Peruvian Indian won't sign report on deadly clashes
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 | 10:53 PM ET
CBC News
A Peruvian Indian member of an official probe into June's bloody clashes between police and Amazon Indians that left 33 dead has condemned the final report and refuses to sign it.
Jesus Manaces, an Awajun Indian, said Tuesday that the document was slanted toward the government. It was presented Tuesday to President Alan Garcia's cabinet chief, Javier Velasquez.
But only four committee members out of seven signed off on the final report — a Catholic priest and three former politicians who held high-ranking posts in Garcia's government.
Peruvian police open fire on Indians blocking a road in Utcubamba province on June 5, 2009, during clashes that left 10 civilians and 23 police dead and 82 civilians wounded by gunshots. (Amazon Watch/Associated Press)The report said the government failed to consult Indians about decrees affecting their lands, but blamed the Indians for starting the violence in Peru's northern Amazon.
"Will this upset indigenous communities? Definitely," Manaces said. "We cannot call this consensus."
Asked if he expected the report to cause further unrest, Manaces said: "That's certainly the expectation."
The Indians blockaded jungle highways and rivers on and off for nearly a year to protest oil and mining development on their lands and 11 pro-investment decrees issued by Garcia in 2008.
In June, clashes with police left 10 civilians and 23 police dead, with 82 civilians wounded by gunfire.
The investigation found that opposition congressmen, labour groups, non-governmental organizations and some local religious figures incited the Indians to violence and said police were forced to open fire in self-defence.
Manaces said the committee did not collect testimony corroborating this version of events, and called it the "personal opinion" of ex-labour minister Susana Pinilla, one of the committee members who wrote the report.
The Indians say police attacked first, shooting AK-47s at protesters armed only with spears and rocks.
The committee was created by the government in September in response to international pressure. Critics said the government ignored calls for international participation in the probe and failed to give the committee a budget to pay for investigators, telephone calls, office supplies and other basic needs.
Velasquez said Tuesday that objections from committee members were part of the "democratic process," and would be included as appendices in the official report.
With files from The Associated Press
