‘Jesus Christ never created an NGO to cause problems’
July 9th, 2009 by DavidIt was a cardinal who said that. He was quoted on the Peruvian government’s newswire just days after the tragic violence in northern Peru last month, when riot police broke up an indigenous protest.
One of the most striking things about the aftermath of the violence and protests has been the government’s spin on it.
Yes, President Garcia has recognized that mistakes were made, but he has also tried to lay the blame on anyone but his own government. ‘International communism’, competitors in the minerals market such as Chile, and opposition politicians have all been cited. Even NGOs, including Survival, have had the finger pointed at them. One congressman accused us of ‘slandering’ Peru and ‘encouraging violence’ through our website. The government has also claimed there is a conspiracy against democracy in Peru – despite the fact that peaceful protests are part-and-parcel of a healthy democracy and it was a series of laws issued by Executive decree (not voted by Congress) that sparked them. Worst of all, the indigenous protesters themselves have been demonized. Charges against them have been filed, one leader has fled the country, and Garcia has called them every name under the sun: communists, criminals, pseudo-natives and second class citizens who have committed acts of ‘savagery’, ‘barbarism’ and ‘police genocide’. Garcia has also claimed they were ‘misled into protesting without having read any of the laws or understanding the issues.’ It’s difficult to know what’s more revealing about all this: that governments act this way, or that Garcia appears to misunderstand so completely Peru’s indigenous citizens. Doesn’t he understand that the 330,000 indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon, like tribal people anywhere in the world, are entirely capable of thinking and acting for themselves? See Survival’s video witness report and photo report, also available in Spanish.
An Indian blockade near Bagua. © David Dudenhoefer
















But the real stars are, of course, the
What will the Dongria Kondh do to defend their forests, their way of life and their mountain God?