The trends cut across ideological divides. Peruvian President Alan Garcia has taken a neoliberal track during the past four years, whereas the president of neighboring Ecuador, Rafael Correa, is a socialist allied with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. But both leaders are facilitating the exploitation of natural resources in or near indigenous territories: At least half of the Peruvian Amazon and more than half of the Ecuadorian Amazon are covered by oil concessions, most of them superimposed on indigenous lands.
Correa has argued that by opposing the expansion of oil extraction and mining, indigenous leaders are condemning their people and compatriots to poverty, a view that has also been expressed by the presidents of Bolivia and Peru. During an address to the nation on July 10, Correa lashed out at CONAIE President Marlon Santi, a Shuar Indian, and claimed that foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were driving native protests. He threatened to expel or shut down any organization that influences indigenous groups or otherwise engages in politics.
Santi rejected Correa's claim that outsiders are behind native protests, saying, "The indigenous movement has been organized for more than 30 years and has been resisting for 500 years."
He explained that most of Ecuador's native communities simply oppose oil production and mining on or near their land. "This is a model that all governments have promoted, and it is a lie, because the riches of our subsoil are taken by the world's economic powers and all that the indigenous people here get is poverty."
Cecilia Cherrez, the president of
Accion Ecologica, an Ecuadorian organization that has joined native groups in opposing laws and projects that threaten the environment, said that Correa's anti-NGO stance is nothing new. In March 2008, the president signed Executive Decree 982, which allows the government to shut down organizations that compromise national interests or security. One year later, the government revoked Accion Ecologica's operating license, only to renew it following national and international condemnation.
In early July, the Peruvian government revoked the residency of British priest Paul McAuley, who heads an environmental group called
Red Ambiental Loretano and works with Amazonian indigenous communities, on the grounds that he has engaged in politics. McAuley, who has lived in Peru for 20 years, is appealing the decision.
Even Bolivian President Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian and champion of indigenous rights, has been embarrassed by a march on the capital by members of the
Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia (CIDOB) in June and July. Morales claimed that NGOs funded by the United States Agency for International Development fomented the march, and repeated his previous threats to throw the agency out of Bolivia.
CIDOB President Adolfo Chavez denied the claim, explaining that indigenous people from Bolivia's Amazon and Chaco regions marched for greater autonomy, territorial integrity, economic support for their community enterprises and respect of their right to informed consent. Government representatives and indigenous leaders signed an agreement addressing those points on July 26, upon which CIDOB ended the march.
According to Edwin Vasquez, a Huitoto Indian who heads the regional
Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the native peoples of the Amazon are struggling to protect their land and resources from destruction that their governments either promote or else fail to stop. He cited an oil spill on Peru's Marañon River by the Argentine company Pluspetrol in June, which contaminated drinking water and fish stocks that dozens of communities depend on.
"This is the development that they bring us, not a development that is equitable for the communities and conserves our resources," he said.
Vasquez explained that indigenous peoples' fundamental demand is for governments and companies to consult their leaders before approving laws or launching projects that will affect them. But governments have been reluctant to negotiate with native leaders, and police have used excessive force against their protests, resulting in the deaths of 10 indigenous protesters in Peru and one in Ecuador last year. Rather than dissuade dissent, however, the violence has served as a rallying point for the indigenous movement.
Peru's congress is considering legislation that mandates the prior consultation of indigenous leaders for projects that will affect their people -- a right protected by the constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador -- but the bill denies those leaders a veto. Like the environmental impact studies that have long been mandatory in the region, companies and government's tend to treat consultation as a formality for projects that have already been approved. But after years in which indigenous rights and environmental concerns took a back seat to development needs, indigenous peoples are increasingly showing that they are willing and able to fight back.
**David Dudenhoefer is a freelance journalist based in Peru, from where he covers much of South America. He has reported on the struggles of various native peoples during the past two decades.
