UPDATE

Update: Asháninka Activists Remain Imprisoned

After indigenous Asháninka communities in the Peruvian Amazon were attacked by Sendero Luminoso members, on 11 September 1993, eight Asháninka men who rose to defend their homelands were arrested on charges of terrorism. Four of the men continue to be held in the Chanchamayo prison, although there is no evidence to support the charges against them, according to a report issued in June by the Asháninka organization AIDESEP (a confederation of eight regional entities that have a combined population of some 70,000 Asháninka people).

The judge of Chanchamayo originally wanted to charge the four men with the crime of genocide, but the provincial prosecutor made it clear that there was no evidence to support that charge. The prosecutor then showed that there also was insufficient evidence to prove that the men were guilty of terrorism, as they had not been found to have used firearms or explosives. However, the judge has now apparently decided that the crime for which the men are to stand trial is indeed terrorism. The slow process of the courts has kept the men imprisoned since last October. According to Peruvian legal norms, their trial should have been concluded by February of this year, but the court is finding excuses to prolong the process.

AIDESEP is calling for the unconditional release of the men, but it feels that the corruption of the justice system, together with the pattern of discrimination against indigenous people, is making it difficult to achieve this objective. The AIDESEP report states that the real interests at stake behind the scene favor the colonists who have moved into the area, and who, facing pressure from the Senderistas, are attempting to take over lands that are legally titled to the Asháninka. As an example of this allegation, AIDESEP points to the community of Gloriabamba, which was entirely displaced due to terrorist activities and which is now being recolonized by whites and mestizos backed up by civil, political and military authorities. Gloriabamba is legally titled, juridically recognized and registered by the Ministry of Agriculture as an Asháninka community.

Violence has intensified in Asháninka territory over the past two years, due to the combined pressures of drug-traffickers, terrorists, and colonists. The Asháninka have seen their women and children kidnapped, while colonists have taken over their lands. They have attempted to defend themselves by organizing the Asháninka Self-Defense force, but the situation is very unstable.

For more information, contact:

AIDESEP
Apdo. Postal 14-0267
Lima 14, Peru
tel: 51-14-726621; fax: -724805

(Please refer to Vol.3, no.1 (December) of the Fourth World Bulletin for contextual background of this update.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Fourth World Bulletin • July 1994