Putis

Click to enlarge. It's a high-resolution photo and gets big.

Take a good, hard look at what oppression in Latin America means.
It's not water cannon, it's not tear gas in Seattle, it's 123 people
shot to death by their own army and thrown in a mass grave.

A most excellent and moving report on Putis can be found today at Jacqueline Fowks' blog, Notas Desde Lenovo. Today in solemn ceremony, 92 coffins bearing the remains of people massacred by the Peruvian army in 1984 were handed back to locals, 28 of them having been positively identified.

The village name 'Putis' resonates among Peruvians the same way that 'My Lai' does for North Americans; back in December 1984 the Peruvian army rounded up at least 123 Putis villagers and forced them to dig a large pit. Then, as they were suspected of being sympathetic to the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) terrorists they were mown down by gunfire and thrown into the communal grave of their own making. The remains of children as young as one year old were found when the site was excavated last year (photo above).

For an overview on what happened at Putis, the English language wikipedia page does a fair job and it's linked right here. But Fowks' report is far better.

Bagua: Lambs to sacrifice

This note doesn't need much comment from me. Basically the families of the police that died at Bagua are bringing criminal charges against the government officials that sent them in "like lambs to sacrifice" and want them locked up for as much as eight years to teach them a lesson. Y'see, there are smart people who can see through the lies inside the country, too. Read the first part then click through for the rest (and yet again applause for Andrew Whalen of AP, head and shoulders above the normal newswire dross for the umpteenth time).

Relatives of police killed in Peru blame officials

By ANDREW WHALEN (AP) – 6 hours ago

LIMA, Peru — Relatives of police officers killed during a government crackdown on Amazon Indian protesters are seeking criminal charges against Peru's former interior minister and three police chiefs, a lawyer said Thursday.

Ten civilians and 23 policemen were killed June 5 when a small, heavily armed troop of officers cleared a highway blockade where nearly 5,000 Indians were protesting development on their ancestral lands. Another officer is missing and presumed dead, while 200 civilians were wounded, 82 by gunshot, according to Peru's ombudsman's office.

Amnesty International has called the government's investigations into the violence imbalanced, because no police have been implicated or arrested for their roles in the violence. More than 100 Indians are charged with crimes including murder and sedition.

Families of the dead police officers are now questioning the bloodshed as well.

We "are asking for justice and for the trial of those truly responsible on the highest political level," said Flor Montenegro, widow of one of the killed officers, Capt. Miguel Montenegro.

The lawyer for the families, Antonio Salazar, told The Associated Press that he is filing a criminal complaint with the state attorney's office against former Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillas, former national police chief Gen. Jose Sanchez and two regional police chiefs. The families are asking that they be charged with negligence and abuse of authority, crimes that carry up to eight years prison time in Peru.

The government says the Indians instigated the violence. Indian protest leaders say police opened fire on the protesters, who then fought to take guns from the police.

Montenegro said at a news conference that political leaders should have found a peaceful solution to the protests, which began in early April.

"They had more than enough time to resolve it in two months but they did not have the tact or the intelligence," she said.

Rony Garcia, brother of deceased police officer Jose Alberto Guzman, also criticized Peru's leadership for ordering police to confront the Indians. "They sent them like lambs to sacrifice," he said.

CONTINUES HERE

Bagua: Meet one of the terrorists that had to be taught a lesson

This video comes from Peru TV last night. On the show 'Enemigos Intimos' seven year old Leidi Luz tells how she was shot through the chest by national police from a helicopter flying overhead on the day of the Bagua massacre.

The video is in Spanish, but even if you don't speak the language you need to watch it for the images of Leidi's bullet wounds. Here's a translation of what she says, and again you don't need to be fluent in Spanish to see the words below are spoken by a scared little seven year old girl who can't eloquently express what happened even after six weeks have passed:

"I was watching the helicopter....I saw it...I was scared...the bullet hit me here...when it came there was nothing...that's what it seemed like...there was nothing....it came like this....it hit me here.....there was a lot of blood....some of my blood was on a woman...a bit of my blood was on her....I'm scared that they fired...I don't want them to shoot at me...because I don't want to suffer....for my mother..."

OH..YOU MEAN THEY FORGOT TO TELL YOU ABOUT GIRLS BEING SHOT AT FROM HELICOPTERS? OH HOW LAPSE OF YOUR MAINSTREAM MEDIA OUTLET. JUST AMAZING HOW THEY MISSED THAT STORY, ISN'T IT?

VIVA INVESTMENT GRADE. VIVA, VIVA, VIVA.



Update: Thanks to Rendon over at Gran Combo Club (gracias che), here's the video with English subtitles:

Bagua: A must read must see photo reportage

Go to this link to see a photo-reportage of the Bagua massacre put together by two Belgian photographers who eyewitnessed the mayhem. Survival International has arranged the photos in a timeline form with comments by the journalists to accompany each one. Excellent job of work and a must-read on the subject. Here's the link again, just in case.

