Take Action: Indigenous Peruvians Killed While Protesting Bad Trade Deal Thousands of indigenous people in Peru face extreme violence, and the Wall Street Journal reports that 30 indigenous protestors were killed while demonstrating against new laws passed to implement the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement that give foreign oil, gas, mining and timber firms access to their Amazonian homelands. In the pre-dawn hours of June 5, Peruvian military police staged a violent attack on a group of indigenous people camped out on a peaceful blockade of a road outside of Bagua, in a remote area of the northern Peruvian Amazon. Several thousand indigenous peoples were forcibly dispersed by tear gas and live ammunition. Violence and protests have continued all week. Take Action: Please use the form below to write a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House trade committee leaders Charles Rangel and Sander Levin, urging them to intervene immediately and end the Peru FTA-related violence against these indigenous communities.

July 31, 2010 Subject: Dear Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Rangel and Chairman Levin: I am writing to ask you to take action regarding the recent political violence in Peru related to implementation of the Peru-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In the pre-dawn hours of June 5, Peruvian military police staged a violent attack on a group of indigenous people camped out on a peaceful blockade of a road outside of Bagua, in a remote area of the northern Peruvian Amazon, resulting in the deaths of dozens of indigenous people and police officers. I strongly urge you and other Congressional leaders to provide leadership towards a peaceful settlement to the underlying conflict which involves massive community opposition to implementation of the FTA’s foreign investment laws and related new oil, gas, mining and logging concessions being issued by Peru’s government in the Peruvian Amazon. A June 8 Wall Street Journal story describes the situation: “The protesters are demanding that the government backtrack on decrees that the indigenous groups say would weaken their traditional communal land system by breaking up land into parcels of private property. The García government has been moving aggressively to grant concessions for oil and natural gas exploration in the Amazon. Analysts say giving in to protester demands would make Mr. García seem weak and cast a cloud over a recently signed free-trade agreement with the U.S. Following the pact, the government enacted laws that opened up indigenous lands to development, changes that the indigenous groups oppose.” Since April, communities throughout the Peruvian Amazon have been protesting the Peru FTA implementation decrees issued by the government of President Alan Garcia that have triggered an unprecedented rush of extractive industries into Peru’s Amazon Rainforest. Over 30,000 indigenous people have taken to blockading roads, rivers, and railways to demand the repeal of these new laws that allow oil, mining and logging companies to enter indigenous territories. Garcia's government passed these laws under "fast track" authority he had received from the Peruvian congress to enact laws that implement the U.S.-Peru FTA. Moreover, the expansive foreign investor rights included in the Peru FTA would lock in protections for these harmful projects and prevent future measures Peru's government might take to protect the Amazon rainforest. These were concerns that led Peruvian and U.S. environmental, indigenous and human rights groups to oppose the Peru FTA and now they have quickly come to bloody fruition. I’m asking you to publicly call for an end to the violence. The Garcia government’s decision to implement the FTA through armed repression of their own citizens is horrific. The community’s reaction to the initial military and police attack - to fight back - and then the military’s responding escalation - can only result in growing loss of life. Your public call for a peaceful resolution to this situation will make clear that the world is watching and anything but a peaceful resolution will be damaging for the Garcia government’s broader interests. Additionally, I urge you to contact the Obama administration - specifically the State Department and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office - and urge them to invest the necessary political capital to concretely help improve the situation. Certainly it is in no one’s interest when a U.S. FTA leads to bloody repression - and a growing number of deaths that are becoming global news. Please let me know what your office is able to do to stop the violence in Peru. Sincerely, We will add your signature from the information you provide.		First Name* Last Name* Email* Street* Street 2 Street 3 City* State/Province* Select a state Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware D.C. Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Armed Forces (the) Americas Armed Forces Europe Armed Forces Pacific Alberta British Columbia Manitoba Newfoundland New Brunswick Nova Scotia Northwest Territories Nunavut Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Territory Other Zip/Postal Code*