A UN envoy on indigenous rights called on Friday for an impartial, internationally supported committee to be set up to investigate bloody clashes between Peruvian police and Amazonian Indian protesters that killed at least 33 people.
The comment by James Anaya came a day after a leader of Peru’s main Indian confederation urged members to end road and river blockades in the Amazon region after Congress revoked two land-use decrees that angered indigenous groups. Indians lifted blockades of several jungle highways on Friday, but anti-government protests continued in several highland cities.
Anaya, the UN special envoy for Indians’ human rights and freedoms, said that during his visit to Peru he had heard what he called “worrisome” testimony from Indian protesters alleging abuses by security forces.
“I am calling for an exhaustive investigation by a special, independent commission so that these allegations can be investigated and taken seriously,” Anaya said.
Peru’s Amazonian Indians have been opposing 11 decrees since last year that they fear would make it easier for private oil, logging and biofuel companies to acquire their traditional lands. The government argued the decrees were needed to bring investment and development to Peru’s impoverished jungle.
Indians started blocking highways, rivers and a state oil pipeline in the Amazon beginning in early April, and violence erupted on June 5 when police broke up one road blockade.
The government says 23 police officers and 10 civilians were killed in the clash, and one policeman was missing. Indian leaders say at least 30 civilians died.
Anaya said Indians who participated in protests are still missing, but added that he could not say how many and that he was not in a position to make conclusions about Indian allegations of more dead civilians.
He called for a committee, with participation from local Indian leaders and an international body like the UN or the International Labor Organization, to establish how the violence broke out and monitor efforts to locate missing Indians.
Many protesters went into hiding after the violence for fear of arrest. Anaya urged Peru’s government to review the charges levied against the president of the main Amazon Indian confederation, Alberto Pizango, and dozens of others as a measure “to create confidence and advance dialogue” with Indian groups.
Pizango left Peru for political asylum in Nicaragua on Wednesday after being charged with sedition and rebellion.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS