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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,
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Luis Alejandro Pedraza
Comité Ejecutivo Latinoamericano
de
la UITA |
Gerardo Iglesias
Secretario Regional UITA
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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.
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