Early morning on June 5, Peruvian military police violently raided a group of indigenous people at a peaceful blockade on a road outside of Bagua, in the northern Peruvian Amazon, leading to the deaths of dozens of indigenous protesters and several police officers.

Since April 9, 2009 over 30,000 indigenous Amazonian people have been peacefully protesting a group of laws that President Alan Garcia enacted in late 2008 under “fast track” authority without congressional approval.  These laws open wide the Peruvian Amazon to oil, mining and logging development by stripping ancestral and communal land rights from indigenous communities and reorganizing forestry laws to allow for virtually unchecked resource extraction. 

Garcia has justified the passage of these laws as necessary to fulfill Peru's Free Trade Agreement with the US.  Since their passage, these laws are being determined to be unconstitutional by a special congressional committee formed to review them.  Nonetheless, Alan Garcia has blocked congressional debate that would lead to their repeal.      

Indigenous protestors have been standing together in defense of their land and forest, by blockading roads, rivers, and railways to demand the repeal of these new laws that allow oil, mining and logging companies to enter indigenous territories without seeking prior consultation or consent.  Protests have escalated in other parts of the country and a general strike has been called, yet Garcia's government refuses to dialogue.  


I urge you to TAKE ACTION NOW and send a letter to the Peruvian government urging them to cease the brutality and engage in true dialogue, and to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to demand an end to the violent repression and abuse in the name of the Free Trade Agreement.

This is a critical and defining moment in time for our planet and in the fight to curb climate change.  As one of the Earth’s largest tropical rainforests, the Amazon plays a critical role in safeguarding the global climate. Indigenous peoples are the guardians of the Amazon rainforest.  It is critical that they are supported right now in their defense of their life, livelihood and cultures.  It is rare that we can so clearly see events whose outcome will have a defining impact on the health of all humans and other life on the planet.

I ask you to take action now, not only to stand in solidarity with our indigenous brothers and sisters, but to fight for your life.  This critical moment in the Amazon affects all of us.  Please take action now. 
 
Visit Amazon Watch's website to send a letter to the Peruvian government and to donate to the Peru Emergency Fund.

Visit Rainforest Action Network's website to send a fax to Hillary Clinton.