Alberto Fujimori’s Daughter Wants to Rule in Peru: A Criminal Dynasty

Some incidents clearly reflects the attachment or the Fujimori family members to power and crime. During Alberto’s first ruling in the early 90’s, the former First Lady Susana Higushi denounces that the president’s brothers were stealing from donations. Further allegations come to light regarding abuse and torture against her. Now, it’s been confirmed that in 1999, Keiko Fujimori got US$327,325 from the sale of her father’s property and withdrew them in 2001.

Amazon Leaders Issue Ultimatum to Canadian Company

Syndicated from Intercontinental Cry

September 4, 2009

The Awajun and Wampis say that Dorato, a Canadian-owned mining company, entered their territory without their expressed consent. And now they want them out...The Awajun and Wampis...were the ones camped along the Fernando Belaúnde Terry road in Bagua when the police attempted to remove them by force.

The Planet Depends on an Uprising in the Amazon

By Johann Hari - June 29, 2009

There is something thrilling about the fight in the Amazon, yet also something shaming. These people had nothing, but they stood up to the oil companies. We have everything, yet too many of us sit limp and passive, filling up our tanks with stolen oil without a thought for tomorrow. The people of the Amazon have shown they are up for the fight to save our ecosystem. Are we?

Indigenous Protest and State Violence in the Peruvian Amazon: How the Media Misrepresents

By John Gibler - June 15, 2009

The initial media response to the violence obscured the order and nature of events and thus the responsibility for violence, converting a bloody police raid into generic "clashes." The Peruvian government has in turn attempted to recast state violence as the necessary response to "terrorism" with insidious speculative claims linking the indigenous protesters with an array of demonized outsiders, and the media have largely lent the government a hand in this task by widely and uncritically reporting their insinuations and slander.

U.S.-Peru FTA Sparks Indigenous Massacre

By Tom Loudon - Thursday 11 June 2009

The tragic violence currently unleashed in the Peruvian Amazon is directly linked to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the US and Peru. On Sunday, interviewed at one of the many roadblocks set up by the demonstrators, indigenous leader and protester Luis Huansi stated, "We will not give up until they reverse the laws that damage us. They want to take away our lands and forests and make our traditions disappear."

Peru: Battle Lines Drawn Over the Amazon

Tuesday, June 09 2009 - Infoshop News

"[President of Peru] Alan Garcia decided to make it personal. After a joint police-military operation aimed at stopping an Indigenous protest had gone awry, leaving many dead on both sides, Garcia declared the Indigenous elements to be standing in the way of progress..."

Up to 100 Dead in Amazon Clashes: Activist

Up to 100 Amazon natives have been killed after Friday's military crackdown on protesters in Peru and the situation is expected to worsen, says a Canadian Indigenous rights activist...Twenty-two-year-old Ben Powless is working alongside Peru's national organisation of Amazon Indigenous people, AIDESEP, and fears more lives will be lost, with the government now labelling protesters as "terrorists".

Massacre in Peru: Photo Essay & Dispatch on Bloody Conflict

Syndicated from Upside Down World

By Catapa - Monday, 08 June 2009

The stake of the conflict is the admittance of mutinational companies to the areas in Northern Peru, which is rich in oil, gas and mineras. For almost two months, more than 30 000 indigenous inhabitants of different provinces of the Amazon and the Highlands protest the way in which the state and companies want to invest in the exploitation of natural resources. Indigenous people and farmer communities want to take part in the decision making process about the development of the land.

Peru: Police Violently Attack Peaceful Indigenous Blockade

Syndicated from Intercontinental Cry

June 5, 2009

At least twenty indigenous Awajun and Wambis have died and hundreds more have been injured after a brutal confrontation this morning on the Fernando Belaunde Terry Road in the Peruvian Amazon..."The government of Peru has ordered...the National Police to attack the Amazonian Indigenous peoples. Civilians were shot from building roofs and [from] helicopters."

Lori Berenson Update

Lori informed us in mid September that she is pregnant. She was so elated and we, of course, were thrilled over news we never anticipated hearing. Lori has always loved children and, at age 39, this is her first pregnancy. For the past three months she has been busy reading about pregnancy, childbirth and childcare. We are now excitedly busy knitting Mark a blanket, Rhoda a matching sweater, cap and booties.

Peru: Protest Against Bush and Alan Garcia

By Angel Perez - November 24, 2008

LIMA -- A demonstration in the Peruvian capital by left-wing political movements against U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the country turned into a protest Friday by hundreds of laid-off workers and trade unions in conflict with local and foreign companies...Percy Orec, head of the trade union representing workers at Topy Top, Peru's second-largest textile exporter, said he was laid off for organising the company's employees..."Tony Top is one of the country's leading garment exporters, and has amply benefited from the free trade agreement with the United States"...

Canada in Peru

By Yves Engler - November 05, 2008

Canadian resource companies are under fire in Peru. On October 21, Cesar Zuniga, the president of the Achuar indigenous group FENAP, told a local radio: "We, as indigenous people, reject the Canadian company Talisman. We do not want them working in our territory. We want the Peruvian state to respect us, and the armed forces to stop helping the company"...The Achuar say they will physically remove Talisman if the company does not stop working on their lands by November 15. "If they do not want to leave we will force them out."

Peru: Indigenous Rebellion in the Amazon

By Kiraz Janicke - September 02, 2008

Peruvian President Alan Garcia suffered a major political setback on August 22 after Congress voted 66-29 in favour of repealing controversial presidential decrees that would have facilitated the privatisation of communal indigenous lands...The defeat for Garcia occurred in the context of 11 days of mass mobilisations...Thousands of Peruvians, from 65 indigenous tribes in the Amazon region, blockaded roads and a river, shut down oil pipelines and took control of major gas fields in southern Peru in protest at the decrees.

Peru Suspends Civil Liberties as Indigenous Struggle for Their Land

Syndicated from Infoshop News

Oread Daily

The government of Peru suspended civil liberties following clashes between indigenous Peruvians and police. The action is taking place in remote jungle regions where Indian groups are blocking highways and oil and gas installations. The recently signed Free Trade Agreement with the United States and a number of draft laws in the legislature all allow for the easy commercial exploitation of indigenous territories.

Peru Declares State of Emergency at Canadian-Owned Mining Site

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - CBC News

The Peruvian government has declared a state of emergency at the site of a mine owned by a Vancouver company, saying its toxic chemicals are putting the capital's water supply at risk...Government officials said the mine's storage dump is unstable and at risk of collapse, which could release arsenic and other toxic chemicals into the Rimac River, Lima's main water source.