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Oblate JPIC Action Alert: Protest Killing of Indigenous People in the Amazon June 10th, 2009
URGENT ACTION NEEDED!
Police Massacre of Indigenous Protesters in the Peruvian Amazon is linked to the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement
Over the past weekend, confrontations in the Peruvian Amazon between nonviolent indigenous protesters and police have left more than 60 people dead. As many as 30,000 Indigenous people have been protesting for nearly two months, a series of Presidential Decrees issued last year under the US-Peru FTA implementation law. Several of these decrees directly threaten Indigenous territories and rights.
Last April, 41 Oblate parish priests from the region issued a statement titled, “Protecting and Respecting the Amazon, we protect the indigenous”. The priests spoke directly of “the increase of social injustice and ecological destruction which threatens the very existence of indigenous and peasant communities that are being despoiled of their lands.”
Full Statement available on this website.
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Oblate Parish Pastors Support Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon June 8th, 2009
Oblate pastors of Latin America, meeting in Lima, Peru on April 20-25, 2009, published the following declaration: Protecting and Respecting the Amazon, we protect the indigenous. The declaration was signed by 41 Oblates and 2 diocesan priests.
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Peruvian Bishops Support Strike by Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon May 21st, 2009
Nine Peruvian Bishops issued a statement supporting the demands of indigenous peoples of the Amazon for an end to the natural resource exploitation that is destroying the region. The indigenous peoples are calling for the Peruvian Government to respect their human rights over those of big business.
Read their statement (Download PDF)
Oblates welcome First Nations Representatives in Rome May 21st, 2009
On April 29, Pope Benedict XVI held a special audience with Canada’s Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine and a delegation of First Nations Elders and former alumni of residential schools. The Canadian Catholic Church was also represented by Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, President of the Episcopal Conference, and a delegation of missionary congregations involved in the residential schools. Fr. Timothy COONEN, the bursar of OMI Lacombe Province, represented the communities of men religious.
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Khasi People Continue to Protest Destruction of their Forest May 20th, 2009
The Khasi people of Sylhet, supported by the Oblates there, have been fighting the cutting of the forest on which the people depend for their living. These efforts are also critically important for protecting area ecosystems.
On May 9th, the Khasi people staged a large public gathering to protest the continued logging as well as tea plantation expansion plans by a powerful landowner.
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