Hat tip to TO for picking up on this so quickly.

Twobreakfasts comes clean

When Twobreakfasts was just Onebreakfast. The other
dude is Haya de la Torre (for those who know their history)

Gustavo Gorriti is a multiaward-winning journalist in Peru (look up his resumé if you're interested but suffice to say he's one of the most respected around). He came out with a phrase just before the run-off for 2006 presidential election between Twobreakfasts and Ollanta Humala (that Twobreakfasts won, of course). He wasn't proactively calling for people to vote for Alan (better) over Humala (worse) but pointing out Alan was "the least bad" of the two choices. Anyway, this is what he said.

"Alan García could not be a dictator even if he wanted; Ollanta Humala could not be a democrat even if he tried."

That phrase leaped from the recesses of memory last night when at 10pm Twobreakfasts addressed the nation from the presidential palace on TV. No need to do the whole script here, as the essence of the address was García admitting he'd made serious errors in the process that led up to the Bagua massacre and then the errors continued during and afterwards (his exact phrase was "a succession of errors and exaggerations"). He couldn't let the opportunity pass without laying some of the blame on "agitators and politicos" but hey...time to cut the guy some slack.

My view that the guy is an awful president at the head of an even worse administration hasn't changed. For sure his TV address last night was a political calculation, too. But I do salute him for having enough integrity to admit he screwed up live on TV. He did the right thing. It took weeks (nay months) and the blood of 23 police officers and a still-unknown numbers of protestor deaths, but he did do the right thing.

However the loudest cheer is left for the people that stood up to him. All the pressure levied on the guy in the last few days, both from inside and outside Peru, has brought this change from Twobreakfasts be in no doubt. When APRA cranked up the bullyboy tactics via their hideous and overtly racist TV propaganda, right-thinking people pushed right back at him. García would not have changed his tune last night if it weren't for the weight of public opinion. We will now get the annulment of the anti-Amazon, pro-oil company laws that he tried to push through as executive decrees. We will get the resignation of a woefully disappointing Prime Minister in Yehude Simon. And we might even get a Peruvian president that has learned a significant lesson and won't try to ride roughshod over his people again...though looking at track records that may be way too much to ask.

The thing that's on my mind now is "who'll be the next PM?". PPK is probably favourite right now, but upgrades from within the cabinet (Mercedes Araoz, José Chang) are possible too. Another one that came to mind is getting Lourdes Flores, leader of UN, to come in and put an official seal on the right-wing nature of Twobreakfasts version 20.09. We shall wait and we shall see.

Bagua: Peru's government eats crow..YAY

Yehude Simon at today's meeting

Peru's PM Yehude Simon met today with representatives of the Amazon indigenous peoples and, not to put too fine a point on it, told them what they wanted to hear:

• Regarding the infamous Presidential decrees 1064 and 1090 (the so-called 'law of the jungle' that would have allowed the gov't to sell Amazonian land to private companies without consulting locals). Simon said the government would present to Congress a project to overturn and annul the laws.

• The government would lift the State of Emergency decree in the Amazon region.

• A working consultancy group including all people affected would be set up immediately.

• Simon apologized to the indigenous "if they had felt threatened by any action taken by the government."

• At the end of the four hour meeting, the indigenous representatives applauded Simon after his closing remarks.

Look, so far it's word and not deeds, and simply because the executive presents a plan to annul a law it doesn't mean that Congress will go through with the plan, but let's give Simon and the Peru gov't the benefit of the doubt for the moment and regard today as a big step towards a resolution and an enormous climbdown on the part of the Twobreakfasts government. As Churchill said, jaw jaw is better than war war.....a thousand times better, in fact. Here's how Peru state news agency Andina reported the meeting (first couple of paragraphs translated, find the rest here):

The executive subscribed this afternoon to a 12-point act of understanding with native communities of the central jungle, in which it committed to present before Congress before June 18th a proposal to overturn the legaslative decress 1090 and 1064.

After a four hour meeting between Simon and the "Apus" of 390 indigenous communities in the town of San Ramón, they also agreed that the other questioned decrees should be discussed in the National Coordination Group for the Development of Amazonian Peoples that will begin tomorrow.

To begin this Group, representatives will travel to Lima from the central jungle region to join a multisectoral working commission, guaranteeing the participation of AIDESEP and other native groups.

Continues here

Bagua: 61 disappeared indigenous

The established and respected Peruvian rights group APRODEH (La Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos, or The Pro Human Rights Association) has just released a report listing sixty-one people involved in the disturbances at Bagua as disappeared. These people do not appear on the lists of the dead, the arrested, the detained, the hospitalized or the accounted-for and they have not appeared again either locally in or around Bagua or in their home towns or villages since the massacre took place, despite having been positively identified as present at the protest when the police repression began.

