It’s once more two weeks that I couldn’t write on my blog, as last weekends had been very busy and also during the week it’s ever harder to have an evening on myself. On the 14th of June I took a boat to the frontier with Brazil and Colombia, as I don’t have a visa for Peru and I had to get out of the country before the 15th – during the trip to the Putumayo River we visited some Colombian villages, but there it’s not possible to get your passport stamped. The cheapest way to do this quickly is to take a fast boat that can get you to the border in about 10 hours. At 6 o’clock in the morning the boat left the port in Iquitos to follow the Amazon River to the Peruvian village of Santa Rosa. There you can take a small boat to cross the river to one of the twin villages of Leticia (Colombia) and Tabatinga (Brazil). I spent my two nights in a small hostel in Tabatinga, but you can easily walk from one village to the other without any formalities. Once more it was significant how Santa Rosa, on the Peruvian side, was a small village without cars and hardly any commodities, while Tabatinga and Leticia are very developed, with good roads and lots of cars and motorcycles. Also at the Putumayo River it was very clear that most of the money is to be found on the Colombian side.
In Iquitos the most significant event of last two weeks was the general strike that was held on Thursday the 11th of June in support of the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. Strikes in Iquitos are generally started in proper way at midnight with a march through the streets. When it’s a worker’s strike usually the streets look like a war has passed the next day, as people start throwing around all they can find on the streets. This time however the people crossed the streets quietly holding candles to remember the victims of the violent clashes that had occurred in Bagua. Another march was organised during the day in the afternoon and attracted a huge crowd that filled the streets of Iquitos. Unions, universities, secondary schools and indigenous and other social organisations were all present and the march was concluded by speeches of indigenous leaders at Plaza 28 de Julio, the biggest square in the city.
At the office we’ve been mostly working on the legalization of the Board of Directors of OISPE and on the search of new markets to sell the artesanía of the Secoya communities. Also I started giving computer classes to the two new indigenous students that are staying in Iquitos, to prepare them for the moment they will have to make their first papers for university. Unfortunately it’s about three weeks now we’re waiting for the telephone company to come and install the internet connection at our new office, which isn’t making our work much easier.
Last weekend was dominated by festivities in the honour of Father’s Day and my birthday. On Friday afternoon, one of the days I went to help in the children’s house, classes were cancelled and a big barbeque was organized. After this the children were free to play and a tournament in both volleyball and football was organised. On Saturday morning I was invited to go with a small organization, founded by Marina and her friends to help young children in their studies, to visit a centre that’s working to protect the endangered manatees living in the Amazon basin. In the evening I had a first drink to celebrate my birthday and the next day we continued with another barbeque (a Peruvian weekend tradition), an original birthday cake (made from cookies, ice cream and wine) and even a few presents (which solved my ‘shortage of t-shirts’-problem).
Hasta la próxima,
Jeroen
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Monday, 8 June 2009
La selva se desangra
News of the week is without doubt the violent clashes that erupted last Friday in the city of Bagua between Peruvian police and indigenous protesters. Since April the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon have been protesting against the exploitation of their ancestral territories without their consultation, which is against both Peruvian and international laws. For the first time the protests turned violent as armed police lifted a road blockade near Bagua in the region of Amazonas. During this operation more than 20 indigenous were killed and also 11 policemen lost their lives. For now however it’s impossible to have an accurate view on the number of victims, as there are still a lot of wounded people in the hospitals and the Peruvian government tries to minimize the number of indigenous victims. The biased Peruvian television only talks about the ‘heroic’ policemen that died in the violent clashes.
The great majority in Iquitos however agrees with the struggle of the indigenous peoples in the region to defend their rights. On Friday evening there was a gathering of people carrying candles at Plaza de Armas to remember the victims that died in Bagua and to show their support to the indigenous peoples and leaders. The same evening the arrest was ordered of the leader of the organization of indigenous peoples in the Amazon (AIDESEP) Alberto Pizango. He declared the violence to be a consequence of the aggression of police forces trying to lift the blockade, while the protest had been peaceful for almost two months now. The Peruvian government however views the protest as being manipulated by indigenous leaders, political opposition parties and also elements from other countries that try to destabilize Peru and its economy.
