Most U.S. news reports biased on the Amazon massacre of Peru - UDPATE on the Bagua crisis: bodies being burned down by Police - attacks continue

AP photo posted by The Washington Post and seeing by thousands today:

Police officers carry the body of a comrade killed during clashes with Indians in Bagua Grande, northern Peru, Friday, June 5, 2009. (AP Photo)

Photo sent by a witness in Bagua
seeing by a bunch of Peruvians and other readers of this blog
Dead bodies lay in Bagua, as Indigenous peoples surround them to show respect. Police is blocking access of locals to rescue their loved ones remains. Some say Police are burning down bodies to avoid a fair count of the tragedy.

Most news reports from the U.S. media on the massacre of Indigenous peoples of Bagua, in Peru, are making this seem as if there was a true fight between Police and Indigenous peoples. What really happened is that Indigenous were attacked by surprised and they responded with whatever they could. No one is mentioning this as a genocide motivated by racist policies that ignore the rights of Indigenous peoples of the Amazon regions of Peru.

Around 2 AM. of Thursday June 05, the National Police of Peru started deploying troops in the area. Around 5:30 AM. snipers began shooting at people, from building roofs and helicopters. There was not an armed confrontation, civilians had not weapons in majority. Right now there are reports from witnesses in the area who say that dead bodies are being burned down and thrown to the rivers.

Right now, there is not much access of the Peruvian media to the area, most videos are sent by volunteers or independent journalists. In Lima reports are scarce and manipulated. El Comercio has posted on big letters: "Garcia blames politicians of violence in the Amazon" but that newspaper is not reporting in the current emergency of collapsed hospitals and innocent civilians killed. At this moment the government of Peru has reported only 3 Indigenous peoples and 11 Police members dead. Andina, the official news agency of Peru, is ignoring the news completely on its front page. Nothing is said about the Amazon crisis.

Misreporting may be sign of complicity

Who is behind this misreports on the horrible massacre of Peruvian Indigenous peoples? Perhaps is because U.S. corporations will benefit from this racist attacks if the Peru FTA is imposed finally on the Amazon peoples. Take a look:

AP via ABC News reports that only on Police officers killed and says that the Garcia administration has ordered the arrest of Indigenous leader Alberto Pizango on sedition charges. It doesn’t mention the whole truth about what is happening in Peru right now, where killings of civilians continue at this very moment. They don't mention a single Indigenous person being killed, but they include the opinion of fascist Defense Minister Antero Florez.

The NY Times' Simon Romero, a right-wing journalist that manipulates the reality of Latin America so often in behalf of powerful and rich elites, has an extremely biased report on the Peru crisis. Romero says the Natives attacked the police, which is false. This report favors only the voice of the government of Peru, and makes Indigenous peoples look as enemies of progress, which is false. Romero went too far by including the opinion of fascist, extremist and racist Lima journalist Aldo Mariategui, who has attacked Indigenous peoples with horrendous racist remarks before. Nothing is said about burned bodies, tortured Indigenous leaders captured by Police, children and youth dying in collapsed hospitals, or the blockade of roads by Peruvian Police avoiding for medical help to access the Bagua region. For Romero over 84 casualties mean "More than a dozen dead including 11 police..."

CNN also says that Indigenous peoples and Police clashed, as if there was an armed confrontation. However, it reports on both sides of the conflict in a moderate way that makes a case for the government of Peru. They even had Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde on CNN in Spanish network, presenting lies and excuses that are just outrageous. CNN says only 30 people died, including 12 Indigenous leaders and 8 policemen.

Reuters reports on the Police being kept hostage by Indigenous peoples –which they call ‘tribes’- but is the only report that mentions the U.S.-Peru FTA which has been the cause of this conflicts in the first place. Very few news reports are mentioning this either in Lima or the rest of the world. This report is also moderate, it doesn’t reflect the tragedy happening in Peru. They only mention 33 casualties.

Bloomberg also reports on only 12 dead people as yesterday when sources from the area already mentioned at least 84 people being killed. The report mentions the opinion of several authorities of the Peruvian government and only one paragraph for an Amazonian Indigenous leader. Biased.

The Washington Post has published this AP report makes Indigenous peoples look as enemies of progress “President Alan Garcia, who has championed development of the Andean nation's natural resources despite the objections of indigenous groups.” The AP report mentions the implication of the U.S. Peru FTA in this crisis, and says only 36 people have died. Also it calls Native peoples as “Indians” which is plain wrong and an obsolete grammar mistake.

Amazon Watch, a non profit advocating for Indigenous peoples of the Amazon regions of Peru, released this press alert, where you can find the best report in English on the causes of the attacks in Peru, as yesterday it had reported 31 deaths.

Lat but not least, Al Jazeera which is not a U.S. based media company, has reported on the Peru genocidal attacks first than anyone else, mentioning 20 deaths and its content is fair and direct. Check it out.

None of these news reports include the protests held yesterday in 3 cities of the U.S. at Peruvian consulates and embassy. Please read more on this protests here.

More reports coming later.

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