Peru

Peru’s Indigenous Protest Relicensing Of Oil Operations

February 10, 2015 David Hill, www.theguardian.com Resist! Indigenous Rights, Oil & Gas, Peru

Hundreds of indigenous people deep in the Peruvian Amazon are blocking a major Amazon tributary following what they say is the government’s failure to address a social and environmental crisis stemming from oil operations. Kichwa men, women and children from numerous communities have been protesting along the River Tigre for almost a month, barring the river with cables and stopping oil company boats from passing. Oil companies have operated in the region for over 40 years, and have been linked by local people to pollution that has led the government to declare “environmental emergencies” in the Tigre and other river basins.

Indigenous People In Peru Shut Down Oil Production

February 2, 2015 TeleSur, www.axisoflogic.com Resist! Environmental Justice, indigenous, Oil & Gas, Peru

Indigenous people have forced a production stoppage at 14 oil wells, adding up to some 3100 barrels of oil per day. Close to 400 Achuar indigenous people intensified their actions Thursday, blockading production of 14 oil wells from the multinational, PlusPetrol. Since last Monday, Protestors had taken over territories that the company started exploiting, however the actions escalated to blockading the circulation of any ships through the river Tigre. Achuar activists are currently in possession of 8 company ships and have declared that they will not back down until State officials and company executives meet with them. Multimillion dollar oil extractions have been in place in the region for the last 43 years, but poverty among the population in the area are high and environmental contamination common.

Peruvian Youth To Protest Against New Labor Law

January 17, 2015 TeleSur, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Labor, Law, Peru, Youth

The Peruvian youth group Dignity Collective will hold another demonstration Monday afternoon to protest against a new labor law approved earlier this month which undermines many labor rights for young workers. According to the organization, the Youth Labor Law will benefit transnational corporations, as it reduces vacation time, cuts a series of bonuses, and lowers wages. Even though the law only applies for people between the ages 18 and 24, critics expect for these corporations to fire older employees and replace them with young people to take advantage of the law. Monday’s scheduled protest follows one of the biggest protests recorded over the last 10 years when thousands of young people marched in the streets of Peru’s capital Lima on Friday.

Farmworker Defeats US Mining Company

December 20, 2014 Telesur TV, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Land Rights, Law, Peru

Maxima Acuña, a farmworker from Cajamarca, has won a legal case against the U.S. based Newmont Mining Corporation. Newmont is known in Peru by the name of its operations in the area, Yanacocha. The company sued Maxima for alleged land invasion in an attempt to expel her and her family from her property. Yanacocha wanted her land in order to pursue their massive gold mining project, known as Conga. Nevertheless, the Appeals Court of Justice of Cajamarca ruled in favor of Maxima, thus absolving her from the lawsuit. Maxima built her home in 1994 on property she had purchased in front of the Blue Lagoon of Celendin. In 2011, Yanacocha attempted to buy the land, but Maxima did not give in. The company is interested in her land because it is strategically located in front of the lake. The lake’s water is necessary for the mining operations.

Lima Climate Talks Fail; Climate Justice Movement Grows

December 16, 2014 Climate Mama, www.climatemama.com Educate! Climate Change, Environment, Peru

Disappointment, rage, and grief – all of these emotions and more were expressed by delegates at the latest round of United Nations climate negotiations held in Lima, Peru. Many of these negotiators are also parents and grandparents who – on December 14th, 2014, in the waning hours of the latest round of climate negotiations – saw their hopes and ours, dashed. This isn’t the first time that we have put our hopes in government negotiators, and they have turned up short on solutions and long on talk. Through our work with grassroots organizations in the United States and around the world we are betting on the success of everyday people, in place of national and international climate negotiators, as we all work to solve and find solutions to human created climate change, the greatest challenge humanity will ever face.

