THE PERU SUPPORT GROUP

NEWS

• Perupetro Guarantees Reserve for Uncontacted Tribe

  Update 138. 16 July 2010

  Survival International reports that a reserve for uncontacted tribes in the Peruvian Amazon has been made off-limits to oil and gas companies. The majority of the reserve had been previously open to exploration by Brazilian company Petrobras, in an area known as 'Lot 110'. The reserve is inhabited by some of the world's last uncontacted indigenous people, a tribe known as the Murunahua (or Chitonahua), the organisation explains.

  However, the announcement, which was made by the state oil and gas licensing agency Perúpetro, during a roadshow presentation in London on May 21, came as the agency opened up 25 new blocks for oil and gas exploration and exploitation, covering some 10 million hectares and located mainly in the country's Amazon region.

  While 24 of the exploration blocks are located in the Marañón-Ucayali river basins and in the southeastern region of Madre de Dios, only one block is situated in a coastal area in Lambayeque and Piura regions, north-western Peru.

  Besides London, Perúpetro has also made presentations in Houston (United States), Paris (France) and Cartagena (Colombia).

  Indigenous Organisations Oppose Auction
  Peruvian indigenous rights organisation AIDESEP (Asociación Interetnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana) has qualified the bid process as "a new provocation against indigenous peoples".

  According to AIDESEP, Perúpetro lost credibility following a corruption scandal surrounding the granting of oil concessions which implicated members of the APRA party. Allegations arose in October 2008 when audio tapes surfaced in which oil executive Alberto Químper of Perúpetro and APRA member Rómulo León Alegría allegedly discussed payoffs related to new oil concessions involving Norwegian oil company Discover Petroleum.

  The allegations, which the Norwegian company denied, led to the resignation of President Alan García's entire Cabinet at the time. The case is still under investigation.
   

• The Outcomes of Bagua: The Peruvian Amazon One Year on from the Violence

  29 June 2010

  On 28 June 2010, the Peru Support Group (PSG) held a public meeting at the Palace of Westminster in London to reflect upon what has happened in Peru one year on from the violence seen in Bagua.

  The event was chaired by Lord Avebury, the president of the Peru Support Group. The speakers were: Lucile Robinson a campaigner for the South America team at Amnesty International's International Secretariat and Jay Goulden, who is currently Programme Director for CARE Peru in Lima.

  Last year on 22 June 2009, a similar meeting was organised jointly by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Peru, the PSG and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) to discuss the violent clashes which took place on Friday 5 June 2009 in Bagua in the Peruvian Amazon that resulted in an official death toll of 33 victims, including 23 police officers and 10 indigenous protesters, with one police officer still unaccounted for (www.defensoria.gob.pe).

  On that occasion, the meeting heard eyewitness testimony from two Belgian volunteers, Marijke Deleu and Thomas Quirynen, whose personal experiences were reinforced by photographic documentation. The other speakers included Patricia Oliart (Latin American Studies, Newcastle University), Amnesty International, Survival International, CAFOD and the PSG.

  Amnesty International's Presentation (June 2010)

  CARE Peru's Presentation (June 2010)

• Peru's Congress Approves Consultation Law

  Peru News 055. 11 June 2010

  Peruvian Congress approved in May a law which would require prior consultation with indigenous communities before starting any project that could affect their rights. Such legislation has been on hold for the last 15 years and aims to diminish social conflicts between the authorities, national and foreign businesses and indigenous groups, said Oseas Barbarán head of the Confederation of Amazonian Nations of Peru (CONAP).

  Congress passed the law which was supported with 62 votes in favour, 7 against and 6 absentees. Peruvian ombudswoman Beatriz Merino said the norm “represents a transcendental step in the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights and to institutionalise multicultural dialogue between them and State authorities.” The legislation allows Peru to comply with article 6 of the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 196 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples.

  The law still has to be enacted by President García. If he signs it, the law will return to Congress and be subject to a parliamentary debate.
   

• Social Conflicts Increase in April

  Peru News 055. 11 June 2010

  According to the regular monthly report compiled by the Office of Peru’s Ombudsman (Defensoría del Pueblo), 260 social conflicts were registered in April, 14 of which are new conflicts and 132 (50% of the total) are associated with socio-environmental issues.

  Cuzco, in southern Peru, registered the most conflicts with 21, followed by the region of Puno and the capital city Lima with 20 each. Social conflicts within the country have shot up from 84 in July 2006 – the month president Alan García took office – to its peak of 288 in September 2009.

  In comments to the Peruvian press agency, ANDINA, Ronald Ibarra the head of the Prime Minister’s office for Conflict Management remarked that the increase in or re-activation of social conflicts in the country could be related to the municipal and regional elections scheduled to be held in October.
   

• US Prisoner's 'Freedom' Generates Anger

  Peru News 055. 11 June 2010

  US citizen Lori Berenson was granted parole by a judge in Lima at the end of May after serving 15 years of a 20-year sentence for allegedly collaborating with a Marxist rebel group, the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), during Peru’s internal armed conflict during the 1990s. She continues to deny the charges.

  According to the terms of her parole, Berenson has to remain in Peru for five years to serve out the remainder of her sentence.

  Protesters have gathered outside the building where she currently resides and have demanded she leaves the country. Her release provoked controversy in a country still shocked by a bloody armed conflict that killed up to 70,000 people (1980-2000).

  Justice minister Victor García Toma said Lori Berenson has asked for the country’s forgiveness in a letter sent to president Alan García. According to García Toma’s analysis of the situation, he recommends expelling the US citizen immediately. “I don’t think Lori Berenson can create harm for society, but she has created anger among citizens,” he said. If president García does decide to expel Berenson, the US citizen will be forced to leave Peru when she completes her sentence in five years.

