Peru's Prime Minister rules out interference on freedom of press

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Prime Minister, Yehude Simon, said today that local radio station La Voz (in Bagua) was closed due to legal matters only, and ruled out any governmental interference on freedom of press.

He emphasized that the radio's closure is not related at all to the violent events that took place on June 5th in Bagua, Amazonas region.

“If we really wanted to eliminate freedom of press, we would not have all the media we have now that actually criticize the government,” he said.

He remarked that the aforementioned radio was having problems before the Amazonian strike started.

However, Carlos Flores, the radio's director, says that the real issue for the government was the fact that La Voz was the only media broadcasting live during the June 5th's events.

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# what about says :
19 June, 2009 [ 21:49 ]

What about all the murdered policeman??????????Did you forget about that? The killers in the Bagua protests need to pay for their crimes.

# garrett forkin says :
19 June, 2009 [ 21:58 ]

every policeman I have encountered in peru is corrupt beyond belief I can name names from  the general of the PNP lima to every district I have lived in . barbaric goverment sanctioned killing is just that killing and murder for political expediency , the deals od Alan . well frankly he should be held accountable for these murders and do not believe his retoric it is his justification for his huge coima for the amoonian deals. the police are equally innocent in a perverse way bvut they do take the bklood money and kill more efficiently

# bill bollix says :
19 June, 2009 [ 22:08 ]

the police are not innocent like in Fujimoris day they follow orders and take the money to kill for the goverment it is blood on Alan's hands verdad! all of it

# Rene says :
19 June, 2009 [ 23:55 ]

Garrett, that article is of course a load of crap, since the statement "His Prime Minister Yehude Simon resigned on Monday" is completely incorrect. If that simple fact is already a lie, then what else is there to believe...

# mother Teresa says :
20 June, 2009 [ 06:24 ]

very nice to see all the responce to this very sad event
on both sides  police and native very sad

What part of Thou Shall Not Kill   is not clear?
There is no justafaction for killing humans!

learn to Love one another,  it is easy and very economical... Hugs are much less expencive than bullets.

# Rudy says :
20 June, 2009 [ 14:13 ]

Viva Ollanta Humala.

# c.schmidt says :
20 June, 2009 [ 15:49 ]

Media watch dog recomendation should be taken as guideline. Surely the ONU reperesantives also made up their opinions. I Hope very much that government controlled canal will be used in the future in a more flexible way to make every voice listen. One of the leading journalists there somehow makes is through to all governments and gives kind of impression that he might get adjusted to the demands of those in charge.  My self I was very concern when I was watching TV  morning interviews in another program were opposition congressman in a  journalist against one guest interview  were ask first on before breakfast stomach about his different religion- and this very very intense? instead of going strait to the point – the political topic of the day and when same journalists seemed like letting  hardly to speak  out other invites guests and laugh and joke about their different opinion. Most interesting fact is that one of those journalists seems to be own citizenship of a developed democracy and lived long time abroad.If  I would ever get the chance to speak to on of the journalists  only 5 minutes I would just ask this:

1. do you know which price for freedom was paid in the country you have residency and live long time besides of Peru?
2. Do you believe you endure   democracy, endure freedom and principals of democratic engagement and justice the way you practice your job?
3. Do you know the constitution of the country you own residency?
4. Why you don’t let invited guests sometime speaking out ,  why you have to make so many times jokes and laugh when you disagree and why you cant run the program alone and why apparently so many times you have adelantar opinion?  

I will never ask those questions to the lady- surely others will have them in mind.

# Paul says :
20 June, 2009 [ 18:29 ]

The closure was for legal reasons only.. nothing to do with the press?

100% Bull. 

I mean was it a coincidence they found some that some paper work hadnt been filed properly for some random peice of equipment just at the time the protests were happening?  

Nonsense.  I mean do they really think people are so dumb.  I would respect them more if they told the truth as they was it.

"Yes we closed it because we felt it was being used to incite public disorder, and we looked for any type of irregularity we could find with their paperwork to achieve it".

Never quite understood how in Peru people, from all walks of life, will lie to your face in a really obvious way and when you call them on it, they deny the blatently obvious. 

