amongst the victims. In agreement with the latest statements taken from the families of the townspeople, amongst those who went out to protest that day, were native leaders who have not as yet returned to their community of origin.
We declare our solidarity with the Indigenous Communities of the Peruvian Jungle and we demand respect for their rights as the first peoples of the Amazon.These rights were enshrined in the 169th Convention of the International Work Organisation and the Declaration of the Rights of the Indigenous People of the United Nations which are recognised as being Constitutional Law in the Peruvian Nation. These tragic events could have been avoided. The native peoples have spent more than 50 days demanding the abolishment of Law 1090, but the option of dialogue wa never put into practice, rather force was chosen as the preferred method. It is a scandal for which those responsible for the massacre must be penalised.
We consider that the defense of the Amazon, one of the few ecological hopes of the planet, is inseparable from the subsistance and support of the indigenous peoples that live there. For thousands of years the Amazonians have managed to preserve the ecological balance, benefitting from the rich biodiversity therein, with wisdom based on ancestral knowledge passsed from generation to generation. However, whilst not wishing to involve them in the atrocities that have taken place in Bagua, certain sectors of the media and official discourse have labelled the natives as “savages” and “primitive.”
We believe that it is time to listen to the voice of the native peoples, who have remained marginalised and silenced for centuries, and even today, are considered second class citizens by the State and some racist elements reporting in certain media.
We demand that organisations representative of the native communities such as AIDESEP (Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle), are recognised as valid spokepeople for the Amazon peoples. We declare our solidarity with Alberto Pizango, president of AIDESEP, who is currently resident as a political exile in the Nicaraguan Embassy.
We consider that true development for Peru and Latin America can only come from sustained development which puts the welfare of its people first. A change in policy is therefore paramount, given that current policy brings only harmful consequences for the environment, exclusively favouring a handful of transnationals and certain economic sectors.
We join with the Amazon communities in demanding the repeal of Law 1090 as being unconstitutional and for violating the terms of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organisation, in addition to contravening the Declaration of Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the United Nations. The Peruvian community needs to know the truth about events in Bagua and we demand an end, once and for all, to the abuse, supression and persecution of the native peoples.
The defense of the Amazon is the defense of life.
No to privitization of the jungle.
Yes to dialogue, no to repression
Solidarity with the Amazonian Peoples
Another world is possible

London, 15 June 2009

Signed:
Sofia Buchuck
Claudio Chipana
Paul Goulder
Susy Goulder