  Berenson was arrested under former president Alberto Fujimori’s administration, who himself is now in prison after being convicted of human rights crimes last year.

  Her release was based on a legislation that was passed in 2003 during the government of former president Alejandro Toledo. The law allows inmates who were charged with terrorism to gain conditional parole when they have completed three-quarters of their sentence.
   

• Peru's Economy to Grow in 2010

  Peru News 055. 11 June 2010

  Peru's economy grew 1.3% in the first quarter of the current year compared with the last quarter of 2009, the National Statistics Institute (INEI) reported. The state agency also reported that the economy grew 8.76% in March compared to the same month in 2009. However, Walter Bayly of financial services company Credicorp in Peru has explained that this figure is partly due to fewer working days in March 2009, reports Bloomberg.

  Economic growth has been driven by expansion in the construction and manufacturing sectors which rose by 24% and 15% respectively. Although the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Peru's economy could grow by up to 6.3% this year, Peru’s government forecasts an increase closer to 5.5%.

  
   

• Indigenous Leader Released on Bail

  28 May 2010

  Alberto Pizango, leader of AIDESEP (Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana) has been released on bail, pending trial, following his detention by police as he arrived at Lima airport on May 26th. He had been in exile in Nicaragua since mid-June 2009.

  He was granted asylum by the Nicaraguan authorities after the Peruvian authorities accused him of being responsible for violence which led to the deaths of 33 people in Amazonas department, northern Peru, on June 5th 2009.

  Amnesty International is currently running a campaign to ensure that Alberto
  Pizango is treated fairly by the Peruvian authorities.

  Amnesty's campaign

• News from the EU-LAC Summit

  19 May 2010

  The VI EU-Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Summit of Heads of State and Government took place in Madrid (Spain) on May 18th 2010. A series of bilateral mini-summits were also held with specific LAC countries and sub-regions, including the Andean Community (CAN).

  The central theme of the Summit was: “Towards a new phase of the bi-regional association: innovation and technology for sustainable development and social inclusion”. In addition to these main themes, other key areas of discussion included the environment, climate change, energy, regional integration, and social and territorial cohesion.
  
  The UK’s new Foreign Secretary, William Hague, visited Spain to attend a meeting of EU, Latin American and Caribbean Foreign Ministers, which was held a day before the EU- LAC Summit.
  
  Newly appointed Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Liberal Democrat Jeremy Browne MP, represented the UK at the Summit on the 18th. His ministerial responsibilities include Central and South America and Human Rights, amongst others.

  In parallel to the official summit in Madrid, there was also a meeting of the Europe-Latin America and Caribbean bi-regional network of civil society movements Enlazando Alternativas (Linking Alternatives) between May 14th and 18th. Participating organisations held a series of workshops on key development issues and also hosted a bi-regional session of the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT), a tribunal independent from state authorities which examines and provides judgements relating to alleged violations of human rights by European companies operating in Latin America and the Caribbean.

  Follow the post-summit news releases and declarations from the official summit and the Linking Alternatives parallel event.

  EU-LAC Official Summit Declaration

  Enlazando Alternativas/Linking Alternatives Declaration in Spanish

  UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office News
   

• Garcia Replaces Justice Minister Amid Scandal

  Update 138. 23 April 2010

  President Alan García dismissed Justice Minister Aurelio Pastor on March 16th after investigations revealed irregularities regarding a pardon granted to José Enrique Crousillat, a former media executive. Crousillat was convicted of taking payoffs to broadcast favourable coverage for former president Alberto Fujimori's government in the 1990's.

  Pastor is accused of providing unreliable information that led to the release of 77-year-old Crousillat. The Peruvian president has also revoked the pardon - granted on humanitarian grounds - and has ordered Crousillat's re-arrest.

  Crousillat was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2006. On the grounds that he suffered from heart problems, he was granted a presidential pardon last December. However, the media executive was seen in evidently good health in restaurants and on beaches in Lima.

  New Justice Minister Sworn In
  The former president of Peru's Constitutional Tribunal, Víctor García Toma, was sworn in as a Justice Minister on March 18th. Different parliamentarians, including opposition parties, have reacted positively to García Toma's appointment.
   

• Six Dead in Mining Protests

  Peru News 054. 23 April 2010

  Miners in Peru have ended a roadblock after clashes with police on April 4th led to the deaths of six people. Some 6,000 miners - variously termed ‘unlicensed’, ‘informal’, ‘independent’ or ‘wildcat’ - blocked a stretch of the Panamericana Sur highway in the town of Chala (Arequipa) in protest at a presidential decree (012-2010) issued in February that aimed to regulate illegal mining in the Peruvian Amazon region of Madre de Dios.

  Following the outbreak of violence, talks between mining leaders and government officials, including Prime Minister Javier Velásquez Quesquén, have resulted in a government promise to form a joint commission to study the dispute and develop a national plan to regularise this form of mining.

  Although informal mining is illegal in Peru, it is prevalent mainly in the gold mining sector in the Madre de Dios and Puno regions of the country. This activity is thought to produce between 10 and 20 percent of all gold mined in Peru, which is the world's sixth largest producer of the precious metal, and employs a minimum of 40,000 people.

  However, mercury is commonly used by many of the informal miners in Peru to isolate gold, the waste effluents are then dumped in nearby rivers. Miners have argued that government legislation, including environmental laws, would affect their jobs.

  Human rights organisation Human Rights Watch has called for a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the killing of six civilians during a confrontation with the police in Chala.

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