• Cover-up? Check
• Burn bodies? Check
• Dump in river? Check
• Media gagging? Check
• Fascist police state? Check
• All in the name of democracy? Check

Wowsers: Rosemary gets the Bagua Peru story right

Credit where due; Simon Romero has actually filed a report that tells people what's really going on this time. He kinda reminds me of the Ancient Mariner (he naileth one in three), but no complaints and a round of applause deserved; tomorrow morning readers of the NYT will have a good grasp of the situation in Peru thanks to the below (here's the first part, click through to read it all):

IQUITOS, Peru — Faced with a simmering crisis over dozens of deaths in the quelling of indigenous protests last week, Peru’s Congress this week suspended the decrees that had set off the protests over plans to open large parts of the Peruvian Amazon to investment. Senior officials said they hoped this would calm nerves and ease the way for oil drillers and loggers to pursue their projects.

But instead, indigenous groups are digging in for a protracted fight, revealing an increasingly well-organized movement that could be a tinderbox for President Alan García. The movement appears to be fueled by a deep popular resistance to the government’s policies, which focused on luring foreign investment, while parts of the Peruvian Amazon have been left behind.

The broadening influence of the indigenous movement was on display Thursday in a general strike that drew thousands of protesters here to the streets of Iquitos, the largest Peruvian city in the Amazon, and to cities and towns elsewhere in jungle areas. Protests over Mr. García’s handling of the violence in the northern Bagua Province last Friday also took place in highland regions like Puno, near the Bolivian border, and in Lima and Arequipa on the Pacific coast.

“The government made the situation worse with its condescending depiction of us as gangs of savages in the forest,” said Wagner Musoline Acho, 24, an Awajún Indian and an indigenous leader. “They think we can be tricked by a maneuver like suspending a couple of decrees for a few weeks and then reintroducing them, and they are wrong.”

continues here

Bagua: "(The police) answered that they had orders to kill us"

Photo of the three interviewed indigenous
(stolen shamelessly from La Republica)

This report in Peru's La Republica gives more insight into what happened on the morning of the 5th at 'Curva de Diablo, Bagua. The reporter interviews three of the indigenous protestors injured in the attack. Note that these are not the ignorant, savage, second -lass citizens that Twobreakfasts wants to spin but ex-members of Peru's armed forces. These witnesses are, in my view at least, eloquent, reasonable and sane. They're also eyewitnesses to blatant violations of human rights.

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Natives and Police agreed to talks at 10am, but at 6am the police attacked

María Elena Hidalgo, special envoy in Bagua

Three indigenous that served in the Peruvian army are interned in the Hospital Gustavo Lanatta Luján, en Bagua Chica. The honorably discharged soldiers were attacked by police when they protested for the lands.

Roger Petsa Najamtai, 30, from the community of Santiago in the district of Belén, went to the site of the strike via boat along with 29 other members of his community.

"The day before the attack we talked with the Police General Víctor Uribe to make it clear that the problem was not with the police but with the government", explaind Petsa. "The police told us that there was no problem with us and that the next day at 10am we would continue talks. But at 6am the police started the attack on us including from a helicopter that fired bullets like rain. The police shot us directly in the body. I saw how my colleagues fell while I started running for cover. Two bullets hit me and I fell. I got out on a motorbike, helped by a friend. The police shot at the motorbike but I managed to get to the hospital".

Roger Petsa Najamtai, 22, is from the community of Iracuza in the district of Nieva. He joined the protest to represent his townspeople.

"We were in a peaceful protest and talking constantly with the police in order to avoid problems. It's true that we blocked the road but we allowed passengers to cross by foot witout any problem" explained Ukuncham. "On Friday at 6am around 1,000 police approached us and started to clear the road by shooting. We only had lances and sticks but they started shooting at our bodies. I didn't understand why they were shooting at me as I was also a Peruvian and the only thing we were doing was to protest for our lands. As I am an ex-soldier with honourable discharge I approached (the police) to ask them the motive and they answered that they had orders to kill us, then I was hit by two bullets in the arm."

Paul was one of the first to be evacuated from the zone and taken to hospital. The version of the indigenous is completely different to the official story of the events.

Camped in Bagua for one month
"We travelled from my community for one week to be part of the strike and the calim our rights in a peaceful way" said Paulo Bitap López, native of the Shushug community in the district of Chiriaco who travelled along with 70 other natives to Bagua Chica. They were there for a month. "No NGO gave us food. The families in the zone helped us with food for a month" he said.

