ISDS Case Map
Peru
We in America need to be aware of the effects our economic imperialism has around the world. Instead of looking to move away from free trade agreements such as the one in Peru, we are working to establish new agreements, such as those in Panama or Colombia. The pork industry, for example, is lobbying very hard for a Panama FTA, so it can open up Panamanian markets to American pork.
Protestors' top demand is the repeal of a series of decrees, known collectively as the "Law of the Jungle," signed by García last year using extraordinary powers granted to him by Peru's Congress to enact legislation required by the 2006 US-Peru Free Trade Agreement. Under the government's current plan, oil and gas concession blocs alone would cover 72 percent of Peru's Amazon.
We ask our libertarian comrades to organise mobilisations and demonstrations outside Peruvian embassies in every country, in coordination with other sectors in struggle, in order to denounce the actions of the State and the multinationals in this country
Many Indigenous groups, human rights organizations, and environmental groups have called for President Garcia to step down and have issued calls for demonstrations at Peruvian embassies around the world "until the bloodbath is stopped and the legislative decrees for the Free Trade Agreement with the United States are repealed."
At the heart of the dispute are laws passed last year as Garcia sought to bring Peru's regulatory framework into compliance with a free-trade agreement with the US. "This has to be seen as one more chapter in the national struggle against the FTA," Mirko Lauer, a political commentator at Peru's La Republica newspaper, told Al Jazeera.
The indigenous groups in Peru have surprised the authorities with their sudden strength and organization and are now threatening to blunt President Alan García's efforts to lure foreign investment to the region.
The Lower House of Canada Congress approved this week the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with Peru, which shall come into force in July this year
Since April 9, indigenous communities have shut down oil fields and gas pipelines, and blocked roads, rivers, airports and other installations. These actions are in protest at government decrees that open access to indigenous people's lands to facilitate oil, mining, logging and agricultural companies. Garcia decreed the laws under special powers awarded to him by Congress to bring Peruvian law into line with a free trade agreement (FTA) signed with the United States in December 2007.
After more than six weeks of protests by Peru's Amazonian indigenous groups that have included blockades of major roads and waterways and the shutting down an oil pipeline pumping station, the Peruvian government has begun to crack down.
Peru and Japan have launched the first round of negotiations for a planned free-trade pact as Peru's government pledges closer ties to Asia's markets.
