After years of waiting—during which they suffered from violent attacks and the degradation of their ancestral lands—the Ingaricó, Macuxi, Patamona, Taurepang and Wapichana indigenous peoples of Raposa-Serra do Sol in Brazil's Roraima state have received a favorable decision by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). During its last session at the end of October, the IACHR issued an admissibility decision in their case against the government of Brazil. The decision signaled that the government's treatment of indigenous peoples in Raposa may constitute a violation of their human rights. The IACHR is next set to issue a formal judgment on the matter.

As oil companies with pending contracts in the Peruvian Amazon continue to deny the existence of indigenous "peoples in isolation" in remote forest areas, new evidence has emerged. In November, Peru's National Institute of Development of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvians (INDEPA) released video footage of a newly "discovered" tribe in the Kugapakori Nahua Nanti reserve (Upper Camisea River, Cuzco region).

On Nov. 1 the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released the full text of a declassified 2008 report on the agency's involvement in the April 2001 downing of a small civilian plane in Peru. A Peruvian Air Force jet shot the plane down on orders from CIA agents as part of the US "War on Drugs," killing US missionary Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter Charity. Bowers' husband and son and a pilot were also on the plane but survived the attack.

Some 4,000 indigenous people ended their blockade of the Río Marañon in northern Peru Oct. 30, after reaching an agreement with the government and Argentine oil company Pluspetrol. After an oil spill in June, Peru's government started distributing food and goods to the people most affected in the region. However, with Pluspetrol declaring the pollution problem resolved, the government has cut off aid—in spite of indigenous complaints that their lands and waters are still impacted. The agreement calls for peace on both sides until the government's water authority can test the Marañon for pollution. (EFE, Earth First!, Oct. 30)

Survival International is warning the United Nations of massive oil operations in the northern Peruvian Amazon that could decimate uncontacted tribal people. "By permitting companies to operate in this region Peru's government is flagrantly violating international law. Survival believes it very important to investigate this situation as soon as possible and for Peru's government to prohibit the companies from working there. If that is not done, some of the world's most vulnerable citizens could be wiped out," said a letter from Survival to the UN's Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples, Prof. James Anaya.

Indigenous organizations from the tri-border area where Peru's Madre de Dios region, Bolivia's Pando department and Brazil's Acre state come together met in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, Sept. 28, and issued a statement declaring a "state of emergency" throughout the Amazon rainforest due to the "intense promotion, approval and execution of mega-projects by the governments of the three countries." The Fourth Tri-national Encuentro of Indigenous Peoples especially demanded cancellation of the Inambari hydro-electric plant in Madre de Dios and the Cachuela Esperanza hydro-dam in Pando. The meeting was called by the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA). (La Republica, Lima, Servindi, Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources, Sept. 29)

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva has signed a contract allowing the construction of the hugely controversial Belo Monte mega-dam on the Amazonian Xingu River to go ahead. Lula said, "I think this is a victory for Brazil's energy sector." Belo Monte, if built, will be the third largest dam in the world. It will devastate the local environment and threaten the lives of the thousands of indigenous people living in the area, whose land and food sources will be seriously damaged.

Ecuador announced Aug. 17 it will renegotiate contracts with foreign oil companies, seeking up to 90% of revenues for the state. The OPEC member has 33 foreign oil contracts, and the largest ones—with Spanish-Argentine YPF and Chile's Enap—will be the first to be reworked, Non-Renewable Resources Minister Wilson Pastor told a press conference. President Rafael Correa's government on July 26 signed a legal reform under which the state is 100% owner of crude oil resources. Under the new contracts, foreign firms will no longer own what they pump, but will have to purchase it from the state. The new contracts are to be ironed out by Jan. 23, 2011, Pastor said. Ecuador currently produces 472,000 barrels per day. (AFP, Aug. 17)