Fujimori sentenced for corruption

BBC
Ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has been sentenced to six years in jail for corruption by a court in Lima.
Fujimori, who is already serving prison sentences for crimes including ordering killings by security forces, was in court for a fourth and final trial.
The charges relate to a scandal which brought down his government in 2000.

Peru president reshuffles cabinet

 BBC News, Lima 
By Dan Collyns
Peruvian President Alan Garcia has overhauled his cabinet appointing a new
 prime minister, Javier Velasquez Quesquen, and replacing seven others.  The move comes a month after the worst political violence Peru has seen in years, when at least 33 police officers and protesters were killed in clashes.

PERU: Three Days of Anti-Government Protests

By Ángel Páez
LIMA, Jul 8 (IPS) – Wednesday was the second day of a three-day strike declared by trade unions and social movements in Peru to protest the economic policies of President Alan García. 

Peru Congress revokes land laws

 
 BBC
 Prime Minister Yehude Simon (c) led talks with the tribesPeru’s Congress has overturned two controversial land ownership laws that sparked deadly clashes between police and Amazon tribal groups. At least 34 people were killed in the clashes earlier this month.  The laws were passed under powers Congress had granted President Alan Garcia to implement a [...]

Battle for the Amazon still on

Latin American Press
 Ramiro Escobar
Amazon groups continued their demonstrations to demand a that the decrees be thrown out completely. (Photo: AIDESEP) Peruvian lawmakers voted to suspend two legislative decrees that sought to open up Peru´s Amazon Basin to large investment projects, sparking more than two months´ of protests by indigenous groups in the country´s jungle.  Despite [...]

To quell protests, Peru suspends Amazon investment laws

Indigenous groups say government is just trying to stop efforts to protect jungle from oil and logging development. More protests are planned today.
Christian Science Monitor
By Lucien Chavin | Correspondent
and Sara Miller Llana | Staff writer
Lima, Peru; and Mexico City – Peru’s Congress is trying to diffuse some of the worst violence the country has seen [...]

Battle lines drawn over the Amazon

 
 New Internationalist 
Legitimate indigenous protests against Peru’s latest free trade agreements have led to bloodshed following the Government’s decision to send in the military. Ben Powless reports. Thousands of Indigenous Peoples from across the Americas gather in Puno, Peru for the 4th Continental Indigenous Summit of Abya Yala (America). Photo by: Ben Powless

Action Peru

Action Alert: Peru 

 
“As Dot Stang said, the destruction of the rain forest is the destruction of life. It isn’t just a problem for Peru or Brasil but for the whole world.” Therese Hartley, SND 

Peru: Hundreds shelter in church after clashes with police over destruction of Amazon

Independent Catholic News
By: Dan Bergin
Up to  a thousand indigenous people, including women and children, have  taken refuge in  a  Catholic church in the Bagua Grande area, 1,400km  north of the Peruvian capital Lima,  after  violent clashes with security forces left more than 50 dead, and 150 wounded on Thursday and Friday.  There were 70 arrests. [...]

‘Police Are Throwing Bodies in the River,’ Say Native Protesters

By Milagros Salazar
LIMA, Jun 8 (IPS) – There are conflicting reports on a violent incident in Peru’s Amazon jungle region in which both police officers and indigenous protesters were killed.