Peruvian PM proposes scrapping controversial laws

Could a series of controversial land laws passed by Peru’s government soon be cancelled? Apparently that may be the case as the controversy still lingers over a series of fatal clashes in the Peruvian Amazon:

Peru's prime minister said on Monday he would ask Congress to revoke two laws that aim to increase foreign investment in the Amazon rain forest after deadly clashes between police and indigenous groups.

Yehude Simon signed a pact with tribal leaders in the jungle city of San Ramon that included a promise to present a bill in Congress by Thursday that would strike down legislative decrees 1090 and 1064, state news agency Andina reported.

Simon added that he would back removing a state of emergency placed in the Amazonian city of Bagua were some of the deadliest disturbances took place.

Though President Alan Garcia previously deemed the demonstrators as “barbarians” and ignorant to economic progress, Peru’s government seems to be taking a softer tone. Congress voted to suspend the controversial land use decrees last week as pressure mounted domestically and internationally.

Nevertheless, the Garcia administration has been accused of backing the repression of residents from the Amazonian region. Officials recently shutdown a Bagua radio station for allegedly spreading “unofficial information” while the government continues to reject negotiating with the region’s main indigenous group. No wonder that recent U.S. Spanish-language daily “La Opinión” blamed the government for its “lack of respect and sensitivity to the indigenous population, by
not establishing a consultation process involving them in decisions about their lands.”

Image- AFP (“Indians of the central Peruvian jungle continue blocking a main highway in Andahuaylas.”)
Online Sources- La Opinión, The Latin Americanist, AFP, Stamford Advocate