Peace and Justice Post

Protesters block access to Yurimagua city in the Amazon

The leader of Peru’s Amazon Indians will be flown to exile in Nicaragua after seeking asylum following violent demonstrations that killed scores of police and protesters.

Alberto Pizango, the head of Aidesep, which represents 56 tribes, spent yesterday at the Nicaraguan embassy in Lima. Dozens of his followers died during protests against new laws that will leave swathes of their ancestral homelands open to oil and gas exploration. He has been charged by his own government with “sedition, conspiracy and rebellion”.

The London-based pressure group, Survival International, called on oil firms to withdraw from Peru, describing the incident as “The Amazon’s Tiananmen” and accusing security forces, who have since imposed a curfew over the region, of burying and burning corpses to hide the scale of the killing.

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