"No politician has manipulated us. The indigenous people has its own worldview and part of that is the defence of land and water. When the police started to shoot, I asked my friends who are also honourably discharged members of the army to go and talk. But when we approached they shot us. They injured me and took my friends away." Paulo Bitap was hit by a bullet in his left shoulder.

Bagua: Good primer style note from Reuters

This link takes you to a good English language note from Reuters that lays out the basic issues of the Bagua massacre, what led up to it and the current situation in a fair, evenhanded way.

Recommended for those of you who don't want to spend your life on the subject but do want a good handle on what it's all about. Nice reporting, Marcos Aquino. Here's the link again, so there's no excuse not to link through.

UPDATE: Great job done by site friend UnTalLucas at his blog. He took photos of the "spontaneous" protest in front of the Nica Embassy today that has been getting media coverage. Jeesh, talk about rent-a-crowd...I love the one of the police officers leaning on their shields and looking bored to death. Go see for yourself.

Eyewitness Reports Accuse Peruvian Police of Disposing the Bodies of Dead Indigenous Protesters

The treehuggers at Amazon Watch released the following PR yesterday, telling of how indigenous with spears with pre-emptively attacked by police with automatic weapons and how bodies of locals were dumped (burned or thrown into communal graves or the Manañon river) so that the "official" body count could be kept low.

THESE ARE VERY SERIOUS ACCUSATIONS and now that bodies are being found heaped together at points along the Marañon river and in a common grave at El Reposo nearby there's hard evidence to suggest that these things have taken place. The Peru government needs to do much more than just say "well, we didn't do that, so there" to answer these grave charges.

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In the U.S.: Nick Magel 1-419-283-2728 nick@amazonwatch.org
In Peru: Gregor MacLennan + 511 - 993 916-389

Eyewitness Reports Accuse Peruvian Police of Disposing the Bodies of Dead Indigenous Protesters

Garcia Government Makes Troubling Racial Slurs and Fear-mongering

Indigenous Leaders and Allies Call for an End to Violence on All Sides

High Resolution Images and B-ROll from June 5th Bagua, Peru Tragedy Available for Download


Bagua, Peru (June 8, 2009) – In the aftermath of Friday's bloody raid on a peaceful indigenous road blockade near Bagua in the Peruvian Amazon, numerous eyewitnesses are reporting that the Special Forces of the Peruvian Police have been disposing of the bodies of indigenous protesters who were killed.

"Today I spoke to many eyewitnesses in Bagua reporting that they saw police throw the bodies of the dead into the Marañon River from a helicopter in an apparent attempt by the Government to underreport the number of indigenous people killed by police," said Gregor MacLennan, spokesperson for Amazon Watch.

"Hospital workers in Bagua Chica and Bagua Grande corroborated that the police took bodies of the dead from their premises to an undisclosed location. I spoke to several people who reported that there are bodies lying at the bottom of a deep crevasse up in the hills, about 2 kilometers from the incident site. When the Church and local leaders went to investigate, the police stopped them from approaching the area," reported MacLennan.

Police and government officials have been consistently underreporting the number of indigenous people killed by police gunfire. Indigenous organizations place the number of protesters killed at least at 40, while Government officials claiming that only a handful of indigenous people were killed. Also the Garcia Government claims that 22 police officers were killed and several still missing.

"Witnesses say that it was the police who opened fire last Friday on the protesters from helicopters," MacLennan said. "Now the government appears to be destroying the bodies of slain protesters and giving very low estimates of the casualty. Given that the demonstrators were unarmed or carrying only wooden spears and the police were firing automatic weapons, the actual number of indigenous people killed is likely to be much higher."

"Another eyewitness reported seeing the bodies of five indigenous people that had been burned beyond identification at the morgue. I have listened to testimony of people in tears talking about witnessing the police burning bodies," continued MacLennan.

At least 150 people from the demonstration on Friday are still being detained. Eye-witness reports also confirm that police forcibly removed some of the wounded indigenous protesters from hospitals, taking them to unknown destinations. Their families expressed concern for their well being while in detention. There are many people still reported missing and access to medical attention in the region is horribly inadequate.

The Organizing Committee for the Indigenous Peoples of Alto Amazonas Province issued this statement: "It is appalling that political powers have acted in such a cruel and inhuman manner against Amazonian Peoples, failing to recognize the fundamental rights and protections guaranteed to us by the Constitution. We express deep grief over the death of our indigenous brothers, of civilians and the officers of the National Police."

The government expanded the State of Emergency and established a curfew on all traffic in the region from 3 pm to 6 am. Indigenous and international human rights organizations are worried about plans of another National Police raid on a blockade in Yurimaguas close to the town of Tarapoto where thousands are blocking a road.

President Alan Garcia is being widely criticized for fomenting a climate of fear mongering against indigenous peoples by drawing parallels to the brutal Shinning Path guerrilla movement of the 1980s and early 1990s, and by vaguely referring to external and anti-democratic threats to the country.

