Peru - Free Market Massacre 2009
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
There’s been plenty of coverage of the events unfolding in Iran. Meanwhile, as the eyes of the world – and its media - have been on Tehran, there have been equally disturbing, but much less publicised developments in Peru. The attempted implementation of yet another dodgy US free trade agreement has resulted in protests, heavy-handed suppression and over fifty deaths. Here’s your chance to find out what your newspaper and Sky News may not have told you.
To be fair to the UK’s Independent newspaper, it has been on the case, publishing pictures taken, at great personal risk, by two Belgian aid workers, Marijke Deleu and Thomas Quirynen. Some of the photos are used in this article. Other sources include Earth First, the Peru Support Group, Public Citizen and, to a lesser extent, the BBC.
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT = PASSPORT TO PLUNDER
The root of the conflict was the passing by the Peruvian government of controversial legislation designed to implement the requirements of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Peru and the US. The agreement was passed in 2006 by a newly-elected Peruvian government made up of parties which had previously criticised the FTA. It was also passed despite a petition signed by almost 60,000 opponents of the FTA, in which they demanded a referendum on the agreement.
A free trade agreement may sound innocuous but the indigenous people believed that the agreement – and the subsequent Peruvian legislation – would allow access onto their ancestral lands by global corporations, specifically those in the 'extractive' industries - oil, mining and logging, and further eliminate their right to prior consultation and consent.
In essence, this meant allowing stronger nations to take, with the consent of their own government, what they had once taken by force – the mineral wealth of the land, while leaving the environment devastated and the indigenous people no better off. The sort of stuff told by Eduardo Galeano in The Open Veins of Latin America, the book Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez gave as a gift to US President Barack Obama a couple of months ago.
The Peruvian Rainforest Inter-Ethnic Development Association (AIDESEP) also claimed that the legislation did not comply with some of Peru’s other international treaties and even the country’s own constitution. A director of Amazon Watch described the Garcia administration as “clearly out of step with international conventions – ones ratified by Peru – that obligate governments to uphold indigenous peoples’ rights”. President Garcia responded by saying that “he Amazon belonged to all Peruvians, not just a small group of people who lived there. It’s amazing how capitalists can change the rules about property rights in order to suit their own particular needs....
The government and its supporters also claimed the unrest was being stirred up by “foreign forces”, as if the indigenous Peruvians wouldn’t have protected their heritage, land and livelihood if outsiders hadn’t pointed out what was happening. It was probably true that the people were inspired by the words and actions of indigenous leaders like Bolivian President Evo Morales. In him they could see a man who had been democratically elected and was using his power for the benefit of the indigenous poor rather than foreign ‘investors’. The war of words continued as Morales described the deaths of the indigenous protesters as a genocide caused by free trade and Peru’s Foreign Minister called the Bolivian President an “enemy of Peru”. An interesting phrase! He might be an enemy of the Peruvian government but we suspect that few indigenous Peruvians would see him as their enemy.
GUNS, SPEARS & MACHETES
Frustrated by their pleas falling on deaf ears, the local people had blockaded roads and rivers, mainly in the Amazon region, for several months. On Friday 5 June, the situation boiled over when several hundred riot police tried to clear a blockade by a couple of thousand indigenous protesters, some carrying spears and machetes, near the town of Bagua Grande, almost 900 miles north of the capital Lima. The images of police in full riot gear facing a largely unarmed crowd reminded me of the more horrific scenes from the film The Mission. President Garcia accused the protesters of “barbarity” but a look at the pictures tells a different story. When people are fighting for the right to exist, a better word might be “desperation”.
Initial reports suggested that 30 protesters and 24 police had died. Later, officials claimed only 10 protesters had died but indigenous leaders held to their original estimate and pointed out that an imposed curfew had prevented them searching for the bodies of those still missing. The death toll will no doubt grow in the coming weeks. The government claimed soldiers had been held as hostages while there were also reports and some evidence of protesters' bodies burned and dumped in rivers.
A warrant was issued for the arrest of indigenous leader Alberto Pizango on charges of “sedition, conspiracy and rebellion” but the AIDESEP president managed to get out of the country and has since been granted political asylum in Nicaragua.
WELCOME U-TURN BUT.....
On 18 June, following international pressure but still in a surprise move, the Peruvian Congress voted 82 – 12 to repeal two of the nine contested laws in an attempt to end the protests. In an amazing turnaround, President Garcia admitted that there had been “a series of errors and exaggerations" in the government's handling of the conflict and asked Congress to repeal decrees 1090 and 1064, which were part of the package of the new laws passed in 2008 to facilitate the implementation of the FTA.
Daysi Zapata, vice president of the Amazonian Indian confederation said, “This is an historic day for indigenous people because it shows that our demands and our battles were just.” But while the government has conceded some ground, the protesters have more demands. There is further legislation to be repealed and indigenous people still want more involvement in decisions which affect them and their land. They are also demanding that criminal charges be dropped against indigenous leaders. Finally there’s the question of an independent investigation into the events surrounding the violence on 5 June, something which has also been proposed by James Anaya, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Indigenous People.
In Europe and the US, Hugo Chávez might remain the bad guy in South America but it is President Garcia of Peru, an ally and trading partner of those same nations, who has tried to exploit - for short term profit - the indigenous people of Peru and the Amazonian rainforest. According to Earth First, since 2006, the Peruvian government has authorised oil and gas concessions covering over 70 percent of the Peruvian Amazon, much of it on indigenous lands. Surely with a President who oppresses the poor, devastates the environment and now has blood on his hands, it’s only a matter of time before the US and UK media start calling the Peruvian government “a regime”. Or does that rule only apply to left wing Presidents who won’t dance to the US neoliberal tune??
LINKS
LINKED ARTICLES ON TAKE THE RED PILL
Bolivia – the Wrong Sort of Democracy
Elections Which Could Change the World
