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Peru: controversial death toll on Bagua's clashes

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Amazon indigenous leaders and Ombudsman Office presented today very different death toll figures.

Peru's Police Chief, General Jose Sanchez Farfan, confirmed that 23 policemen died during the riots.

Official reports admit only nine civilian casualties, including natives and mestizos as well.

However, some witnesses, the natives and human rights organizations claim that the number of civilians casualties may be in fact higher: around 40 people.

Indigenous leader Champion Nonimgo, who has taken the place of Alberto Pizango, declared to RadioProgramas del Peru that these corpses have not been found since "the police and the Army has either incinerated them or thrown them to the rivers, to hide them.”

Meanwhile, General Sanchez reported that 18 of the 38 hostages had been taken somewhere into the rainforest, where they were shot.

According to him, eight officers escaped during the executions. and another five  were rescued afterwards; but the others are still missing.

Reportedly, Bagua is undergoing a tense calm, due to military presence, but the strike and blockades continue in another Amazon cities and towns.

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# Carlos A. Quiroz says :
8 June, 2009 [ 06:37 ]

I have received emails of witnesses saying that dead bodies were burned down and thrown to the river, others were placed in plastic bags and taken to unknown locations, and my friends in Lima didn't even know there were Indigenous peoples dead! The media in Lima is mostly manipulated, but this is horrendous - it gives you a sense of racism in Peru: lives of rural Indigenous are less valuable and matter the less.

By the way, most Policemen are also Indigenous, including the "mestizos" which are mixed blood Natives.

# Felipe Diaz says :
8 June, 2009 [ 12:32 ]

No hay que ser ciego a la realidad de las cosas.  La violencia nunca ha sido la forma de conseguir objetivos politicos.  Las comunidades amazonicas deberian de agotar todos los recursos politicos y de publicidad para conseguir sus objetivos y olvidarse de bloqueos y destruccion de la propiedad privada.  Estoy seguro de que los muertos nativos son mas de los 9 que dice la policia, digamos que sean 40 o mas, pero que me dicen de los 23 policias muertos? Somos un pais de leyes en donde deben de regir las leyes. La policia representa la ley y el orden. Si no estan de acuerdo con las leyes, muevanse politicamente y cambienlas, pero olvidense de la destrucion y violencia y luego llorar porque hay muertos.

# Steve Day says :
13 June, 2009 [ 17:48 ]

I crossed the strike as a traveller about two weeks ago.  When I returned to my home in Montreal, Canada, I heard the news of the violence which later erupted.

In crossing the strike, first I crossed the area where military and police forces were waiting, with armored cars and assault rifles, hundreds of them sitting at the side of the road and in restaurants and just hangin around.  A couple of kilometres up the road, I crossed the huge strike and saw no guns, just thousands of people with spears and barricades made of wood and rocks.

The strike was 20 days old when I crossed, and I thought, given that the strikers only had spears, that confrontation might be avoided.

This violence is disgusting.

# luis harhuachi says :
13 June, 2009 [ 21:57 ]

ALAN GARCIA GENOCIDE , KILLER !!! you kill innocent native peruvians and you lie and manipulate the media!!!!!!!! KILLER!!!!

# Rene says :
13 June, 2009 [ 22:50 ]

"I have received emails of witnesses" - so and how reliable are those sources? Kind of doubtful in my humble opinion. So far there has not been any proof provided of any deaths other than what the government reported.

"By the way, most Policemen are also Indigenous, including the "mestizos" which are mixed blood Natives" - so where is the racism then? To me it seems more a fight between equals.

I'm not denying any possible wrongdoing, but there is a lot of information coming from the region that is highly doubtful, but simply taken is the truth. The number of deaths among indigenous for example is constantly changing, depending the source. So what am I expected to believe? Even if the government is lying, then at least their reports seem to be more consistent.

And for the last poster, you're not even capable to imagine what real genocide is. Some deaths during a clash with the police is regretful but does not immediately add up to genocide. However, cold-blooded killing of hostages by a politically motivated group I would consider to be equal to insurgency.

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