More than 14,000 Amazon Indians from 65 tribes have been protesting since Aug. 9. The protestors have shut down an oil pipeline, blocked off roads and taken over a hydroelectric plant.
The tribes are protesting recent laws that make it much easier for the Peruvian government and private investors to take control of valuable land. The new laws have been put in place to facilitate the new free trade agreement between Peru and the United States.
On Aug. 18, the Peruvian government declared a 30-day state of emergency in three provinces of Peru, banning public gatherings and suspending free transit. Fifteen hundred soldiers were deployed with the go ahead to break up protests. Injuries on both sides have occurred.
After failed talks between the government and the protestors, Alberto Pizango, president of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest said, “The government has declared open war on indigenous people and the demonstrators will stay there until the problem is solved. They prefer to die there, they aren’t afraid.”
