Peru: A Chronicle of Deception Attempts to Transfer the Awajun Border Territory in the Cordillera del Condor to the Mining Indus

This report argues and demonstrates that the Peruvian government acted in bad faith by modifying the original proposal to create the Ichigkat Muja National Park agreed upon with the Awajun and Wampi­s indigenous communities of the District of El Cenepa, Department of Amazonas, Peru. The proposal to create a protected natural area in the Cordillera del Condor, the traditional land of these peoples, was prepared together with the environmental authority of the Peruvian government through a long negotiation process and detailed scientific studies, with the purpose of preserving an extremely vulnerable area at the headwaters of the Cenepa River, and as a result of the contribution made by the Awajun and Wampi­s communities to the establishment of long-lasting peace along the Peruvian-Ecuadorian border.

The report also proves that the Peruvian government acted in this manner in order to benefit mining entrepreneurs, some of whom maintain strong political ties with senior government officials. As a result, the territory of these peoples has been threatened, and their rights, not to mention the national and international laws that protect them, have been challenged.

The Awajun and Wampi­s communities and their representative organizations have continuously demanded the following: the reestablishment of the original proposal to create the National Park and the cancelation of mining concessions; neither have been granted by authorities. This situation serves as a basis for the claims made by the indigenous movement that led to massive demonstrations in 2008 and 2009, in addition to a prolonged strike, which culminated in the bloody events of Bagua (June 5, 2009), when the government violently intervened to evacuate the Awajun and Wampi­s contingents that had blocked a highway.