Comments on: Murder in Peru: Indigenous Rights and Corporate Interests http://www.coha.org/murder-in-peru-indigenous-rights-and-corporate-interests/ COHA is an NGO specialized in monitoring Latin American and Canadian Relations for more than 30 years... Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:22:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: foxfifi89 http://www.coha.org/murder-in-peru-indigenous-rights-and-corporate-interests/comment-page-1/#comment-43573 foxfifi89 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 07:32:41 +0000 http://www.coha.org/?p=4657#comment-43573 pass by pass by

]]> By: David Harvey http://www.coha.org/murder-in-peru-indigenous-rights-and-corporate-interests/comment-page-1/#comment-29915 David Harvey Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:53:11 +0000 http://www.coha.org/?p=4657#comment-29915 "Justice"? Justice or finance? Theoretically, finance properly applied with fair rules and no fraud should lead to the very justice you speak of. What is this, some puff piece for an impoverished and possible corrupted gang that murdered numerous police and military men and women; or a fair consideration of the defective process by which the Garcia government may have contracted for the development of Peru's wonderful natural bounty. Sure Garcia may be an idiot for mishandling the process; however for the benefit of the many, including even the complainers, capital must be attracted and the resource developed. I too wish the system were more free of corruption, considered the voices of minorities better, and protected non-monetary assets more fully; however i would never suggest the decision should be solely in the hands of a local violent minority. All Peruvians will suffer from the actions of these local and violent killers. David Harvey Atahualpa Holdings (Peru) S.A.C. Barranco, Lima “Justice”? Justice or finance? Theoretically, finance properly applied with fair rules and no fraud should lead to the very justice you speak of.

What is this, some puff piece for an impoverished and possible corrupted gang that murdered numerous police and military men and women; or a fair consideration of the defective process by which the Garcia government may have contracted for the development of Peru’s wonderful natural bounty. Sure Garcia may be an idiot for mishandling the process; however for the benefit of the many, including even the complainers, capital must be attracted and the resource developed. I too wish the system were more free of corruption, considered the voices of minorities better, and protected non-monetary assets more fully; however i would never suggest the decision should be solely in the hands of a local violent minority. All Peruvians will suffer from the actions of these local and violent killers.