Like the kid caught with a handful of cookies beside a cookie jar will the lid off and half empty.

# M Caudron says :
21 June, 2009 [ 00:11 ]

Good Riddance!
Peru's prime minister to step down

Yehude Simon said he will resign over violent clashes between security forces and Amazon tribes

The prime minister of Peru, Yehude Simon, said he will bow to opposition demands and resign over violent clashes between security forces and Amazon tribes which left dozens dead.

"I am going to go for sure as soon as calm returns in the coming weeks," he told local radio today. Earlier he apologised to indigenous leaders for the government's attempt to enforce decrees opening the rainforest to oil and gas exploration.

Congress is to repeal two controversial laws in the wake of clashes 11 days ago which left at least 34 dead, including 23 police, near the northern town of Bagua. Other ministers are expected to step down or be fired by President Alan Garcia.

"How many people had to die for the government to realise that the laws were poorly done?" Daysi Zapata, a leader of Aidesep, an indigenous rights group, told reporters.

Indigenous leaders have lifted some but not all of their months-long blockades of waterways, roads and pipelines.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/17/yehude-simon-peru-resign

# bill mcdonald says :
21 June, 2009 [ 12:53 ]

In light of ongoing living in Peru censorship here's one for the sunday breakfast on fathers day of your fellow Peruvians murdered and burned by you delightful police and goverment

# bill mcdonald says :
21 June, 2009 [ 12:58 ]

sorry heres the photo

# links of london says :
22 June, 2009 [ 03:23 ]

Links of London is out of the doubt the most famous sterling silver jewelry in the world. Its unique & exquisite design, its perfect and luxuriant theme, and its unmatched position in silver industry fill all of us, with desire and admiration. Here present the most valued links jewelries among miraculous jewelries for your reference only.

# c.schmidt says :
22 June, 2009 [ 12:34 ]

Page last updated at 08:34 GMT, Saturday, 20 June 2009 09:34 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8110561.stm

UN calls for Peru clashes probe

Indigenous groups say at least 30 civilians died in the clashes The UN's envoy for indigenous people has urged Peru to launch an independent investigation into recent deadly clashes between police and protesters. James Anaya told the BBC he had heard troubling allegations of abuse by security forces, while visiting Peru. Officials say at least 34 people died in weeks of protests by indigenous people in the Amazon over land rights. The protests were called off after two laws allowing foreign companies to exploit Amazon resources were revoked. Mr Anaya, the UN's Special Rapporteur for Indigenous People, said he had heard "testimony of allegations of abuses that need to be taken seriously" on a recent fact finding mission to Peru. "I'm not in a position to make conclusions about these allegations, but there should be an investigation," he said. "Those people who are making these allegations should be heard, and the conditions should be set that they feel safe in their ability to convey those allegations." He said indigenous people and the international community would need to be included in any investigative body. Regional tension Peruvian Indians said the revoking of the laws was historic Mr Anaya said some people remained unaccounted for after the protests and that officials he had spoken to were "very reluctant" to give exact figures. "Until everybody is accounted for, there should be some concern," he said. Officials says 24 police officers and 10 civilians were killed in the protests over laws which gave foreign companies permission to exploit resources in the Amazon forest. But Amazon Indian groups say at least 30 civilians died. The worst of the clashes occurred on 5 June when police tried to clear roadblocks set up by the groups at Bagua, 1,000km (600 miles) north of Lima. Indigenous groups called off their protest on Friday, after the controversial laws, passed to implement a free trade agreement with the US, were revoked by Peru's Congress. The BBC's Dan Collyns in Lima says the laws were seen by Peruvian Indians as a threat to their way of life. The violence had provoked tension with Peru's neighbour, Bolivia, where President Evo Morales backed the Indians' tribal rights Comment- Several Peruvian broadcasting informed about mister Anaya’s visit,(I hope he stays a little bit longer in Peru and does roundtrips )– but Peruvians could not listen in all canals opinions given by him- full version! – and quit easy accessible in internacional  news agencies. From my point a few it is kind of alarming the discrepancy of some news given in one aperiantly  government controlled/influenced  canals in comparison to different independent broadcasting with reputation of giving news neutral and independent. I find it kind of alarming how some journalists seem to give their job time  time to serve orders given to them. Some of them sound desperate, harmful and seem to me a shame to the profession of journalism- which is just about to give the news.

