[NYTr] Nationwide Protests Rock Peru
 
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 03:42:29 -0400


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
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Toward Freedom - Jul 18, 2007 
http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1082/1/

Nationwide Protests Rock Peru, Bush Seeks Allies in Latin America

by Benjamin Dangl

National protests rock Peru as President Alan Garcia navigates through
an increasingly tumultuous labor and teacher uprising. Rejections of a
free trade agreement with the US and neoliberal economic policies are
at the heart of the national uprising which has left three people dead
and several wounded.

Protests have stemmed from an increasing gap between the rich minority
and the poor majority in the country. Most of Peru's population of over
27 million survives on less than a dollar a day. "What we have in Peru
is economic growth without social development," a political analyst,
Ernesto Velit, told Reuters.

President Garcia, who in his election campaign promised he had learned
from his disastrous mistakes in a previous presidency, is now
experiencing a sharp decline in approval ratings.

Miners, farmers, construction workers and teachers in Peru are demanding
better wages and revisions to the country's free trade agreement with
the US. The international Manco Capac airport in Juliaca, Peru was
occupied by 5,000 workers who set fire to furniture and office
equipment in the facility. Members of the Unified Trade Union of
Education Workers of Peru (SUTEP) protested the passage of an
educational reform law which teachers contend will privatize education
and put hundreds of teachers out of work. Protesters are also demanding
an assembly be organized to rewrite the country's constitution so that
Peruvians can "effectively recover their rights."

A train carrying tourists to Machu Picchu was pelted with stones thrown
by local protesting campesinos. Police officers and one governor were
taken hostage by strikers and transportation in many provinces has been
at a standstill for days. The teacher strikes closed down 70 percent of
the country's schools, while other protesters blockaded roads and
occupied government buildings.

Protesters in southern Peru held nine policemen hostage for six hours.
Protest leaders wanted to exchange the hostages for 14 demonstrators
who had been arrested. Meanwhile, 1,000 people blockading a major
highway demanded the government invest in the region and expressed
solidarity with the national teachers' strike.

Ollanta Humala, a left wing candidate in the last elections against
Garcia, has joined the strikers in hopes to rekindle a future bid for
the presidency.

Panama and Bush's Push for Allies in the Americas

On July 11th, Panama's National Assembly approved a free trade agreement
with the US by a margin of 58 to 3. Proponents of the move say the
agreement will help Panama grow as an exporter of goods to the US.
Farmers and unions denounced the Assembly's decision, explaining that
Panamanian producers can't compete with those in the US. Enrique
Athanasiadis of the National Agriculture Organization said "This accord
is a disaster for products and it benefits the oligarchy." Hundreds of
activists convened outside government offices to protest.

Analysts see the recent push for US trade agreements with Peru,
Colombia, Panama and South Korea as a growing part of US President
Bush's current agenda. One senior official in the Bush administration
said, "The pro-trade community sees these four agreements as a united
set and believe it's important to pass them all. The ongoing effort is
continuing to build and will ratchet up efforts toward building
bipartisan majorities this fall."

The National Journal writes that "[Bush] administration officials are
careful not to mention Venezuela or left-wing president Hugo Chavez, but
they are clearly concerned about his moves toward nationalizing
industries and his use of charisma and oil money to spread his message
in the region."

[Benjamin Dangl is the author of The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and
Social Movements in Bolivia, (AK Press, March 2007).]


       
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