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Take Action on Legal Charges Against the Achuar
2006-11-26
For more information: Mitchell Anderson
415-487-9600
mitch(at)amazonwatch.org
Dear Friends,
The Achuar of Peru need your help once again. Even as they celebrate October’s historic agreement with the Peruvian government and Argentine company Pluspetrol, the Achuar leadership, their legal counsel and the President of AIDESEP (Peru’s national indigenous Amazonian federation) now face what amounts to criminal charges arising out of their peaceful protest against the devastating toxic contamination of their lands. The charges, filed by Pluspetrol, allege “coertion, criminal trespassing, aggravated kidnapping, and assault against public security.” These charges are disconcerting given the peaceful nature of the protest and the abundant evidence on the vulnerable health status of the Achuar people in Corrientes and the profound oil contamination of their territories. If the charges are allowed to stand, they would set a disturbing precedent against the right to peaceful protest in Peru.
The charges also cloud the landmark October 23rd agreement. Reached after 14 days of the Achuar peacefully blockading oil facilities in northern Peru, it effectively ends 35 years of dumping more than one million barrels per day of toxic waste from the drilling process into rivers and streams (the first 30 years by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum, the last five years by Argetina's Pluspetrol). The agreement also secures much-needed health and social services for the affected communities and formally acknowledges a unilateral declaration by the Achuar in opposing new oil concessions on their territories. It has been viewed as a major victory for the Amazon and the result of the courageous and dignified stand taken by the Achuar. We greatly appreciate your action letters to President Alan García in support of the Achuar.
Please take the time once more to write President García to urge him to stop these intimidation tactics against the Achaur leadership and their legal counsel.
You can use or adapt the letter below and e-mail, fax or post it to the President’s office:
E-mail: mcunza@presidencia.gob.pe
Fax: 011.51.1.311.3940
*Please also copy your letter to both the Peruvian and Argentine embassies in Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Felipe Ortiz de Zevallos
Peruvian Embassy, Washington D.C.
fortiz@embassyofperu.us
Fax: (202) 659-8124
Ambassador José Octavio Bordón
Argentine Embassy, Washington D.C.
bordon@embassyofargentina.us
Fax: (202) 659-8124
Thank you for your solidarity and support,
The Amazon Watch Team
~~~~~
December 1, 2006
His Excellency
President Alan García
Calle Palacio de Gobierno
Plaza mayor, Cercado de Lima
Lima, PERU
Dear President García:
I write to you to respectfully request that your government review the criminal charges lodged against the leaders of FECONACO and its legal counsel following October’s peaceful blockade of oil facilities in the northern Peruvian Amazon. The Achuar people were driven to protest as a result of the well-documented oil contamination of their ancestral lands and the ensuing public health crisis that now exists in their communities. The Achuar’s demands have been widely viewed as entirely reasonable and at no stage did they use or threaten violence. Allowing a criminal prosecution against them would, I believe, set a damaging precedent against the right to peaceful protest in Peru and send out the wrong signals regarding your administration’s committment to democracy. Again, I respectfully urge your government to communicate its concerns regarding these charges to Pluspetrol, the company that filed them.
Sincerely,
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