Saturday, September 05, 2009
Denuding the Amazon
As the Peruvian, Ecuadoran, and Colombian governments practice pro-privatization neoliberalism in pursuit of denuding the Amazon, the support of the United States is crucial in defeating the indigenous peoples defending their collective rights. Recent assurance from the Obama regime to Colombia's brutal President Uribe, has made it clear that international human rights instruments will be trampled on as US corporations rip apart the Amazon landscape for minerals, oil and timber, leaving behind nothing but an environmental wasteland and mass graves filled with natives.
With this militarization of social conflict under Free Trade of the Americas, the construction of plurinational states in the Andes and Amazon -- states where indigenous human rights are protected -- is now on hold while the indigenous organizations prepare for self-defense against invasion by US-backed militaries and mercenaries.
Meanwhile, states like Peru continue with a political process that is cumulatively degrading the rights of indigenous peoples until they are wiped out of their country's legal framework. Having murdered thousands of indigenous inhabitants of the region in recent years, the prospects for successful dialogue are as remote as the native villages now being razed by Free Trade.
With this militarization of social conflict under Free Trade of the Americas, the construction of plurinational states in the Andes and Amazon -- states where indigenous human rights are protected -- is now on hold while the indigenous organizations prepare for self-defense against invasion by US-backed militaries and mercenaries.
Meanwhile, states like Peru continue with a political process that is cumulatively degrading the rights of indigenous peoples until they are wiped out of their country's legal framework. Having murdered thousands of indigenous inhabitants of the region in recent years, the prospects for successful dialogue are as remote as the native villages now being razed by Free Trade.
