Peru’s attack on the indigenous

AS PERU lifts regulations on oil drilling, mining and logging to fulfill its new obligations under the Peru-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the nation's president, Alan Garcia has promised progress for the country.

If anything, though, history seems to be repeating itself.

Vocal in their opposition to the neoliberal reforms which were crafted without their consultation, indigenous Peruvians have rocked the country in recent months. Cutting off oil pipelines, blockading roads and scuffling with police, native Amazonians have made it clear that they will not permit foreign investment on their land. These calls were perhaps heard most loudly last week when 30 natives and 25 police officers were killed in the worst fighting the country has seen in a decade.

Terrorized by government troops and facing the prospect of environmental ruin at the hands of foreign companies, the tribes that have opposed investment have nevertheless been branded as "backward," "naïve" and "ignorant" by their president. Echoing previous outsiders who go searching for treasure on native land, the business community, in Peru and abroad, claims to know what is best for the Amazon.

What's more, they've accused foreign powers of promoting unrest (we are to assume, though, that international energy companies mingling in the affairs of the government is somehow different and more democratic).

While heralding a new age of prosperity, neoliberalism is really ushering in another wave of colonialism in places like Peru's Amazon. Acting with complete disregard for the opinions of the tribes and cultures which have inhabited the region for thousands of years, and with little concern for the environment which sustains them, foreign investors are treading in the footsteps of other high-minded outsiders who were more than willing to spill blood to bring "civilization" to indigenous peoples--whether they want it or not.
Andrew Oxford, San Antonio, Texas