As many as 60 people died in northern Peru this weekend in bloody street clashes between groups of indigenous Amazonian protestors and police. Locals were angry about new legislation that opens up Peruvian oil and mineral resources to foreign investment.
While exact numbers vary, indigenous groups claim that 40 protestors have been killed and the Peruvian government counts the number of dead police at 23.
Protests turned violent on Friday, 5th June when roughly 400 police tried to clear a roadblock of some 2,500 protestors, many armed with traditional wooden spears and machetes. Protestors took some 38 police hostage. Eleven were killed during a rescue attempt. Twenty-two managed to escape.
The violence occurred near the Amazonian town of Bagua, 1000km from the capital, Lima, in an area known as the ‘Devil’s Curve’.
Both sides blame each other. Luis Huansi, an indigenous leader, says the protestors were not carrying guns. “We are counting on our traditional weapons which our forefathers left to us for defence, weapons to fight. They are spears,” he told Reuters.
But Peru’s Foreign Minister, José Antonio García Belaunde, told the BBC there were armed men amongst the demonstrators.
Protestors claim police fired tear gas and live ammunition from helicopters. They add that many of the bodies have not been located.
“They took [dead bodies] to the ravine and threw them from the helicopter in plastic bags. There are also dead on the river banks. Up there beyond the hill, there are more, as if it were a common grave,” a local man told the BBC.
According to the Peruvian Times, Peru’s Interior Minister, Mercedes Cabanillas, categorically denies the accusation. “The natives have exaggerated the number of victims, and have claimed that bodies were dumped into the river,” he said. “This is completely false.”
In a speech on 7th June, Mr García claimed police, “did not raise their arms against the natives, who they thought were naïve and good people”. The police were “murdered and their throats slit,” he added.
He went on to blame the unrest on foreign interests, widely understood to mean left leaning Bolivia and Venezuela.
Aboriginal groups say this is not the case. “We are fighting because we fear our land will be taken away,” said Denis Tangoa, 38, an Amazonian protester. Mr. García has said the all Peruvians should benefit from the country’s natural resources, not just the people who happen to live near them.
While the area has subsided into an uneasy peace, local residents say that a curfew, instituted Friday, 5th June, is keeping them from looking for their missing friends and relatives.
Alberto Pizango Chota, the head of the Peruvian Jungle Interethnic Development Association (AIEDSEP), a leading indigenous rights group, is currently in refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy. He awaits word from Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega as to whether he will able to seek asylum in the country.
A special session of the Peruvian congress was held on Monday, 8th June to discuss the events.