Peru's Indian groups gain strength, push for change

Peru’s indigenous movement, which was dormant for years, has burst to life and could become a powerful political force like those in Andean neighbors Ecuador and Bolivia.

A coalition of tribes in Peru’s Amazon rain forest led months of blockades that turned into bloody clashes with police and forced Congress to overturn two laws that indigenous leaders said would put ancestral lands in the hands of foreign mining and oil companies.

President Alan Garcia’s cabinet chief, Yehude Simon, said this week he will resign for botching the negotiations with tribes and failing to avert the violence that killed at least 34 people earlier this month.

The political fallout has demonstrated the emerging strength of indigenous political movements in Peru, reinforcing recent gains made by Indian groups across the Andes.

Evo Morales was elected as Bolivia’s first indigenous president in 2006, while Indian protests helped force out two presidents during economic crises a decade ago in Ecuador.

Throughout the region, Indian groups are pushing for greater control over natural resources and a bigger share of their countries’ wealth. Many oppose foreign investment in the mining and energy industries.

“The Peruvian indigenous movement is no longer weaker than others in the Andes,” said Miguel Palacin, general coordinator of CAOI, an Indian rights group active throughout the Andes.

“We have very good organizations here in Peru now, with new groups, and we want to take advantage of this to gain political influence.”

Peru was roiled by a war between the government and the Shining Path insurgency in the 1980s and 1990s. Maoist rebel leaders recruited indigenous people, and other Indians were organized in vigilante squads to fight the guerrillas in a brutal conflict that claimed nearly 70,000 lives.

Indigenous towns and villages were hardest hit and the violence discouraged Indians from venturing beyond their villages to organize nationwide political networks.

Since the end of the war, indigenous groups have put together networks with sophisticated legal, communications and fund-raising teams, often assisted by international aid groups.

To consolidate its position, analysts say Peru’s indigenous movement could organize into a political party, formally align itself with an existing left-wing party, or field more candidates and become a sizeable bloc in Congress.

Estimates of Peru’s indigenous population range between 15 percent and 40 percent, so to grow politically, groups must move beyond an agenda defending the Amazon and forge ties with unions, environmental groups and peasant associations.

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