The Amazonian indigenous peoples' mobilizations have been peaceful, locally coordinated, and extremely well organized for nearly two months. Yet Garcia insists on calling them terrorist acts and anti-democratic. Garcia has even gone so far as to describe the indigenous mobilizations as "savage and barbaric." Garcia has made his discrimination explicit, saying directly that the Amazonian indigenous people are not first-class citizens.

"These people don't have crowns," Garcia said about the protesters. "These people aren't first-class citizens who can say – 400,000 natives to 28 million Peruvians – 'You don't have the right to be here.' No way. That is a huge error."

Ironically, Peru was the country that introduced the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the floor of the General Assembly when it was adopted in September 2007.
A coalition of indigenous and human rights organizations will protest in front of the Peruvian Embassy in Washington D.C. on Monday, June 8 at 12:30 pm.

Indigenous peoples have vowed to continue protests until the Peruvian Congress revokes the "free trade" decrees issued by President Garcia under special powers granted by Congress in the context of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

Among the outpouring of statements condemning the violence in Peru were those from Peru's Ombudsman's office, the chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, a coalition of 45 international human rights organizations, Indigenous organizations from throughout the Americas, and the Conference of Bishops of Peru. Also famous personalities including Q'orianka Kilcher, Benjamin Bratt, Peter Bratt, and Daryl Hannah and Bianca Jagger called on the Peruvian Government to cease the violence and seek peaceful resolution to the conflict.

AIDESEP, the national indigenous organization of Peru has called for a nationwide general strike starting June 11th.

Amazon Watch is continually updating photographs, audio testimony, and video footage from Bagua on www.amazonwatch.org.

Bagua: Indigenous leader Alberto Pizango gets refuge in the Nicaraguan Embassy in Lima

News from BaguaFalloutVille is that Alberto Pizango, the indigenous leader with an arrest warrant on his tush and a possible 35 year jail sentence when (not if...this is fascism in Peru now, not democrcy) he's convicted has decided to get refuge amongst the Axis of Evo's weakest link, Nicaragua. He's now hanging in the Nica Embassy in Lima. Pizango picked a nice spot, in fact. The embassy is right next to San Isidro golf course, so maybe he can slip out for a round or two while nobody is watching.

Or maybe not.

Anyway, if you feel like contacting Ortega's pals in Peru (journalists or wingnuts....those categories are not mutually exclusive, of course) here are the contact details:

Dirección:	Avenida Alvarez Calderón No. 738, San Isidro-Lima-27, Perú
	E-Mail:	tgomez@cancilleria.gob.ni
	Teléfonos:	(00511) 422-3892
	Fax:	(00511) 422-3895
	Apartado Postal :
	Horario de Atención :	De lunes a viernes de 8:30 a.m. a 1:00 p.m./ 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
	Concurrencia:	República de Bolivia
	Representaciones :

Listado de Funcionarios

Nombres	Apellidos	Cargo	E-Mail	Teléfono
Tomás Wigberto	Borge Martínez	Embajador/a	tborge@cancilleria.gob.ni
Tasha Julia	Del Pozo Gómez Silva	Primer Secretario	tgomez@cancilleria.gob.ni
Marisol Magali	Olcese Balabarca	Responsable Administrativa	molcese@cancilleria.gob.ni
Emma Rosa	Lopez Saavedra	Secretario/a	elopez@cancilleria.gob.ni

I happen to think the name Wigberto is wonderful and deserves to be in a Dilbert cartoon or something. Anyway, back to the story and of course the roused Peruvian racist scum rabble are now up in arms about the Axis of Evo and how Chávez is out to destabilize Peru and all sorts of other things connected with Nica. Poor old Nica...can never seem to catch a break that country...

Oh, another thing. Prime Minister Yehude Simon (who has turned out to be a wanker, not just a toady disappointment) says he feels sorry for the deaths in Bagua....of the police officers. The reported 89 (yeah, eighty-nine) missing indigenous aren't going to make him lose sleep. The asshole. Treehugger NGO Amazon Watch has formally accused the Peruvian police of disappearing bodies, as well.

Final snippet: The Amazonian indigenous have decided to go on indefinite strike as of Thursday 11th June. Could be a lot of fun..........

Peru police use snipers to kill in Bagua

From the Peru blog elMorsa:

No commentary necessary, really. And you guys up there think that Chávez is the thug. Madness.

Here's another photo from Peru blog Utero



Dead civilian shot in the back (also Utero):


Plenty of photos of the mayhem here

As for jawdroppingly racist, fascist and arrogant quote of the day, that goes to Alan García.

"They (Amazon indigenous) are not first class citizens."

