'The struggle of the Amazonians is for all Peruvians'
On June 5, 2009 I was vacationing in Cuzco, Peru awaiting the start of my 5 day hike to Machu Picchu, when I stumbled upon a protest in a small square. It was an impromptu gathering of people allied with indigenous people in the Amazon region who are resisting the privatization of the rainforest for oil and gas development. The effects of rainforest destruction and the use of oil on our climate are well documented. Instead, I’d like to look at why the rainforest is being sold to private companies and its effect on the indigenous people who have lived there for generations.
Why is the rainforest being sold off by the Peruvian government? It all comes back to the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement, which requires the government to allow oil and gas development by multi-national corporations. The protesters I met were demanding that the law granting oil and gas concessions on the indigenous people’s communally held be land permanently repealed.
The small protest is Cuzco wasn’t the only thing going in on Peru. In Lima thousands of people took to the streets demanding the law be repealed. Indigenous people have been blockading the roads that the oil company uses for the past two and half months. As a result, the Amazon region has experienced a shortage of cooking gas and food prices are on the rise. On June 5th the Peruvian President Garcia decided he had enough and moved to clear roads. The communities were armed with sticks and lances; the police with guns, helicopters, shields, and gases. Police attacked the blockaders, killing hundreds of indigenous protesters (according to witnesses, the government reports put it at only 30) and in the process about a dozen police were captured or killed.
In the following days a curfew was imposed and witnesses reported seeing the police dump bodies into the river in the middle of the night. I’m sure when you read this you’ll think, like I did, that these are the kind of things that happened in the 70s and 80s, but not today. It crazy, but it’s true, even in 2009 there are governments that, in the name of defending free trade, are throwing protesters’ bodies into the river. Violence is continuously perpetrated in the name of Free Trade, here in Peru against the indigenous in the Amazon, in Guatemala against banana workers, or in Colombia against union members.
This is the worst political violence in Peru since the Shining Path civil war of the 80s and early 90s, and it comes back to the fact that the USA engages in free, and not fair trade with Peru.
Please ask President Obama and Congress to denounce the Garcia Administration’s violent repression of its people, repeal the unconstitutional “free” trade laws, and open meaningful debate with indigenous communities concerning any development in the Amazon. Take action with the Sierra Club.
I’m spending this week in Lima meeting with Fair Trade NGOs and furthering a positive trade solution to inequality around the world. Want to help out even more? Shop Fair Trade, not free trade the next time you’re looking for coffee, chocolate, or a hand made gift (remember Father’s Day this Sunday!).
On June 5, 2009 I was vacationing in Cuzco, Peru awaiting the start of my 5 day hike to Machu Picchu, when I stumbled upon a protest in a small square in Cuzco. It was an impromptu gathering of people allied with indigenous people in the Amazon region who are resisting the privatization of the rainforest for oil and gas development.
Why is the rainforest being sold off by the Peruvian government? It all comes back to the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement, which requires the government to allow oil and gas development by multi-national corporations. The protesters I met were demanding that the law implements allows for oil and gas concessions on the indigenous people’s communally held be land permanently repealed.
The small protest is Cuzco wasn’t the only thing going in on Peru. In Lima over 7,000 people took to the streets demanding the law be repealed and indigenous people have been blockading the roads that the oil company uses for the past two and half months. As a result, the Amazon region has experienced a shortage of cooking gas and food prices are on the rise. On June 5th the Peruvian President Garcia decided he had enough and moved to clear roads. The communities were armed with sticks and lances; the police with guns, helicopters, shields, and gases. Police attacked the blockaders, killing hundreds of indigenous protesters (according to witnesses, the government reports put it at only 30) and in the process about a dozen police were captured or killed.
In the following days a curfew was imposed at night and witnesses reported seeing the police dump bodies into the river in the middle of the night. I’m sure when you read this you’ll think, like I did, that these are the kind of things that happened in the 70s and 80s but not today. It crazy, but it’s true, even in 2009 there are governments that, in the name of defending free trade, are throwing protesters bodies into the river. Violence is continuously perpetrated in the name of Free Trade, here in Peru against the indigenous in the Amazon, in Guatemala against banana workers http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/bullets-and-bananas-the-violence-of-free-trade-in-guatemala/ , or in Colombia against union members http://www.nupge.ca/news_2007/n18jy07c.htm .
This is the worst political violence in Peru since the Shining Path civil war of the 80s and early 90s, and it comes back to the fact that the USA engages in free, and not fair trade with Peru.
Please ask President Obama and Congress to denounce the Garcia Administration’s violent repression of its people, repeal the unconstitutional “free” trade laws, and open meaningful debate with indigenous communities concerning any development in the Amazon.
https://secure2.convio.net/sierra/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2381
I’m spending this week in Lima meeting with Fair Trade NGOs and furthering a positive trade solution to inequality around the world. Want to help out even more? Shop Fair Trade, not free trade the next time you’re looking for coffee, tea, chocolate, or a hand made gift (remember Father’s Day this Sunday!).
If I may link you to this, you may find it interesting.
http://marlborotarian.tumblr.com/post/87437782/deforestation-is-a-result-of-the-tyranny-of
Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are certainly among the most favored tactics currently used by First World governments to steal indigenous land and destroy indigenous cultures, but by no means can these struggles be reduced to FTAs. At issue is a much deeper colonialist dynamic in which the consumption of the First World can only be propped up by taking cheap resources from the Third World — and this inevitably means destroying those countries’ landbases and indigenous cultures.
Fight Free Trade Agreements, yes, but recognize them for what they are — only one tool of a fundamentally destructive global economic system that needs to be brought down.
It looks the conflict has come to resolution, but one of the indigenous leaders is now in exile as he is still wanted by the government. See today’s BBC news clip
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8108500.stm
The protests seems to be winding down following the government’s repeal of 2 of the 10 contested laws. This is in all likelihood only a lull, however, as indigenous communities continue to defend their territories and fight for the repeal of all the laws.
http://www.rootforce.org/2009/06/19/temporary-resolution-in-peru-conflict-following-government-reversal/
I appreciate you bringing attention to Peru’s plight. We, at Peruvian Chocolate, are working to go beyond “Fair Trade” where most of the cacao is shipped to Europe for production into chocolate. Our chocolates are made where the cacao is farmed with local ingredients. The chocolates are made by hand in a factory owned by its employees. Keeping the production where the raw material is in Peru provides additional opportunities beyond farming. Paying a fair price for cacao is a good start but making the chocolates where the cacao is farmed does more to help these developing regions grow.
We provide outlets for other farmers Peru with our Quinoa, Kiwicha (Amaranth), brazil nuts, coconut and coffee varieties of chocolate. In Peru, we have a really nice milk chocolate with pecans and one with peanuts. We are a small company trying to do good through small business.
Overproduction of coca is a problem in the region of Peru where we produce the chocolates. Having the factory in Peru stabilizes the market for cacao and makes cacao farming a sustainable alternative to coca farming. This will get you into a deeper story of Peru.
We benefit from Free Trade with the US and know how important it is for small companies doing good in their communities to take advantage of Free Trade instead of allow large corporations to exploit the agreements and destroy the natural beauty of Peru.
Our website is http://www.peruvianchocolate.com. We sell in Whole Foods in Rockville. We produce a specialty chocolate with criollo cocoa beans in Peru where the cacao is farmed. If you want us in the Whole Foods near you, ask the store Team leader to supply us.