President Alan Garcia defending the massacre of indigenous people in the Amazon
on June 5th declared that the indigenous people "are not first class citizens."
("no son cuidadanos de primera clase") He also suggested that the governments of
Venezuela and Bolivia were supporting the Peruvian indigenous movement to hold
up the progress of Peru.

The government claims 24 policemen were killed and 9 indigenous people were
killed with 155 wounded and 72 arrested. However, indigenous sources refer to
26 indigenous people and supporters being killed, with bodies disappearing.

In Bagua demonstrators burnt down the offices of the National Police and the
local offices of the APRA, the ruling party.

A National Day of Protest has been called for Thursday June 11th.

The Natonal Police Union (Sindicato Unico de Policia Peruana SUPP) has sent a
communique lamanting the deaths of their fellow police officers and "our native
brothers, all those who fell in Bagua." The union holds the Peruvian government
responsable for the deaths, especially President Garcia and Prime Minister
Yehude Simon, The statemeent calls for "a democratic police, where uniformed
workers are dignified, respected, without corruption at the service of citizens
and people in general, and that we should not have to be used by the government
which is in power at the time as a repressive force.
Earl Gilman