RESIGN YOU MOTHERFUCKER

Here's a good blog "Bagua Peru", with the blogger updating regularly today on everything that's been happening. Here's a snippet from one of the posts:

"Also, it's been noted that police in the Curva del Diablo sector have started using special bags to retrieve human remains (i.e. bodies) and it is feared that they will be disappeared to bring down the bodycount."

Still liking this "investment grade" Peru of yours, gringo?

Burning the evidence
The post from Red Ucuyali is the necessary translation below. Seems like Twobreakfasts has learned some tricks from Uribe; burn the bodies and say "hey...wasn't that bad y'know"

Feliz Calva Guerrero, reporter for Radio Marañón, says he has seen various dead people with bullet wounds and/or savagely beaten ('massacred' was the term he used) and that the police were burning the bodies.

Marijke Deleu, a Belgian volunteer who has been a supporter of the indigenous strike action since last month, has said that she was in the area called 'El Reposo' when the police offensive began. She said that they started to bomb the protestors from the air and those surrounding them opened fire with machine guns. She said "there was nowhere to run". At 5pm she went back to the El Reposo zone where she saw the bodies of five indigenous. All were very young. One had been shot in the mouth. The police were looking in the surrounding hillsides for more bodies. Up to that moment no fiscal had been to the scene. She has heard from other people that the police are taking the bodies to the El Milagro army barracks to burn them.

Here's some shaky footage from Peru TV tonight of the images being shown on the news shows.


FULL BAGUA PERU COVERAGE AND UPDATES HERE

The Unasur commission into the Pando Massacre has started to make its findings known

Leopoldo Fernandez is the Pando prefect now under arrest awaiting trial. Note the two overriding colours
of his Bolivian supporters; white (skin) and green (separatist flag)

Rodolfo Mattarollo is the Argentine lawyer who headed up the Unasur fact-finding commission in Pando, charged with investigating what exactly happened on September 11th this year (sidebar..what is it with that date?).

Here's the link to a report by Argentina's Pagina 12 newspaper about the advance presentation Mattarollo made to dignitaries yesterday. I've translated the first part below, but quite honestly I don't feel like translating any more. Read for yourself and find why. You can always run the link through Google translator if you Spanish isn't up to scratch and you want to read the whole article.

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The ex-president of the Bolivian senate, opposition politician José Villavicencio, walked past the camera shouting, "If Evo wants blood, he'll have blood." Meanwhile in the background a mob ran towards a group of indigenous people. The images pass as if in a documentary, while the auditorium in the Argentina Chancellory watches in absolute silence. An indigenous woman tells of the Pando massacre looking directly into the camera.

With tears in her eyes, she remembered how a group of "men from the city" burned alive one of her colleagues last September 11th. Next to the burned body, the woman's baby was crying hysterically, she narrated. Enboldened by the wails and discontrol, they picked the baby up by the legs and shook it and, as it wouldn't stop crying, shot it in the head.

continues here

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Meanwhile, check out the racist taunts that indigenous Bolivians suffered in Washingtion DC this week in this post at Down South. These racist scum are the people that the WaPo innocently calls "opposition activists". What you just read above is the type of action they support.

Murder, rape, police brutality: Pando in Bolivia is still in the grip of fascists

This is the link to the English language report from Ukhampacha Bolivia. It fills me with disgust to see the way that both Bolivian national media and the wider international press corps ignore this story and try to bury it behind political ambitions.

Real people, real suffering, real fascism, real violence, real rapes, real murders. Where are you, Simon Romero? Where are you Andres Oppenheimer? Where are you, Jackson Diehl? How does this story not qualify as "Fit To Print", NYT?

Read the link. Click it and read it.

Peru: The country of extrajudicial killings and media silencing they don't tell you about

"What? Peru's army goes around shooting innocent people? What? Peru closes down opposition radio stations? Isn't that supposed to be the hated Chávez and Venezuela? I thought that Peru was our friend and a true democracy?"

Dear friend (probably) sitting up North, prepare to be confused by the truth. What follows under the line is my translation of this quite magnificent post at Susana Villarán's blog today called "When Impunity Reigns" (Spanish language). With all the financial woes going on right now, it's easy (for me at least) to get immersed in the world of stocks and bonds. But this blog is also about LatAm political and social issues and what follows is about as important as it gets.

Peru cannot be allowed to slip back into a state of military terror and authoritarian dictates. Neither from insurgent terrorist groups nor its government who (although Peruvians still have a hard time in admitting it) were also responsible for thousands of extrajudicial murders not so very long ago. Although it's a long post that follows, please take time out and read. Otto

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From El Blog de Susana Villarán

What happens in our regions and provinces doesn't make headlines. The efforts of websites and alternative forms of communication allows us to know what happens at first hand. In this post I want to highlight two acts that should make all Peruvians react:

• The executions and disappearances under the guise of a military operation against Sendero in VRAE (Ottonote; the Shining Path terrorist organization operating in VRAE, the coca/cocaine producing region of Peru) on September 14th which has been shrouded in disinformation by the Ministry of Defence to avoid punishment. Reports of the killings have been made from the zone by human rights organizations such as 'Paz y Esperanza' (in English, "Peace and Hope") via its base in Ayacocho, and APRODEH (Ottonote: Peruvian human rights group). These disappearances and extrajudicial killings must be investigated and their authors severely sanctioned.

