TMCnet News
Peruvian gov't reaches accord to end Amazon region protests(EFE Ingles Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Lima, Jul 12 (EFE).- The Peruvian government and representatives of the Amazon region of Madre de Dios reached an accord to end the violent protests that earlier this week left dozens of people injured and destroyed the regional seat of government. Environment Minister Antonio Brack announced Friday that a special commission over which he presided reached an accord with the Madre de Dios Federations Alliance. Brack described the meeting as "fruitful," after which he presented an agreement signed by the leaders of a march that on Wednesday left 21 police officers injured, 30 protesters under arrest and a regional government office in ruins. According to the announcement, the accords include a government commitment not to encroach on lands of native communities with future privatizations. The Agriculture Ministry also agreed to analyze the judicial status of the Amazon forests on the agricultural lands of Madre de Dios. The Madre de Dios authorities also asked that the region's infrastructure be declared in a state of emergency. On Wednesday, at least 21 police officers were injured during the attack of thousands of protesters on the regional seat of government in Madre de Dios. A spokesperson for the national police told Efe that the mob was protesting against the so-called "Law of the Jungle," a proposal that has not yet been approved by Congress but has been condemned for supposedly facilitating the sale of native community lands and promoting private investment in reforestation and agricultural forestry. During the attack, the forces of law and order threw tear gas and fired shots in the air but were overwhelmed by the thousands of demonstrators. Several Amazon regions protested throughout the week against the "Law of the Jungle" and on Wednesday came together in a national strike called by the leftist General Confederation of Workers of Peru, or CGTP. The national strike, which was a failure according to the government and a resounding success in the eyes of the CGTP, was carried out to pressure the government into increasing pay and repealing several privatizing decrees, including those promoting investment in lands occupied by peasant and native communities in the Amazon and in areas declared to be historic or cultural heritage sites. Workers also protested against the criminalizing of social protest while asking that attention be paid to the "agricultural and social agenda" so that workers' rights not be limited, and that government corruption be dealt with. The current district attorney of Madre de Dios, Hugo Concha, said Saturday that guilt had been confirmed in the case of 12 natives and two officials who had been arrested during the violent protests and were to be jailed in the coming hours. Those in custody include Manuel Calloquispe Flores, president of the regional Chamber of Commerce, and Luis Zegarra Kajat, president of the Madre de Dios defense front, according to the Web site of the daily El Comercio. In a bid to discredit the general strike, the government and the ruling APRA party sought to link the protests both to the terrorism of the now-defeated Shining Path rebels and to statements of disgraced former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, one of the architects of the rebels' defeat in the 1990s. EFE dub/cd Copyright ? 2008 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc. |