David Harvey
Atahualpa Holdings (Peru) S.A.C.
Barranco, Lima

]]> By: Rachel Godfrey Wood http://www.coha.org/murder-in-peru-indigenous-rights-and-corporate-interests/comment-page-1/#comment-29914 Rachel Godfrey Wood Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:48:31 +0000 http://www.coha.org/?p=4657#comment-29914 I´d like to congratulate the authors on drawing attention to this issue, which is clearly of worldwide importance. When Government´s ride roughshed over the will of local populations it only serves to demonstrate how hollow all the international development rhetoric on "consultation" and "participation."Socio-environmental conflicts like this are crucial, because they demonstrate something such the rest of the world has yet to understand: that economic growth must have its limits, and these limits are determined by the restricted capacity of our planet´s ecosystems to support what we call "development". I know very little about the specific events in Peru right now, but based on my experience in Ecuador I would hazard a guess that the leaders of these protests are not the "noble savages" they are sometimes made to appear in the media. Rather, they are probably well educated individuals who have witnessed the experience of other indigenous groups who have allowed oil exploitation to occur, and have come to a conclusion that any economic or material benefits are far outweighed by the environmental and cultural costs of exploitation. That conclusion is relevant to all of us. My only gripe with this article is that I think it still ignores a crucial dilemma between conservation and development, and that this dilemma is relevant to all societies and all governments, regardless of their political affiliation, relationship with transnational capital, etc. For example, I don´t accept necessarily any direct relationship between Peru´s free trade treaty with the United States and exploitation in the Amazon. Historically, we can see that nationalist/leftist leaders like Velasco in Peru and also Rodriguez Lara in Ecuador (both of whom had a disregard for free trade) were big forces in starting/intensifying oil exploitation in their Amazon regions, showing the same disregard for human rights and the environment that Alan Garcia is showing today. This is because all Governments, left and right, have a short and medium term stake in extractive industries. Saying that extraction never benefits the poor is true in some cases, but can be exaggerated. Ultimately, it brings a lot of money into Government coffers which may or may not be spent wisely. In Ecuador, for example, oil money was crucial in reducing illiteracy between 1972 and 1983. What I´m trying to get at is not that oil should be exploited, rather that we should recognize that it is a big dilemma, and when we focus solely on corporate and neo-liberal interests, we are in fact ignoring that this dilemma actually exists. Failing to recognize the dilemma that exists for resource rich yet underdeveloped countries in South America is not conducive towards finding a solution. So where does this leave us? I suggest that the only way to solve such problems is by moving towards a model whereby oil and minerals which find themselves in environmentally and culturally sensitive zones are left untouched, but that the developed countries "compensate" countries who take this decision. This is the Yasuni-ITT model proposed by the Ecuadorian Government, and I advise anyone interested in this issue to examine that proposal. To date, the international response has been woefully inadequate, but the Ecuadorian Government has, to its credit, extended the deadline on repeated occasions. I would be very interested to see what Barack Obama thinks on the issue, given his constant claims to be tackling climate change and open a new door for cooperation in the hemisphere, surely this would be one small step in that direction. Once again, thank you very much for writing this article. Anyone who is interested in the Yasuni-ITT Initiative can read about it at www.amazoniaporlavida.org Regards, Rachel Godfrey Wood I´d like to congratulate the authors on drawing attention to this issue, which is clearly of worldwide importance. When Government´s ride roughshed over the will of local populations it only serves to demonstrate how hollow all the international development rhetoric on “consultation” and “participation.”Socio-environmental conflicts like this are crucial, because they demonstrate something such the rest of the world has yet to understand: that economic growth must have its limits, and these limits are determined by the restricted capacity of our planet´s ecosystems to support what we call “development”. I know very little about the specific events in Peru right now, but based on my experience in Ecuador I would hazard a guess that the leaders of these protests are not the “noble savages” they are sometimes made to appear in the media. Rather, they are probably well educated individuals who have witnessed the experience of other indigenous groups who have allowed oil exploitation to occur, and have come to a conclusion that any economic or material benefits are far outweighed by the environmental and cultural costs of exploitation. That conclusion is relevant to all of us.

My only gripe with this article is that I think it still ignores a crucial dilemma between conservation and development, and that this dilemma is relevant to all societies and all governments, regardless of their political affiliation, relationship with transnational capital, etc. For example, I don´t accept necessarily any direct relationship between Peru´s free trade treaty with the United States and exploitation in the Amazon. Historically, we can see that nationalist/leftist leaders like Velasco in Peru and also Rodriguez Lara in Ecuador (both of whom had a disregard for free trade) were big forces in starting/intensifying oil exploitation in their Amazon regions, showing the same disregard for human rights and the environment that Alan Garcia is showing today.

This is because all Governments, left and right, have a short and medium term stake in extractive industries. Saying that extraction never benefits the poor is true in some cases, but can be exaggerated. Ultimately, it brings a lot of money into Government coffers which may or may not be spent wisely. In Ecuador, for example, oil money was crucial in reducing illiteracy between 1972 and 1983. What I´m trying to get at is not that oil should be exploited, rather that we should recognize that it is a big dilemma, and when we focus solely on corporate and neo-liberal interests, we are in fact ignoring that this dilemma actually exists. Failing to recognize the dilemma that exists for resource rich yet underdeveloped countries in South America is not conducive towards finding a solution.

So where does this leave us? I suggest that the only way to solve such problems is by moving towards a model whereby oil and minerals which find themselves in environmentally and culturally sensitive zones are left untouched, but that the developed countries “compensate” countries who take this decision. This is the Yasuni-ITT model proposed by the Ecuadorian Government, and I advise anyone interested in this issue to examine that proposal. To date, the international response has been woefully inadequate, but the Ecuadorian Government has, to its credit, extended the deadline on repeated occasions. I would be very interested to see what Barack Obama thinks on the issue, given his constant claims to be tackling climate change and open a new door for cooperation in the hemisphere, surely this would be one small step in that direction. Once again, thank you very much for writing this article. Anyone who is interested in the Yasuni-ITT Initiative can read about it at http://www.amazoniaporlavida.org

Regards,

Rachel Godfrey Wood

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