• The other issue concerns the closure of Radio Mercurio Huancavelica, a radio station that serves the people of the Huancavelica region and its demands. A few days ago I was told about the threats from the Ministry of Transport and Communication to close 'Radio Uno' in Tacna (South Peru), a station with by far the highest audience ratings in its region and a station that we should feel proud about for its unstoppable fight for people's rights and its excellent information. Does it bother Mrs Aljovín, close ally of Minister Zavala, that Radio Uno easily beats RPP's audience in Tacna?

But its not just Radio Mercurio and Radio Uno: Radio Marañon is also under threat. Father Francisco Muguiro, director of this radio station in the North of the country, has recently been accused by police of inciting indigenous rebellion.

We defend freedom of speech and stand up to be counted against those who wish to silence the voice of the people. Regional, local and community radios are open spaces for public and organizations, and are being clamped down upon by the authorities.

From the INFOREGION network:
Huamanga - Ayacucho (6 October 2008 - 18:09)

The Dead were Not Terrorists; They were Locals that Disappeared After the VRAE Military Incursion

This morning, after waiting several hours, the families of the campesinos (Ottonote: rural dwellers. Literally 'peasants', but the Spanish word does not carry the stigma of the direct translation) that disappeared on September 14th at the annex to Rio Seco, located 1km from the village of Mayobamba, were finally allowed to identify the four bodies recently brought from VRAE and which had been in the installations of the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Minister of Public.

Family members and their lawyers, along with the member of parliament for Ayacucho Elizabeth León Minaya, entered the installations of the Huamanga Institute of Legal Medicine to begin the indentification process of the dead who had been labeled as terrorists in an offical Defence Ministry communique.

Outside the building, Frank Canchanya Rimachi, brother of José Félix Canchaya Rimachi emotionally said that he had indentified his brother even though the body showed signs of decomposure. He asked for human rights organizations to speak out and demanded severe sanctions for those responsible.

Another family member that went into the building was Marcelino Pichardo, who identified his son Maximiliano, his daughter-in-law who was five months pregnant and his young son Alejandro.

The Victims Were from the Village Defence Committee

Alexis Avilés, lawyer of the families, stated that "humble people have been assassinated and they have tried to cover up the crime. First they denied their existence and later they accused them of being terrorists."

The lawyer said that fortunately they could prove the victims' identity, who were mainly members of the Autodefence Committe of Mayobamba, "a fact that proves false any association with terrorist groups."

The mortal remains that were identified belonged to Maximiliano Pichardo Fernández, vicepresident of the Autodefence Committe of Mayobamba, his wife Rosa Chávez, 22 and five months pregnant, José Félix Canchanya Rimachi, husband of Lucy Pichardo, the woman who reported the attack in Huanta, and Alejandro Pichardo Fernández, just 16 years old.

Up to now Moisés Pichardo Pariona and Rosalinda Pichardo Chávez, just one year old, are still missing. To accelerate the investigations, Public Ministry authorities have asked for the use of X-ray equipment.

Huamanga - Ayacucho, 6 October 2008 The Mayobamba Dead Received Weapons from the Army the Help Fight Against Terrorism. Documents Prove that the Missing People in VRAE were Members of the Autodefence Committee

Family members and lawyers showed a community agreement that demostrates that the people who disappeared during the VRAE military operations against terrorism were members of the Autodefence Committee of Mayobamba and had been recognized as such by the army, an entity that had given various weapons to the group to help fight against the remnants of Sendero Luminoso.

This confirms the existence of the people and proves they they not part of any terrorist group. On September 14th, according to testimoies from locals at the Rio Seco annex, approximately 125 were at the National Pavilion when about shots and explosions were heard coming from one kilometre away.

Immediately members of the Autodefence Committee of Mayobamba sent their leader Carlos Gutarra Ayala to find out what had happened. However he was detained by army troops and tortured.

Gutarra Ayala was released several hours later and found by locals in the community of Jésus María with evident signs of mistreatment. Because of this, dozens of Mayobamba locals decided to leave their land and go to other communities in VRAE.

According to the head of the Myobamba locals, the following people are still missing: José Félix Canchanya Rimachi, Maximiliano Pichardo Fernández, Moisés Pichardo Pariona, Alejandro Pichardo Fernández, Rosalinda Pichardo Chávez y Rosa Chávez, 22 years old and five months pregnant.