# garrett forkin says :
22 June, 2009 [ 13:08 ]

quite right Mr Smidt there is no free press in Peru. Even el commercio who profess to be independent , only print pro Alan retoric and supress any free reporting of not just anti goverment political comment but facts! as in the case of the bagua incident. Every peruvian mainstream media outlet seems determined not to report something that desgraces the counrty, Out of maybe a distorted nationalism or greed to protect a fragile status quo?? My vote goes for the national pasttime of the ruling class unabashed greed and corruption to enhance and protect the already unequal distribution of Peru's wealth.
All are guilty as the quote goes ''it is not enough for good men to do nothing'' 

# Richard Hunter says :
24 June, 2009 [ 16:12 ]

Peru: Blood Flows In The Amazon

By James Petras

17 June, 2009
Countercurrents.org

In early June, Peruvian President Alan García, an ally of US President Barack Obama, ordered armored personnel carriers, helicopter gun-ships and hundreds of heavily armed troops to assault and disperse a peaceful, legal protest organized by members of Peru’s Amazonian indigenous communities protesting the entry of foreign multinational mining companies on their traditional homelands.

Dozens of Indians were killed or are missing, scores have been injured and arrested and a number of Peruvian police, held hostage by the indigenous protestors were killed in the assault. President García declared martial law in the region in order to enforce his unilateral and unconstitutional fiat granting of mining exploitation rights to foreign companies, which infringed on the integrity of traditional Amazonian indigenous communal lands.

Alan García is no stranger to government-sponsored massacres. In June 1986, he ordered the military to bomb and shell prisons in the capital holding many hundreds of political prisoners protesting prison conditions – resulting in over 400 known victims. Later obscure mass graves revealed dozens more. This notorious massacre took place while García was hosting a gathering of the so-called ‘Socialist’ International in Lima. His political party, APRA (American Popular Revolutionary Alliance) a member of the ‘International’, was embarrassed by the public display of its ‘national-socialist’ proclivities, before hundreds of European Social Democrat functionaries. Charged with misappropriation of government funds and leaving office with an inflation rate of almost 8,000% in 1990, he agreed to support Presidential candidate Alberto Fujimori in exchange for amnesty. When Fujimori imposed a dictatorship in 1992, García went into self-imposed exile in Colombia and later, France. He returned in 2001 when the statute of limitations on his corruption charges had expired and Fujimori was forced to resign amidst charges of running death squads and spying on his critics. García won the 2006 Presidential elections in a run-off against the pro-Indian nationalist candidate and former Army officer, Ollanta Humala, thanks to financial and media backing by Lima’s rightwing, ethnic European oligarchs and US overseas ‘AID’ agencies.

Back in power, García left no doubt about his political and economic agenda. In October 2007 he announced his strategy of placing foreign multi-national mining companies at the center of his economic ‘development’ program, while justifying the brutal displacement of small producers from communal lands and indigenous villages in the name of ‘modernization’.

García pushed through congressional legislation in line with the US-promoted ‘Free Trade Agreement of the Americas’ or ALCA. Peru was one of only three Latin American nations to support the US proposal. He opened Peru to the unprecedented plunder of its resources, labor, land and markets by the multinationals. In late 2007, García began to award huge tracts of traditional indigenous lands in the Amazon region for exploitation by foreign mining and energy multinationals. This was in violation of a 1969 International Labor Organization-brokered agreement obligating the Peruvian government to consult and negotiate with the indigenous inhabitants over exploitation of their lands and rivers. Under his ‘open door’ policy, the mining sector of the economy expanded rapidly and made huge profits from the record-high world commodity prices and the growing Asian (Chinese) demand for raw materials. The multinational corporations were attracted by Peru’s low corporate taxes and royalty payments and virtually free access to water and cheap government-subsidized electricity rates. The enforcement of environmental regulations was suspended in these ecologically fragile regions, leading to wide-spread contamination of the rivers, ground water, air and soil in the surrounding indigenous communities. Poisons from mining operations led to massive fish kills and rendered the water unfit for drinking. The operations decimated the tropical forests, undermining the livelihood of tens of thousands of villagers engaged in traditional artisan work and subsistence forest gathering and agricultural activities.

