The 2009 Peruvian political crisis resulted from the ongoing opposition to oil development in the Peruvian Amazon by local

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

; they protested Petroperú and confronted the National Police. At the forefront of the movement to resist the development was Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (, AIDESEP), a coalition of indigenous community organizations in the region."Inside the Peruvian Amazon"
'' The Real News,'' 12 June 2009 Following the government's decision to pass regulations allowing companies access to the Amazon, natives conducted more than a year of declared opposition and advocacy to change this policy and, from 9 April, began a period of protest and

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

. In June 2009, the Garcia government suspended

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

, declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

, and sent in the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

to stop the protests. The military intervention, referred to as the ''Baguazo'', resulted in two days of bloody confrontations, resulting in a total of 23 police deaths, 10 native/civilians deaths and more than 150 native wounded. This conflict has been described as

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

's worst political violence in years and is the worst crisis of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Alan García's presidency. Prime Minister Yehude Simon was forced to resign his post in the aftermath, and Congress repealed the laws that led to the protests.

Background

free trade agreement A free trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating state (polity), states. There are two types of trade agreements: Bilateralism, bilateral and Multilateralism, m ...

negotiated between Peru and the United States that came into effect in February 2009 required certain changes in law allowing private companies access to the Amazon for development of resources. The Congress of Peru granted the government authority to implement the required regulatory changes. Indigenous tribes insisted that some of the new government regulations introduced by President Alan García in 2008 threatened the safety of their

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

and would enable foreign companies to exploit them. Protests ensued in August 2008, and Congress repealed two laws and promised to examine and vote on others. When that didn't happen, protests and

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are ...

s resumed on 9 April 2009."Peru's Deadly Battle Over Oil in the Amazon"
''Time'', 10 June 2009 In the early 21st century, exploitation of mineral resources has been criticized by researchers based on the link they have shown between the abundance of natural resources (particularly minerals and oil) of a country and its poor growth performance, as well as poor governmental policies and institutions (subject to ills such as corruption, weak governance,

rent-seeking Rent-seeking is the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking activities have negative effects on the rest of society. They result in reduced economic effi ...

, plunder). They found this relationship is especially related to development of 'point source' minerals such as mines and oil fields, which produce high value for few people, as opposed to agricultural diffuse development, which involves large quantities of workers, forcing benefits to be shared. Some believe that Peruvian oil development functions in such a model of 'point source', providing grievances and low benefit to local populations. In 2008 an oil scandal shook the government of Alan García when audio tapes revealing corruption and conflict of interest were released to the press. The tapes contained the conversations of Rómulo León, an important member of the ruling Apra party negotiating bribes from foreign companies in order to allow them to drill for petroleum in the Peruvian Amazon region. Romulo León was imprisoned, yet his daughter, Luciana León, a member of congress, continues to work in the parliament despite e-mail messages found by investigators that revealed that she was aware of and participating in her father's activities. In June 2009, as the dispute worsened, the government ordered the military in to assist the police. The deaths resulted in two clashes fought in the Amazon jungle on 5 and 6 June 2009.

Battle at "Devil's Curve"

On 5 June 2009, at least 31 people were killed in clashes between security forces and indigenous people on the "Devil's Curve" jungle highway close to

Bagua The ''bagua'' ( zh, c=八卦, p=bāguà, l=eight trigrams) is a set of symbols from China intended to illustrate the nature of reality as being composed of mutually opposing forces reinforcing one another. ''Bagua'' is a group of trigrams—co ...

, over 1,000 kilometres north of

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, as the security forces attempted to break down a road blockade. The deaths came when police decided to break down a blockade of 5,000 protesters. 22 of the dead were native tribesmen and 9 were members of the police force. The tribes accused the police of using helicopters to fire on those protesting peacefully below. Alberto Pizango, an indigenous leader, told journalists that the government was responsible for the massacre. Police said the natives had first shot at them; the President said the tribes had "fall nto a criminal level".

