Perú

Massacre in Bagua and Strike at AmBev

Open Letter to Alan García, President of Peru

 

 

 

Regional Latinoamericana
Unión Internacional de Trabajadores de la Alimentación,
Agrícolas, Hoteles, Restaurantes, Tabaco y Afines (Rel-UITA)


   

Comité
Ejecutivo
Latinoamericano:


Presidente
Argentino Geneiro
UTHGRA
Argentina

Vicepresidenta
Neuza Barbosa
CNTA
Brasil

Carolina Llanos
UATRE
Argentina

Héctor Ponce
ATILRA
Argentina

Silvia Villaverde
FAOPCHPYA
Argentina

Alberto Broch
CONTAG
Brasil

Siderlei de Oliveira
CONTAC
Brasil

Luis A. Pedraza
UNAC
Colombia

Guillermo Rivera
SINTRAINAGRO
Colombia

Edwin Ranchos
FESTRAS
Guatemala

Gerardo Iglesias
Secretario Regional

 

Open Letter to Alan García,

President of Peru

 

We address you today to express our indignation and alarm at the deplorable incidents that occurred in Bagua when security forces savagely repressed the mobilization of indigenous communities that for 50 days had been staging a peaceful protest campaign.

 

The people of our continent know full well what the consequences of State violence are, because they suffered them. We thought this was a thing of the past, the product of a bygone era when society was under the control of dictators who ruled with an iron fist. Today, while we deplore each and every one of the lives that were lost in these incidents, we blame the deaths on the repressive action of the police, a repressive action that was ordered by a democratically elected government.

 

And that is why we must hold you, as head of government, responsible for this terrible episode, which, we repeat, can only be compared to events that were common under the most authoritarian and antidemocratic periods of our history.

 

We also want to express our full solidarity with the demands of the indigenous communities who are risking their lives to defend their ancestral lands, but also to safeguard the interests of all of humanity, especially of the men and women of Latin America. What still remains of the Amazon rainforest not only constitutes an enormous source of material wealth because of its natural resources, it represents, above all, an ecological capital that is priceless and crucial for the sustainability of the region and the planet.

 

It is because of this that we demand that the legislative decrees that authorize the commercial exploitation of the natural resources of Peru’s rainforest be overturned immediately, as they will only pave the way for the unhindered action of transnational corporations, whose thirst for profit always leaves a trail of devastation, contamination and death in its wake, gravely impoverishing countries rich in natural resources but governed by political leaders incapable of defending the interests of their people.

 

We would also like to call your attention to the struggle of the Sole Union of Beer Industry Workers of AmBev Peru SAC (SUTAMBEV), of Sullana, which on April 20 called a strike for an indefinite period of time, as it was the only measure it had left available to try to obtain a solution to its just demands.

 

As you are aware, an IUF Mission traveled to Peru in late May, and held meetings with several organizations and authorities, including the Labor Ministry, but unfortunately it was unable to make any progress in this conflict that is ultimately caused by the intransigent stance of the transnational corporation AmBev.

 

We deeply deplore the fact that AmBev workers have not been given the protection and support they deserve in such an uneven struggle, and we highlight that, like the indigenous communities of Bagua, they too are defending what are basic rights of any human being: the right to decent working conditions and the right to a dignified life for them and their families. In both cases -in Bagua by action and in Sullana by omission- your government has evidenced its determination to put the interests of foreign corporations before the protection of the basic rights of its citizens.

 

For all of the above, on behalf of the IUF and its 374 affiliate organizations from 120 countries around the world, we urge you to side with the most vulnerable, with those who are defending essential rights of the Peruvian people: sovereignty, democracy, dialogue, peace and life.

 

Yours sincerely, 

 

Luis Alejandro Pedraza

Comité Ejecutivo Latinoamericano

de la UITA

Gerardo Iglesias

Secretario Regional UITA

 

                                       

 

C/c.: Amnistía Internacional, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos de la OEA, Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Movimiento de Justicia y Derechos Humanos de Brasil, Central General de Trabajadores del Perú, Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT), Human Rights, Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristán, Congresistas de la República del Perú, Ministerio de Trabajo del Perú, Ministerio del Interior del Perú, Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT-Colombia), ACIN - Colombia, Unión Nacional Agroalimentaria de Colombia, Movimiento Mundial de Defensa de los Bosques Tropicales (WRM), Filiales UITA Perú, Federación Latinoamericana de Trabajadores de AmBev, PLADES.

 

  

Wilson Ferreira Aldunate 1229 Ofic. 201, Montevideo, Uruguay

Tel: (5982) 9007473 - 9021048 / Fax: 9030905  -  uita@rel-uita.org

 

 

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   UITA - Secretaría Regional Latinoamericana - Montevideo - Uruguay

Wilson Ferreira Aldunate 1229 / 201 - Tel. (598 2) 900 7473 -  902 1048 -  Fax 903 0905