The profits of the mining bonanza go primarily to the overseas companies. The García regime distributes state revenues to his supporters among the financial and real estate speculators, luxury goods importers and political cronies in Lima’s enclosed upscale, heavily guarded neighborhoods and exclusive country-clubs. As the profit margins of the multinationals reached an incredible 50% and government revenues exceeded $1 billion US dollars, the indigenous communities lacked paved roads, safe water, basic health services and schools. Worse still, they experienced a rapid deterioration of their everyday lives as the influx of mining capital led to increased prices for basic food and medicine. Even the World Bank in its Annual Report for 2008 and the editors of the Financial Times of London urged the García regime to address the growing discontent and crisis among the indigenous communities. Delegations from the indigenous communities had traveled to Lima to try to establish a dialogue with the President in order to address the degradation of their lands and communities. The delegates were met with closed doors. García maintained that ‘progress and modernity come from the big investments by the multinationals…,(rather than) the poor peasants who haven’t a centavo to invest.’ He interpreted the appeals for peaceful dialogue as a sign of weakness among the indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon and increased his grants of exploitation concessions to foreign MNCs even deeper into the Amazon. He cut off virtually all possibility for dialogue and compromise with the Indian communities.

The Amazonian Indian communities responded by forming the Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP). They held public protests for over 7 weeks culminating in the blocking of two transnational highways. This enraged García, who referred to the protestors as ‘savages and barbarians’ and sent police and military units to suppress the mass action. What García failed to consider was the fact that a significant proportion of indigenous men in these villages had served as rmy conscripts, who fought in the 1995 war against Ecuador while others had been trained in local self-defense community organizations. These combat veterans were not intimidated by state terror and their resistance to the initial police attacks resulted in both police and Indian casualties. García then declared ‘war on the savages’ sending a heavy military force with helicopters and armored troops with orders to ‘shoot to kill’. AIDESEP activists report over one hundred deaths among the indigenous protestors and their families: Indians were murdered in the streets, in their homes and workplaces. The remains of many victims are believed to have been dumped in the ravines and rivers.

Conclusion

The Obama regime has predictably not issued a single word of concern or protest in the face of one of the worst massacres of Peruvian civilians in this decade – perpetrated by one of America’s closest remaining allies in Latin America. García, taking his talking points from the US Ambassador, accused Venezuela and Bolivia of having instigated the Indian ‘uprising’, quoting a letter of support from Bolivia’s President Evo Morales sent to an intercontinental conference of Indian communities held in Lima in May as ‘proof’. Martial law was declared and the entire Amazon region of Peru is being militarized. Meetings are banned and family members are forbidden from searching for their missing relatives.

Throughout Latin America, all the major Indian organizations have expressed their solidarity with the Peruvian indigenous movements. Within Peru, mass social movements, trade unions and human rights groups have organized a general strike on June 11. Fearing the spread of mass protests, El Commercio, the conservative Lima daily, cautioned García to adopt some conciliatory measures to avoid a generalized urban uprising. A one-day truce was declared on June 10, but the Indian organizations refused to end their blockade of the highways unless the García Government rescinds its illegal land grant decrees.

In the meantime, a strange silence hangs over the White House. Our usually garrulous President Obama, so adept at reciting platitudes about diversity and tolerance and praising peace and justice, cannot find a single phrase in his prepared script condemning the massacre of scores of indigenous inhabitants of the Peruvian Amazon. When egregious violations of human rights are committed in Latin America by a US backed client-President following Washington’s formula of ‘free trade’, deregulation of environmental protections and hostility toward anti-imperialist countries (Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador), Obama favors complicity over condemnation.

http://www.countercurrents.org/petras170609.htm

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