Peace and Hope Pt. 2: Las Indigenas

So, I work for Paz y Esperanza here in Moyobamba. Paz y Esperanza focuses on two things:

1. Teaching sign language for deaf children and helping spread education/awareness about deaf rights

2. Help indigenous tribes get recognized by the government and obtain their land deeds to preserve their culture.

Their both very different topics and come from very different places in our hearts.

Pt. 2 - Las Indigenas

Paz y Esperanza's original mission focused on assisting indigenous people protect their land from major corporations. It's a noble cause, but one that faces numerous obstacles such as exploited legal loopholes, political corruption, general ignorance (on every level), and direct apathy.

Let's start at the beginning. Well, kind of the beginning.

Peru is a resource-rich country. The Andes mountains spikes straight through the center of the country while the Amazon rainforest hides mountains of resources in the North. Between these two there exists a long history of exploiting these resources. Whether it's gold by the Spanish, oil by Canadian companies, or minerals by American conglomerates there has been a history of outsiders invading the country, extracting these resources, and leaving once the earth has been (quite literally) sucked dry. This comes at the cost of those people who call that land their home.

In 1989 the International Labour Organization hosted a conference in Geneva to ratify/affirm several proposals. One of these proposals affects the influence of Native Tribes.

ILO Convention 169 - Native Tribe Rights

Basically the convention declares Native Tribes have the right to self-govern their own land. They are accorded all the rights of normal citizens of that State. The State government must consult with them before a political decision is made in order to reach an agreement with those affected. This is known as the Derecho a la Consulta (roughly translated as the Right to Prior Consultation.)

In 1991 many, many countries adopted Convention 169 along with the Right to Prior Consultation. Peru adopted Convention 169 in 1993. That was under a different presidency.

TO LEARN MORE (IN ENGLISH) CHECK OUT THIS DOPE BLOG:
This will literally explain everything

Flashforward to 2006 then-President Alan Garcia has ambitions for trade agreements with North American countries (mainly Canada and the States, sorry Mexico.) During Garcia's presidency  multinational conglomerates cultivate huge swaths of land containing indigenous people. The outrage is felt immediately.

June 5, 2009 - Bagua, Amazonas Departamento, Peru

The protest of a mining company at the Curva del Diablo by Awajun-wampi tribes is violently interrupted by military police. The conflict explodes with the military police firing at the crowd of protesters. Everyone shut their doors in Bagua that day as soldiers fired at protesters in the streets (this was, of course, after the road to Curva was abandoned.) 33 Protesters and 21 Police were killed. More than 50 were injured. Several newspeople capture the awful events of Bagua and broadcasts it back to the capital. Bagua goes down in Peruvian history as the turning point. The "we've had enough" event.*

CNN Report on Bagua

Remember the Right to Prior Consultation?
In 2011 the Right to Prior Consultation is approved (roughly ten years after a majority of other nations have adopted it) under President Ollanta Humala.





Now, adopting a law and upholding it are two completely different things. That's where Paz y Esperanza comes in.

Ronald, the Environmental Engineer

Ruben, the Lawyer

You see, despite the adoption of this Convention companies continue to purchase huge swaths of land all over the country displacing communities so they can process those much-sought-after raw metals.
In the rare cases they don't infringe on Native land the extraction processes contaminate and pollute water sources vital to village's survival (remember my Amazonian Adventure? We were directly confronted with one such example.)

Paz y Esperanza steps in with our dynamic duo: Ruben and Ronald acting as leads. Our resident Human Rights Lawyer and Environmental Engineer go in to provide legal council as well as environmental development advice. Basically the two meet with tribe leaders, campesinos, and other people whose livelihood's are threatened by these corporations. They walk them through the process of soliciting government recognition, land entitlement, and successful litigation.

Ruben and Ronald lead a meeting in Barranquita.

Make no mistake land titles are the golden key to this issue. 

Native tribes are caught between a rock and a hard place. On one side large companies pay a (small) stipend to incentivize families to leave their land or to deter the confrontation. On the other side Tribes are offered to make their land a Conservation Zone. While that sounds like a double win trust me, it is far from heaven.

This is the Cordillera Eslacera - a ZOCRE

A National Conservation Zone (ZOCRE or BPP in Peru) is a finely tuned trap. In order to maintain the conservation status Native Tribes have to leave the land exactly the way they found it. This prevents them from growing crops, fishing rivers, and building new homes or schoolhouses or medical centers. If the contract is violated the land is fair game major companies snatch the territory up wholesale. It's a guileless trap. Often huge swaths will be declared conservation zones only so that half of the zone can be sold to a Major Corporation later.



I'm not making any of this up. While the government officially recognizes somewhere around 100 native tribes in the country there are well over three times as many tribes waiting for recognition. With a land title in hand they can properly take these corporations to court without waiting for their poisoned water to hospitalize their children.

And that's the basics. I know it's a lot to take in so I'm going to recommend a few websites, videos, and wikipedia pages. Bear in mind I spent the first week of my work reading books full of political jargon so if you have a headache imagine learning all this in Spanish. Ouch!




FURTHER READING:

https://mastereia.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/the-right-to-prior-consultation-of-indigenous-peoples-of-peru-under-the-convention-169-of-the-ilo-international-labour-organization/

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/12/the-real-avatar-story-indigenous-people-fight-to-save-their-forest-homes-from-corporate-exploitation/

The Real Avatar (in Spanish) documentary

Amazon for Sale (Beautiful! Spanish-language Documentary)
^ Seriously it's so well shot at times I recommend you watch it just to see the visuals.

*http://elcomercio.pe/peru/amazonas/baguazo-curva-diablo-ardio-hace-casi-5-anos-noticia-1729279