Thousands March For Climate Justice In Lima, Peru

December 11, 2014 Mariette Le Roux, www.rappler.com Resist! Climate Change, Peru, Protest, United Nations

Thousands of people marched in central Lima against the abuse of Earth's resources Wednesday, December 10, urging ministers haggling over a world climate deal to ensure a global switch to 100% clean energy by 2050. Students, environmentalists, workers, women's defenders, anti-poverty activists and indigenous groups joined the "People's Climate March" in the Peruvian capital, chanting "Water yes, gold no!" and "The water is ours!" The colorful line of festive demonstrators snaked its way through the city, accompanied by rhythmic drumming and brass bands. Police estimated the crowd at some 1,800 people, but Agence France-Presse witnessed many times that and organizers said some 15,000 turned out.

Divestment Campaign Aims To Bleed Dry The Fossil Fuel Industry

December 9, 2014 Leehi Yona and Diego Arguedas Ortiz, www.ipsnews.net Resist! Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Peru

Even as the presence of major oil and gas corporations is nearly ubiquitous at the U.N. climate talks in the Peruvian capital known as COP20, fossil fuel divestment campaigns have gained ground in various countries and are moving to counter the influence of the “dirty energy” lobby here. As the COP20 enters its second and final week, delegates from 195 countries are still trying to address the urgency of climate change by reaching an international agreement to decelerate global warming. However, activists are worried that the influence of fossil fuel companies within COP20 might slow down an already sluggish process.

Climate Neutrality – The Lifeboat Launched By Lima

December 9, 2014 Diego Arguedas Ortiz, www.ipsnews.net Organize! Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Peru

Packed into stifling meeting rooms in the Peruvian capital, delegates from 195 countries are trying to find a path that would make it possible for the planet to reach climate neutrality in the second half of this century – the only way to avoid irreversible damage, scientists warn. Climate neutrality is defined as no net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, achieved by minimising emissions as much as possible, so an equivalent amount is sequestered or offset. The term climate neutral, rather than carbon neutral, is used to reflect the fact that it is not just carbon dioxide (CO2) that is causing climate change but other greenhouse gases as well.

Climate Talks Open With Hunger For Action

December 2, 2014 Climate Action Network, www.fastfortheclimate.org Educate! Climate Change, Environment, Peru

The UN climate talks in Lima (COP20) opened today with a flame of solidarity as an estimated 10,000 people around the world joined together in the largest ever climate fast to show support for the victims of climate change. UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres and the Peruvian Minister of Environment and President of COP20, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, offered their support for the fast at a spectacular candlelight vigil in Lima last night, at which hundreds of people gathered to prepare for the fast which remembers those suffering from climate impacts.

Protests Before UN Climate Talks In Peru

December 1, 2014 Rael Mora, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Climate Change, COP20, Environment, Peru

Dozens of Peruvian civil society groups have come together, forming the Peru COP20 Group, to demand that their government addresses environmental issues at home, before hosting this years UN climate change conference, known as COP20. With that goal in mind, they organized a march to the Environment Ministry joining other demonstrations around the world as part of the People's Climate March day of action on 20 September. “What we ask for are actions and not words. Over here, a diverse group of organizations, people, and independent citizens have come together” in order to challenge the government's current attitude explained one of the demonstration organizers, Sebastian Milla from the Youth Committee for the People’s Summit.

Peruvian Patients Reject TPP: Will Affect Their Access To Medication

October 22, 2014 Rael Mora, www.telesurtv.net Educate! Big Pharma, Finance and the Economy, Peru, TPP

Leaks on the secret trade agreement, the TPP, are worrying social organizations that deal with health issues in Peru. They predict that the adoption of such a treaty will result in many deaths. On Monday, after the release of new information by Wikileaks, social organizations defending the interests of health patients have spoken out against the TPP. Representatives from the Peruvian Network for Patients and Users claim the treaty will allow for pharmaceutical companies to dominate the use of a drug for decades. The Trans Pacific-Partnership agreement (TPP) is a free trade agreement that is being negotiated in secret by 12 countries including Peru. One of the most controversial aspects of the treaty is the one that protects medicine patents, benefiting the interests of large pharmaceutical companies.

