MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Leader of Peruvian Indian protests takes refuge in Nicaraguan embassy

Pizango is accused of sedition but government admits having committed “errors”

The wanted leader of protesting the Peruvian Amazon region Indians has been granted diplomatic asylum at the Nicaraguan embassy and is waiting for a safe conduct announced Monday Prime Minister Yehude Simon in a presentation to members of Congress.

Alberto Pizango is accused of sedition, conspiracy and rebellion, after two days clashes in the north of the country with security forces left more than 50 dead including 24 policemen.

A curfew has now been imposed and the area in under control of the Peruvian Army.

Pizango, who was in the capital Lima when the violence in the city of Bagua broke out, spoke to reporters on Friday and accused President Alan Garcia of “genocide” and for “perpetuating the worst slaughter of our people in the last 20 years”.

Indigenous people object to government plans to open up what they consider their ancestral lands to logging and oil and minerals’ exploration.

President Alan Garcia has accused the protesters of “barbarity” and said “foreign forces” were also involved.

The violence erupted on Friday after 2.500 Indians, many of them carrying spears and machetes, protested over the drilling plans. Riots ensued after about 400 riot police tried to clear a roadblock, near the town of Bagua Grande, 1.400km north of the capital Lima.

Dozens of police officers were taken hostage, and nine were reportedly killed by protesters as the Army moved in on Saturday to restore order.

Meantime indigenous groups and regional authorities announced they had reached an agreement for the temporary clearance of blockades on vital highways of the area.

The ombudsman from the San Martin county Ausberto Tamay said that on Tuesday the route will be opened two hours on each direction to clear traffic that has been accumulating for days.

This will be followed by a round of talks to end with the protest that is causing serious food and energy shortages in the region.

The route has been blocked as part of the general strike and mobilization declared by the indigenous groups of the Amazon region since April 9 to protest the approval of legislation opening land to oil exploration.

Indigenous groups claim they were never consulted about the consequences of the legislation which ignore their rights and privilege multinational corporations. The Catholic Church has sided with them.

From Peru President Garcia has stated that the country’s resources belong to all Peruvians and they must be developed to better the lives of its peoples.

But Prime Minister Simon addressing members of congress also admitted “errors” in handling the situation

“The government has been unable to communicate directly with the communities; it believed that good actions or good wishes of progress and development in the Amazon region could be done from the capital without contacting as should have been”, said Simon.