More on Strike

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Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 May 2009 12.54 BST

.Peru army moves into Amazon after tribes blockade rivers and roads
Ecology and culture at stake say environmentalists, as government plans to exploit rainforest for oil, gas and timber. Peru's army is poised to deploy in the Amazon rainforest to lift blockades across rivers and roads by indigenous people opposed to oil, gas, logging and mining projects.
The government has authorised the military to move into remote provinces where a state of emergency has been declared in the wake of a month-long stand-off between indigenous people and police.

President Alan Garcia said the state had the right and responsibility to develop mineral and hydrocarbon wealth to benefit all Peruvians. "We have to understand that when there are resources like oil, gas and timber, they don't belong only to the people who had the fortune to be born there because that would mean more than half of Peru's territory belongs to a few thousand people."

In the past two years the centre-right government has signed deals with multinationals to open swaths of rainforest, including a £1.3bn agreement last month with the Anglo-French oil company Perenco.

Indigenous groups, backed by environmentalists and Catholic bishops, have protested that the developments will devastate the area's ecology and their culture. About 65 tribes have mobilised 30,000 people to disrupt roads, waterways and pipelines, leading to skirmishes with police. Up to 41 vessels serving energy companies are stuck along jungle rivers, paralysed by the protests, one private sector source told Reuters.

One of the most tense areas is along the Napo river in northern Peru, said Survival International, a London-based rights advocacy group. "After local indigenous people blockaded the river with a nylon cable, a naval gunboat and three boats belonging to Perenco broke through the blockade, sinking some of the protesters' canoes in the process."

The National Organisation of the Amazon Indigenous people of Peru said last week's declaration of a state of emergency, which suspended some constitutional rights in four jungle provinces, amounted to a declaration of war by the government.

The group responded by calling for an "insurgency" but retracted the term on Saturday after being threatened with 10 years in jail for sedition. Protests will continue but within the rule of law, it said. The Peruvian rainforest is the largest swath of Amazon outside Brazil. According to one study oil, gas and timber deals would cover an estimated 70% of the forest.

The government says such developments are needed to boost economic growth and state revenues in one of South America's poorest countries. The projects, which could turn Peru into a net oil exporter, are in line with a free trade deal with the United States.

Alberto Pizango, an indigenous leader, said the tribes – who claim the forest as ancestral land – were not seeking a blanket ban on projects. "What we want is development from our perspective."

Each side has blamed the other for breakdown in negotiations

Peru Declares State of Emergency, Deploys Special Forces to Break Up Indigenous Protests

Peru Declares State of Emergency, Deploys Special Forces to Break Up Indigenous Protests

LIMA, Peru, May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In Peru, indigenous protests against recent government decrees affecting their land and resource rights continue to spread throughout the country. Amazon Watch has received several alarming reports of violent crackdowns against peaceful demonstrators by Special Forces after PresidentAlan Garcia declared a state of emergency in the Cusco, Ucayali, Loreto and Amazonas regions over the weekend.

For the past month, indigenous peoples have blockaded roads and rivers throughout the Amazon to protest new decrees which make it easier to transfer indigenous peoples' land and resource rights to oil, mining, logging and agricultural companies to the detriment of local inhabitants. The decrees have also set the stage for the privatization of water resources.

In the town of Bagua in the Amazonas region near the border with Ecuador, there have been reports that on Sunday armed forces cracked down on peaceful Awajun and Huambis demonstrators on the Corral Quemado Bridge resulting in several serious injuries. Two people are reported missing.

Elsewhere, several thousand Shawi and Cocama Cocamillas have blockaded the road between Yurimaguas and Tarapoto, a major transport route.

Yesterday in Lima, Peru's Prime Minister, Yehude Simon met with leaders of AIDESEP, Peru's leading indigenous rights organization.

Last Friday 42 indigenous leaders staged a hunger strike in the Peruvian Congress to demand that the full legislature debate the repeal of the decrees and eight Peruvian Catholic bishops issued a statement saying the decrees were a "twisted concept of development" that "threaten to increase regional poverty" in the Amazon.

The Peruvian government has auctioned off huge swaths of indigenous lands to mining and energy concessions. During the month-long protest, the Garcia administration has signed contracts for another 15 oil concessions - the majority of them in the Amazon.

"The government has not defended us against the oil, mining and logging companies that continue to pollute our communities after they illegally entered our lands," said Alberto Pizango, the president of AIDESEP. "The government is not abiding by international treaties signed by Peru as well as our own Constitution."

"We urge the Garcia administration to refrain from using force and instead enter into meaningful talks with indigenous peoples to resolve their legitimate concerns," said Atossa Soltani, Executive Director of Amazon Watch.

