ANALYSIS - Peru Amazon conflict exposes rift over economic policy (Reuters)

[struggle4progress]

Tue Jun 9, 2009 11:36am EDT

By Marco Aquino

BAGUA GRANDE, Peru, June 9 (Reuters) - ... "We live in misery while others come in and take our natural resources and we don't get anything in return," said Sirilo Awachi, a 42-year-old farmer who lives near the poor Amazon town of Bagua Grande.

Brandishing homemade wooden spears and wearing red face paint, thousands of demonstrators battled police to demand that the government repeal new laws that open up Peru's Amazon region to foreign mining and energy companies ...

The Amazon area is Peru's most underdeveloped region, where Indians tend to their own crops living in wooden shacks with no access to running water or electricity ...

"In Peru, the jungle has always been seen as a source to be raided for timber, oil and gas. It's never been seriously considered a territory where people actually live," he said, adding that the neglect has hardened Indian groups now building political movements ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN09374943