We are still waiting for the word from Yurimaguas to tell us that the strike is over, however, this may still take awhile. We are in contact with Pancho and the family on a at least daily basis and sometimes twice a day in the hopes of finding out that we can go home. We are still waiting and praying here in Tarapoto. I have found a couple of articles that are very interesting and would like to share them with you here to help you better understand the plight of the Indians and why this strike is so monumentally important to their future. Please continue to uphold them in prayer. 
It is difficult for them to stay away drastically from their communities, sleep in the streets and plazas, feed themselves from their own resources or with support and solidarity from the townspeople and spend a lot of money - which they do not have - during this endeavor, all of this under a solid organization and collective discipline. All this sacrifice is not in vain. To experience this reality motivates their laughter, mockery and sarcasm when they hear that the Government and its servant journalists say that the protestors have been organized, financed and manipulated by NGOs …
From De La Selva Su Web On [es] writes about a piece of news that appeared on the website of Radio La Voz de la Selva 93.9 fm about a naval ship that attacked the Napo indigenous community
I hope that they respect human rights, then later when they get carried away they say that it wasn't them and that justice is unjust. When it comes time to show force with the weak, then they are good, but when it comes time to defend the border, they always lose, on top of it all, they are caught up in cases of corruption, theft, and bad actions of all kinds. On the other hand, if the indigenous are protesting it is because they are tired of so much indifference and injustice at the hands of the supposed civilized. Hopefully the authorities will reflect on the matter and that the Iquiteños will support the indigenous struggle.
“These actions are a reply to being treated as if we did not exist.”
Carlos Ramirez Sanchez writes in his post David against Goliath [es]:
The drop that made the glass overflow was the enactment of the law 1090, which modifies important aspects of the Forestry Law. Thus, they are excluded from any decision, with a central government that turned a deaf ear to their demands, giving priority to private investment of the rights of those who have millennial possessions, things have reached a dangerous threshold.
In the blog RIDEI [es] (International Network of Intercultural Studies), Marco Huaco writes about what these protests mean for the protestors themselves:
The drop that made the glass overflow was the enactment of the law 1090, which modifies important aspects of the Forestry Law. Thus, they are excluded from any decision, with a central government that turned a deaf ear to their demands, giving priority to private investment of the rights of those who have millennial possessions, things have reached a dangerous threshold.
In the blog RIDEI [es] (International Network of Intercultural Studies), Marco Huaco writes about what these protests mean for the protestors themselves:
Since April 09, for the second time a protest of significant magnitude was declared by the Amazonian indigenous communities. It is very likely that we do not perceive the strong meaning and intensity of the protest, nor the strength of their decision because we do not know the enormous effort and sacrifice that brings to the Amazonian indigenous to mobilize to defend their rights, unlike the urban protests in which participants mobilize and then go home, the Amazon mobilization may involve transfer of large human contingents that are transported by rivers and then take part in long hours of hiking to reach population centers from where they show their presence and voice of protest.
It is difficult for them to stay away drastically from their communities, sleep in the streets and plazas, feed themselves from their own resources or with support and solidarity from the townspeople and spend a lot of money - which they do not have - during this endeavor, all of this under a solid organization and collective discipline. All this sacrifice is not in vain. To experience this reality motivates their laughter, mockery and sarcasm when they hear that the Government and its servant journalists say that the protestors have been organized, financed and manipulated by NGOs …
From De La Selva Su Web On [es] writes about a piece of news that appeared on the website of Radio La Voz de la Selva 93.9 fm about a naval ship that attacked the Napo indigenous community
I hope that they respect human rights, then later when they get carried away they say that it wasn't them and that justice is unjust. When it comes time to show force with the weak, then they are good, but when it comes time to defend the border, they always lose, on top of it all, they are caught up in cases of corruption, theft, and bad actions of all kinds. On the other hand, if the indigenous are protesting it is because they are tired of so much indifference and injustice at the hands of the supposed civilized. Hopefully the authorities will reflect on the matter and that the Iquiteños will support the indigenous struggle.
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