The multisectoral committee visited the zone

Last weekend representatives of public institutions traveled to VRAE to investigate the occurances. The Commission for Peace and Development of Ayacucho, representatives of PRONAA and FONCODES were part of the group along with lawyers and human rights defence organizations such as the Peace and Hope Association and APRODEH.

This working party collected testimonies and confirmed that the army troops violated human rights. Alexis Avilés, one of the defence lawyers of local woman Lucy Pichardo Fernández who managed to survive the armed forces attack, stated that there was sufficient evidence to demonstrate presumed forced disappearances, as there are testimonial declarations from a person who was witness to the occurances.

"General EP Raymundo Flores has admitted the existence of a military operaton in the zone by orders of his command and we therefore request that the State hand over the bodies of the people still missing", he said.

In Huancavelica, the Closure of Radio Mercurio

Press Release

Faced with the arbitrary intervention and confiscation of the transmission equipment of Radio "Majestad SAC" by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the city of Lima, Fiscal for the Prevention of Crimes and the Peruvian National Police last Tuesday September 30th 2008, the following needs to be said:

First: That freedom of expression and freedom of the press are inalienable rights recognized by the Political Constitution of Peru, the Convention of Human Rights and other national and international laws, as well as their full use in any form such as free opinion, reporting of injustice and irregularities, the demand for change etc. They also constitute a basic element for a country's democratic life.

Second: Part of the work of the Centre for Andean Development (SISAY) is the strengthening of citizens' organizations in Huancavelica, allowing room to govern and promoting the exercise, defence and compliance of respective human rights. Therefore the radio programs directed by our institution as well as other organizations (Frente de Defensa de Huancavelica, Bio Ritmo Periodismo Escolar directed by the student of the Francisca Diez Canseco College in Castilla, amongst others) have been using this to report the actions of regional governors and reporting irregularies including the control in the use of natural resources, which has obviously become a problem to the current authorities.

Third: Because of this it is easy to deduce that said authorities have asked the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the city of Lima to interrupt this station's broadcasts under the pretext that it is a "pirate" radio station with the name "Maxima", that is to say without licence to operate. This is not true, as the radio station was broadcasting at frequency 95.5FM under the name Radio Majestad, something that can be verified by the authors of the intervention, and that this frequency and radio station is correctly authorized via a contractual agreement. Therefore the station is clearly compliant with the law.

Fourth: Accordingly, the behaviour of the functionaries of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lima is both abusive and arbitrary, because even though they had a resolution with the authorization of closure, this was against Radio Máxima and not against Radio Mercurio that at the time of closure was broadcasting at frequency 95.5FM; respective legal action will therefore proceed.

Fifth: The right to free speech is generally violated in dictatorial and oppressive states, and in the present context we have been witness to an APRA government that has used this mechanism to silence the voice of the people. Apparently the regional government are supporting these acts in order to be able to govern without any type of opposition or accountability from social organizations.

BECAUSE OF THESE CONSIDERATIONS

1. We reject the arbitrary acts of the funactionaries of the Ministry of Transport and Communication
2. We reject the non-transparent attitude of local authorities.
3. We reaffirm our service to organizations and the people by broadcasting true and objective information in our information spaces

Down with Authoritarianism! Long Live Freedom of Speech!
For a free and independent press

Bolivia: A video showing the Pando massacre

Yes, I know what I wrote last night about 'last in the line'. but this is important.

This six and a half minute video is not pretty viewing, but it is necessary. Do not click to watch if raw footage of fascists killing defenceless indigenous people upsets you.

On the other hand, yes, you should click to watch this. You should be upset. Personally, I am spitting knives here.

Thank you JDS for passing this video on to incakola this morning.

Bolivia: Possibly up to 70 deaths in the Pando Massacre

Four of many bodies in Pando

The Blog Machetera does a fine job in translating hot-off-the-press news from Bolivia. Go visit for the full story, but here are two snippets:

According to constituent Veimar Becerra, the figure could be higher. “According to my calculations, I who am familiar with the place, there are around 70 dead,”

“It’s not a movie, it’s the truth: there were children, women, we don’t know how many were killed, the attack, the ambush began at 10 and went on until 5 in the afternoon. I got away because I hid in the bushes,” a survivor of the Porvenir massacre told the Erbol Network.

Two other bodies.

Locals say that paramilitaries attached to the Prefecture of autonomist rebel prefect Leopoldo Fernández were responsible for the attack using sub-machine guns. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Fernández. Otto reminds viewers at this point that Pando actually voted in favour of Evo Morales in the August 10th recall election vote. All the numbers available here.

UPDATE: Machetera deserves kudos for the fine work she's doing tonight. The site now translates another Bolivia media report of 106 people missing after the Pando massacre. Linked here.