On Saturday about ten more policemen that were captured by the protesters died as forces moved in to try to liberate them. Again we have no news about the indigenous that were killed in this operation. The city of Bagua is now under complete control of the police, but for journalists it’s very difficult to enter the region to make a balance of the violence of those two days. It’s also hard to say how the situation will evolve now as the protests keep continuing and an agreement between indigenous leaders and the government now seems absolutely impossible. The conflict will certainly be of great importance in the speech opposition leader Ollanta Humala will give coming Thursday on Plaza de 28 de Julio. If it is not delayed, because today it was announced that on that day a national strike will be organised in support of the indigenous peoples.
News on the lighter side now, we’ve moved to a new office last week for a second time, as organisation of lawyers Solsticio Perú found a place we could share and were there is also the availability of four sleeping rooms. As we only have to pay half of the rent and now an indigenous student and I are living there instead of renting separate rooms, we can save a lot of money this way. And the place is actually a lot more beautiful and comfortable than where we used to stay, although the place is filled with an awful lot of kitsch.
Last week I also started working in a children’s house on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get out of my office from time to time. It’s very pleasing work to help the children to do their work from school from 3 till 5 in the afternoon and afterwards there’s also an hour to play with the children. As it’s a Dutch organization that is running the place I also had the chance to meet some Dutch volunteers working there. One of them is also a student working here for a few months and as she didn’t knew a lot of people in Iquitos till now, I already took her out a few times with my Peruvian friends. Last Thursday e.g. we went to an evening of Creole dances to celebrate the birthday of the university of Marina, a good friend who’s always prepared to take me somewhere with her motorcycle. One of the most fun parts of an evening out for me stays by the way cruising around in the city on the back of her motorcycle picking up all her friends before arriving at a dancing place or bar. And having her drop me off at my place again afterwards too off course.
Chau,
Jeroen
The great majority in Iquitos however agrees with the struggle of the indigenous peoples in the region to defend their rights. On Friday evening there was a gathering of people carrying candles at Plaza de Armas to remember the victims that died in Bagua and to show their support to the indigenous peoples and leaders. The same evening the arrest was ordered of the leader of the organization of indigenous peoples in the Amazon (AIDESEP) Alberto Pizango. He declared the violence to be a consequence of the aggression of police forces trying to lift the blockade, while the protest had been peaceful for almost two months now. The Peruvian government however views the protest as being manipulated by indigenous leaders, political opposition parties and also elements from other countries that try to destabilize Peru and its economy.
On Saturday about ten more policemen that were captured by the protesters died as forces moved in to try to liberate them. Again we have no news about the indigenous that were killed in this operation. The city of Bagua is now under complete control of the police, but for journalists it’s very difficult to enter the region to make a balance of the violence of those two days. It’s also hard to say how the situation will evolve now as the protests keep continuing and an agreement between indigenous leaders and the government now seems absolutely impossible. The conflict will certainly be of great importance in the speech opposition leader Ollanta Humala will give coming Thursday on Plaza de 28 de Julio. If it is not delayed, because today it was announced that on that day a national strike will be organised in support of the indigenous peoples.
News on the lighter side now, we’ve moved to a new office last week for a second time, as organisation of lawyers Solsticio Perú found a place we could share and were there is also the availability of four sleeping rooms. As we only have to pay half of the rent and now an indigenous student and I are living there instead of renting separate rooms, we can save a lot of money this way. And the place is actually a lot more beautiful and comfortable than where we used to stay, although the place is filled with an awful lot of kitsch.
Last week I also started working in a children’s house on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get out of my office from time to time. It’s very pleasing work to help the children to do their work from school from 3 till 5 in the afternoon and afterwards there’s also an hour to play with the children. As it’s a Dutch organization that is running the place I also had the chance to meet some Dutch volunteers working there. One of them is also a student working here for a few months and as she didn’t knew a lot of people in Iquitos till now, I already took her out a few times with my Peruvian friends. Last Thursday e.g. we went to an evening of Creole dances to celebrate the birthday of the university of Marina, a good friend who’s always prepared to take me somewhere with her motorcycle. One of the most fun parts of an evening out for me stays by the way cruising around in the city on the back of her motorcycle picking up all her friends before arriving at a dancing place or bar. And having her drop me off at my place again afterwards too off course.
Chau,
Jeroen
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