SOURCE Amazon Watch

Good News!

Great news actually. The strike in Tarapoto is over so we didn't have to walk from the airport to the hotel. Praise God for that!

The not so good news is that Yurimaguas declared an indefinite strike. Ya know the who knows when it will end kind. The roads on either side of Tarapoto are blocked by the natives. Nothing is getting in or out by road. They are protesting the "law of the jungle" and within their rights, but in my opinion (which doesn't count for much) they should take it to Lima where the powers that be are. It is causing chaos here. Food is scarce and prices have doubled and tripled (price gougers here, too).

The good news is that we are in a comfortable hotel with hot water showers, free continental breakfast (bread and coffee), and air conditioning. What more do we need, right?

Please pray for this to be over quickly. There is still alot of planning to be done for the team coming in just 3 weeks. We haven't even been able to get to the house to pack yet. God is in control thankfully and He is not taken by surprise by any of this.

Thank you for all your prayers for the teams coming this summer.

Striking Again

Yes, that is right. There are strikes everywhere. In Tarapoto it's a motocar strike which means nobody can go anywhere. If a car is caught riding around they just slash the tires. Many are stranded at the airport. The planes are running, but walking is the only way to and/or from the airport.

In Yurimaguas there is an indefinite strike again. We aren't sure when it will end, but we'd sure like to get back to the house. We've been in Lima taking care of all the logistical things for the teams and legal matters for nets, talking with Wycliffe etc. We leave Lima in the morning to go to Tarapoto and hopefully can get home. Please pray for solutions to all of these strikes and that there won't be any during the times the teams will be here.

On top of this, believe it or not, it is still raining in Yurimaguas. At least the river will be good for travel. Praise the Lord.

Access Once Again

Yes, we are in Peru. No, we didn't drop off the face of the earth. We have not had internet access until Friday. But all is back to normal (whatever normal is, huh?). The weather in Peru is at a transition point and very hard to forecast each day.

We are busy getting things ready for teams coming down this summer. Please pray for them all:

Long's Small Group (29) June 7th-June 21st

NY Group (Irma's Apt) June 19th-June 27th

Puerto Rico (Candoshi) July 3rd- ?

SC Group (Irma's Apt) July 10th - ?

College Group (10) July 12-July 25th.

As you can see there are many activities going on in our area. The 2 groups working on Irma's apartment need prayer for safety in building and for acquiring necessary supplies to complete the job in a timely manner. The Puerto Rico group will be making their annual trip to the Candoshi and need prayer for travel safety on the rivers. The other groups need travel prayers as well.

Right now the jungle areas are in a 60 day state of emergency. Please pray that this will not affect the trips and that this won't turn into anything violent. It is better than a total shut down of the area but this also means probable curfews which could affect us.

Looking forward to seeing all those traveling our way.

Off We Go Again!

In someways it seems like we've been back in the US forever and in other ways it feels like we just got here. I think that's the hardest part of what we do. We don't know if we're coming or going! Whew. It's been great getting to see you all in this whirlwind of a visit.

On Friday night we were able to cook for some of the small group liaisons. It was wonderful to reconnect with them and have a chance to share what God is doing in the Amazon Basin of Peru.

Thanks for all you are doing as small groups to keep the Chayahuita Pastors encouraged. Please continue to uphold them in prayer.

We return to Peru this Thursday, please keep us in prayer as we travel. We understand that the strike in Yurimaguas is finally over. We will continue to keep you up to date as life happens in the jungle.

Finally in Colorado

It has been an exciting couple of weeks since we returned to the US. The week and a half spent in Florida was great. We were able to connect with many working inside and outside of Peru and some great things are happening and will happen soon. We were finally able to meet a representative from the Xtreme Team and hope to partner even more in the future with them as they relocate to Iquitos. Another contact we have made has actually bought property outside of Iquitos and hopes to partner with them also.

Over the years the Chayahuita have asked over and over for more training in the area of health. One of the areas they really want more materials, training and tools is for their sight. We have taken many reading glasses down and done what we could however many need glasses for distance which we were unable to provide. This year at ALTECO a new "kit" developed by Steve Saint's company I-TEC was presented. It is called I-See. It contains everything needed to "prescribe" glasses both for near and far. Terri was able to go to Ocala and get the training necessary to be able to train the Chayahuita in this and bought the kit to take back to them. Please pray for wisdom as we seek out a few men to train. This will not only be a help to those that are visually challenged, but a business for those that are trained.

http://itecusa.org/ If you would like info on this and other projects by I-TEC go here.