PERU: Three Days of Anti-Government Protests

By Ángel Páez     IPS News

LIMA, Jul 8 (IPS) - Wednesday was the second day of a three-day strike declared by trade unions and social movements in Peru to protest the economic policies of President Alan García.

According to the government, the strike has been a complete failure. Labour Minister Jorge Villasante said "work has continued as normal in Peru. The protest has not caught on among the workers as the organisers had hoped."

But Carmen Sifuentes, the president of the CGTP - Peru's largest trade union federation – commented to IPS: "If it's such a flop, if the unions do not represent anyone, why are they offering 20 soles to people who went to work? The government is lying to the people."

The government offered workers who stayed on the job an incentive of 20 soles (6.6 dollars).

Thousands of members of the security forces were deployed Wednesday in Lima to keep order, and police chief General José Sánchez reported that over 156 demonstrators were arrested, mainly in Lima. He also said the strike had 100 percent adherence in the southern provinces of Huancavelica, Puno and Cuzco.
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New Guinea No Place for Continued Industrial Primary Forest Destruction

Rainforest Portal     

Caption: "Sustainable Forest Management", Papua New Guinea Style: Soon to be subsidized by UN carbon markets?

The government of the rainforest rich country of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is sending out deeply conflicting signals regarding whether they will protect their rainforests, the Earth's third largest, using carbon markets, or will continue with destructive and often illegal logging and oil palm projects. PNG has been a leading proponent for UN carbon market based "Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation" (REDD) -- to pay for ancient forest protection with carbon monies.  PNG is likely to be one of the main beneficiaries of UN proposals to integrate forest protection projects into the global carbon market as part of any deal in Copenhagen that succeeds the Kyoto Accord at the end of the year.  

Images reveal full horror of 'Amazon's Tiananmen'

Peru accused of cover-up after indigenous protest ends in death at Devil's Bend

By Guy Adams in LA      Friday, 6/19/09

       The Independent 

 
The bloodied face of a protester as behind him fellow protestors are arrested by police

Police Violently Attack Peaceful Indigenous Blockade in Peruvian Amazon, Killing Many

     Peruvian police reportedly shot indigenous protesters from helicopters -- as peaceful protesters were protecting their ancestral land. Peru's police have clashed with Amazon tribes opposed to foreign companies opening oil wells and mines in their rainforests without their consent. Police reportedly shot at protesters from helicopters, killing as many as twelve blockading a road to protect their land. Amazon Watch and Western media report indigenous protesters outside of Bagua, in a remote area of northern Peruvian Amazon, were forcibly dispersed by tear gas and real bullets. Reuters reports 12 protesters were killed

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