Amazon Indians challenge Peru government over land
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j9pNpad9T95Yc7VQREA4BViTQRhwD98NA70G0
The Aguaruna Indians have a well-earned reputation as warriors. In pre-Columbian times they successfully resisted Inca subjugation. And during Peru's 1995 border war with Ecuador, they served as guides for the army.
Those who know them weren't surprised, then, at the fierce resistance - 23 police officers were killed - when President Alan Garcia's government sent heavily armed police to clear several thousand Aguaruna and their Wampi cousins from an Amazon highway blockade.
The ensuing turmoil has set Garcia's government, which critics accuse of exhibiting racism typical of Peru's traditional European-descended ruling class, on a collision course with this Andean nation's indigenous peoples.
The Aguaruna Indians have a well-earned reputation as warriors. In pre-Columbian times they successfully resisted Inca subjugation. And during Peru's 1995 border war with Ecuador, they served as guides for the army.
Those who know them weren't surprised, then, at the fierce resistance - 23 police officers were killed - when President Alan Garcia's government sent heavily armed police to clear several thousand Aguaruna and their Wampi cousins from an Amazon highway blockade.
The ensuing turmoil has set Garcia's government, which critics accuse of exhibiting racism typical of Peru's traditional European-descended ruling class, on a collision course with this Andean nation's indigenous peoples.