Peru’s government suspended some civil rights on Monday in remote jungle regions where Indian groups are blocking highways and oil and gas installations to protest a law that makes it easier to sell their lands.
The 30-day decree published in the official gazette suspends rights to public gatherings and free transit in three northern provinces.
It follows nine days of protests by members of 65 Indian tribes and a clash on Saturday in northern Peru between police and hundreds of spear-carrying Indians with painted faces. Lima newspaper El Comercio reported eight officers and four protesters were injured, but police declined to give details.
Peruvian Environment Minister Antonio Brack said protesters have closed a bridge and highway “and threatened to cut the supply of oil via the oil pipeline and gas through the Camisea gas pipeline.”
“The government of Peru cannot permit it,” Brack said.
Alberto Pizango, president of an Indian rights group speaking for the protesters, warned the government to be “very careful” as it attempts to bring order to the affected regions.
“This is not an ordinary or everyday demonstration,” Pizango told reporters. “The Indians have told us they are not afraid. If the government declares a state of emergency they prefer to die there and show that this government violates human rights.”
The protests began when the Indians blocked an important natural gas installation and oil pipeline in northern Peru. The Camisea natural gas installation is operated by a consortium led by Pluspetrol Peru Corp. The northeastern oil pipeline is run by Peru’s state oil company.
Talks broke off on Friday when the protesters refused to negotiate with the environment minister and demanded to meet with Cabinet chief Jorge Del Castillo.
BLOODSHED: North Koreans take extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and sometimes execute their own forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian and North Korean forces sustained heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that about 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August last year. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy quoted a report from Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border. “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka,
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Monday met virtually with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) and raised concerns about “malicious cyber activity” carried out by Chinese state-sponsored actors, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement. The department last month reported that an unspecified number of its computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers in what it called a “major incident” following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services. US Congressional aides said no date had been set yet for a requested briefing on the breach, the latest in a serious of cyberattacks
In the East Room of the White House on a particularly frigid Saturday afternoon, US President Joe Biden bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 of the most famous names in politics, sports, entertainment, civil rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy and science. Former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton aroused a standing ovation from the crowd as she received her medal. Clinton was accompanied to the event by her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, daughter, Chelsea Clinton, and grandchildren. Democratic philanthropist George Soros and actor-director Denzel Washington were also awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor in a White House
Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was expected to meet Argentine President Javier Milei yesterday on a regional tour to drum up support ahead of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s swearing-in for a third term. Venezuelan authorities have offered a reward of US$100,000 for information leading to the capture of Gonzalez Urrutia, who insists he beat Maduro at the polls in July last year and is recognized by the US as Venezuela’s “president-elect.” The 75-year-old fled to Spain in September after being threatened with arrest by Maduro’s government, but has pledged to return to his country to be sworn in as
RSS