The Washington Office on Latin America along with 12 other human rights organizations wrote a letter today, June 12, 2009, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requesting that the United States Government take immediate, concrete and public action to help resolve the escalating social and political crisis in Peru.
The Washington Office on Latin America along with 12 other human rights organizations wrote a letter today, June 12, 2009, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requesting that the United States Government take immediate, concrete and public action to help resolve the escalating social and political crisis in Peru. The eruption of violence outside the northern Peruvian town of Bagua on June 5, 2009 represents part of a longer indigenous protest- first launched nearly a year ago and taken up again in the last two months – in which the groups are demanding the repeal of several legislative decrees passed in 2008 under special legislative powers that the Peruvian Congress granted to President Garcia to facilitate the implementation of the U.S.-Peru TPA and promote economic competitiveness for its effective use. The letter asks the U.S. Government to clarify this situation immediately, explaining whether repeal of the contested decrees, or specific provisions in them that are cause for dispute, would jeopardize the U.S.-Peru TPA. The co-signers of this letter also deplore all the deaths and violence, which have affected indigenous people and police officers alike, and have strongly urged all parties to refrain from further violence.
Please click here to read the full letter.
