Blockade of Charles Schumers Office in the Aftermath of Peru Massacre

3 ACTIVISTS CHAINED THEMSELVES TO DOORS OF CHUCK SCHUMER'S OFFICE BUILDING
IN PROTEST OF HIS VOTE FOR THE PERU FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

Activists Accuse Schumer of Complicity in Peru Massacre
New York This afternoon at around 1:00 pm, three activists chained
themselves at the neck to the doors of Chuck Schumer's office building at
757 3rdAvenue at 47thStreet in Manhattan, shutting down access to the
building. The activists charge Schumer with complicity in the murder of
dozens of indigenous Peruvians killed over the weekend in a wave of
repression against indigenous people engaged in nonviolent protest against
the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement. Peruvian President Alan Garcia has used
the FTA as a pretext to institute new laws that usher in an unprecedented
wave of extractive industries expanding logging, oil and gas drilling,
mining, and destructive agriculture into the Amazon Rainforest.

The action at Schumers office followed a demonstration at the Peruvian
Consulate in Manhattan at 241 East 49th St., at which Trade Justice and
the Tiksigroup, a Peruvian cultural organization in New Jersey, handed
over a statement condemning the massacre carried out by the Peruvian
police under President Alan Garcías orders. There were over 120
protestors present at the two locations of different organizations and
nationalities.

Members of Trade Justice NY Metro had met with Schumer's staff twice
before the Peru Free Trade Agreement vote, presenting him with reports
from the Washington Office on Latin America predicting violence and
instability if the agreement passed. The visits included representatives
of indigenous Peruvian communities, who explained that the trade agreement
would destroy their way of life. Nonetheless, Schumer voted for the
agreement.

According to Peruvian indigenous activist Ana Maria Quispe, of the
Tiksigroup, Chuck Schumer, President Obama, and other politicians who
supported the Peru Free Trade Agreement need to be held accountable for an
agreement that they were warned would have disastrous human rights and
environmental consequences. Unfortunately, they were more interested in
serving the real beneficiaries of this agreement -- the same financial
industry giants responsible for the current economic crisis. Schumer,
President Obama, and other Democrats need to take responsibility for this
disaster and repeal the Peru Free Trade Agreement.

On Friday, Peru's police forces began what the Vice President of the UN
Indigenous Forum has termed a massacre of Peruvian indigenous peoples
engaged in a nonviolent blockade of a road outside of Bagua, in a remote
area of the northern Peruvian Amazon. Several thousand indigenous people
were forcibly dispersed by tear gas and real bullets shot and as many as
100 have died including three children. According to a local indigenous
leader, police burned the dead indigenous people and dumped their remains
into the Marañón River. Eight police officers were also killed in the
ensuing melee.
Thursday, June 11 is planned as an international day of action in
solidarity with the indigenous populations of the Peruvian Amazon. A noon
demonstration is planned at the Peruvian Consulate in Paterson, NJ at 100
Hamilton St (Hamilton Plaza).

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Bagua
• Peru
• amazon
• blood
• money
• justice
• EEUU

[anibalapari]

A day late and a dollar short seems to be my option in life. Make an appointment and get the phone hung up on you. Be Adult, like both Senator Schumer and the now gone to better ways Senator Hillary, "the my husband and I" politician. This is not the way to do anything. No matter what this is still a government of America approved office. Like all loud demonstration no one hears and no one understands.

Rose Watkins -- One Woman Walking -- Recycling Since 2004