Demand Justice For Murdered Amazon Tribal Leaders

September 13, 2014 Margaret Kennealy, www.thepetitionsite.com Petitions and Online Actions Logging, Peru

The Peruvian authorities must ensure that all those suspected of their murders must be brought to Justice. They must also extend protection to the remaining Indigenous People who are being intimidated and exploited by illegal loggers operating on their lands. The four people murdered were leaders of the Ashéninka people of the Peruvian Amazon. Among them was Edwin Chota a prominent anti-logging campaigner who had fought for his people’s right to gain titles to their land and expel illegal loggers who raided their forests on the Brazilian border. At the time of the murders they were preparing to bring their community's case and a complaint against illegal loggers to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Top Peruvian Foe of Illegal Logging Slain

September 10, 2014 Frank Bajak, www.miamiherald.com Resist! Indigenous Rights, Logging, Peru, Repression

IMA, Peru -- An outspoken Peruvian opponent of illegal logging and three other native Ashaninka community leaders were shot and killed in the remote region bordering Brazil where they live, villagers and authorities said Monday. The activist, Edwin Chota, had received frequent death threats from illegal loggers, who he had tried for years to expel from the lands for which his community was seeking title. Illegal loggers were suspected in the killings, said Ashaninka regional leader Reyder Sebastian. Pervasive corruption lets the loggers operate with impunity, stripping the Amazon region's river basins of prized hardwoods, especially mahogany and tropical cedar. "He threatened to upset the status quo," said David Salisbury, a professor at the University of Richmond who was advising Chota on the title quest and had known him for a decade. "The illegal loggers are on record for wanting Edwin dead." Chota and the others were apparently killed on Sept. 1, the day they left Saweto, the village he led on the Upper Tamaya river, to hike to a sister Brazilian Ashaninka community, said the village schoolteacher, Maria Elena Paredes. When the men did not show at the Brazilian village, worried comrades who had traveled ahead of them returned and found the bodies — apparently killed by shotgun blasts — near some shacks on the Putaya river, Paredes said.

Solidarity With People Of Cajamarca, Peru

July 6, 2014 Staff, www.afgj.org Resist! Environment, Mining, Peru

The Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ) condemns the preventive incarceration of Gregorio “Goyo” Santos Guerrero, President of the Region of Cajamarca, Peru (analogous to a US governor). Goyo’s election in 2010 was the result of a mass mobilization of the region’s voters. It reflected a popular struggle against the proposed Conga gold mine involving an alliance of miners, teachers, farmers, unionists and indigenous communities. These maintain the gold mine will export not only gold but mega-profits, with little social investment or sustainable economic development. They also point out that the mine’s best jobs are being given to outsiders, while there are few local financial benefits. Cajamarca is the second poorest region in Peru.

Epic Climate Action Tour Heading To UN Negotiations

July 4, 2014 Rising Tide North America, www.facebook.com Resist! Climate Change, Latin America, Peru, UN

This group of intrepid climate activists needs your urgent help to lift up climate justice struggles in Latin America! https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/climate-caravan-through-latin-america Here's a message from one of the organizers: "We've already toured from Northern Mexico to Panama, met and organized with communities, raised the call for climate justice on local radio and television, and made more than a dozen videos on the struggles and campaigns we've come in contact with. Currently we are in Panama, preparing the huge endeavor of shipping our tour-bus to Colombia, and making the connection from north to south a reality for communities fighting for climate justice in Latin America. We need your help to cover the cost of this part of our journey. This is the most expense and difficult expenditure that we have for the entire project. If we can make it across to South America, the Climate Caravan will be able to articulate with a whole continent of struggles and stories of communities that are on the front-lines of the climate crisis. Please consider making a donation to our cause in this crucial moment of this action-tour thru Latin America. We've already raised 3k but we need to urgently raise $2,000 more to cover the full cost shipping process and a bit more to get us to South America! Can you chip in to help us complete the tour?"

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