June 6, 2009 massacre

On June 6, 2009, an additional nine police officers were killed at a petroleum facility belonging to a national oil company, Petroperú, which had been seized by the protesting indigenous tribes. Prime Minister Simon said the officers were killed as they tried to rescue 38 kidnapped police officers believed held. García criticised the protesters, claiming they had behaved like terrorists and suggested that they may have been "incited by foreigners". There was considerable confusion about the events, as it was reported that several police had been taken hostage, although 22 were freed and 7 were missing. This number was later revised to one missing policeman. The government announced a 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m. curfew effective immediately. According to Amazon Watch, the police staged a violent raid on the unarmed indigenous people who were participating in a peaceful blockade to revoke the "free trade" decrees, issued by President Garcia in the context of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. During that day, over 600 police attacked several thousand unarmed Awajun and Wamba indigenous peoples (including many women and children) and forcibly dispersed them using tear gas and live ammunition. After the police started shooting at the protesters, some indigenous wrestled away their guns and fought back, shooting and killing nine policemen. The confrontation resulted in the 25 civilian deaths and more than 150 wounded. The police were accused of burning bodies to hide the death toll. At least 155 were injured, one third by bullet wounds; 72 people were arrested. The casualty toll was expected to rise. Not since the conflict with the Shining Path had so many people been killed or injured in political clashes of this nature in Peru. Reproduced in various publications, including:

Consequences

AIDESEP leaders prosecuted, asylum for Pizango

On 9 June, the government of Peruvian President Alan García still refused to meet with the indigenous coalition AIDESEP. The government sought to arrest Alberto Pizango on charges of sedition; he is a Shawi Indian leader of the protesters and head of their organization, AIDESEP. Pizango entered

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

's embassy in

on 8 June and was granted

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

the next day. Four other AIDESEP leaders were accused of disturbing the peace and advocating

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...

and revolt, and faced up to six years in prison.

Decrees suspended, then overturned

In the week following the clashes, Congress suspended two of the offending government decrees. The indigenous protesters vowed to continue until the decrees were repealed and not just suspended. On 18 June, Congress repealed two of the decrees, and the protesters lifted their blockade.

Vildoso and Simon resign

Carmen Vildoso, minister for Women's Issues and Social Development, resigned on 8 June to protest the government's actions. Prime Minister Yehude Simon negotiated the deal to repeal the two decrees mentioned above and announced on 16 June that he would resign "in the coming weeks" over the government's handling of the crisis. President Alan García had appointed Simon, who is politically to the left of García, in October 2008 in an effort to mollify the country's poor and hard-line leftist nationalists.

Peruvian government accused of undermining press freedom

In June 2009,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

condemned the Peruvian government's decision to revoke the broadcast license of a local radio station stating that "The timing and circumstances of the revocation suggest that it may have been an act of censorship, or punishment, in response to coverage of anti-government protests on June 5, 2009." "If there is in fact credible evidence that a radio station has actively supported or incited violence, then the broadcasters should be subject to investigation and sanction, with all appropriate judicial guarantees", said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "But closing down a station this way certainly looks like retaliation for coverage the government didn't like."

Documentary

The film ''When Two Worlds Collide'' is composed of footage shot from 2007 through 2013, and presents a view of events that is sympathetic toward the protestors. It premiered at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

in 2016.

References

External links

"Chevron, Shell and the True Cost of Oil"
Amy Goodman, Truth Dig, 26 May 2009
"Peruvian Police Accused of Massacring Indigenous Protesters in Amazon Jungle"
''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long TV, radio, and Internet news program based in Manhattan and hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live ...

'', 8 June 2009
"Au Perou les Indiens d'Amazonie font chanceler le gouvernement"
''Le Monde'' , gallery photos
''LA ESPERA - Historias del Baguazo''
��''La Espera'' (''The Wait'') is a Peruvian documentary on the events of the 'Baguazo', how it has come to be known this tragedy. {{DEFAULTSORT:2009 Peruvian political crisis 2009 in Peru 2009 in politics 2009 murders in Peru 2009 riots 21st-century mass murder in Peru Conflicts in 2009 Democratic backsliding in Peru Environmental impact of the energy industry Indigenous topics of the Amazon June 2009 in South America Massacres in 2009 Massacres in Peru Political history of Peru Protests in Peru Riots and civil disorder in Peru