Kiva Stories from the Field

¡La selva no se vende, la selva se defiende!

“The forest is not for sale, The forest we defend!” shouted the community of Ayacucho while pumping their fists in the air.  Sweat dripped down their foreheads in the midday sun and not a soul was dressed for a day at the office.   The spirit of the crowd was overwhelming, as if every person had their heart invested in the political crisis unfolding in Peru, no matter its geographic distance from here.

Hours after my arrival in Ayacucho on Tuesday, while I was still entranced by the cultural beauty of the place and struggling for air due to altitude, I was told the roads into the town were to be closed at midnight, and water and electricity might be shut off.  The other volunteers at my MFI and I joked that the Peruvians were hazing me – the newest guerita in town.

In the Bagua region of Peru, an area where life is sustained by the Amazon’s great forest, live many indigenous people who have subsided on local hunting for generations.  Far away in the urban metropolis of Lima, Peruvian President Alan Garcia has been coming up with a plan for Peru to have freer trade and more room for foreign corporations, at the request of the U.S.  Two bills were created that would allow thousands of square miles in a formerly protected area of the Amazon rain forest to be for sale – which could indicate logging and/or a foreign oil company.

The indigenous have been rioting.  They feel that their rights are being ignored, as this is an area they consider their own.  The other side, including many urban dwellers, see the indigenous as unfairly resistant to change and purposefully difficult to negotiate with.

Another chant begins.

“Pueblo Amazona, Ayacucho esta contigo!”

Amazon region, Ayacucho supports you.  Ayacucho can relate to the plight of rural farmers and indigenous communities often ignored and forgotten by the national government.  And once they heard of the violence from the conflict last Friday – over 30 indigenous killed and hundreds more missing – it became a personal call to action.  Further fanning the flame is a rampant rumor that the missing indigenous were killed and thrown into the nearby river by the police in order to cover up their deaths.

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