Carlos Navas, mayor of Imazita in Peru's Amazonas region and spokesman for the indigenous aliance AIDESEP, hailed the government's formation of an investigative comission on the Bagua massacre as "an important step" towards reconciliation in the wake of June's deadly unrest. Agriculture Minister Adolfo De Córdova announced Sept. 2 that seven members of the comission have been chosen—three elected by AIDESEP, three chosen by the Executive Branch, and one to represent Peru's regional governments.

Awajún and Wampis indigenous leaders in the valley of Peru's Río Cenepa, in the Cordillera del Cóndor near the Ecuadoran border, issued a statement Aug. 25 giving the Dorato mining company 15 days to quit the territory. The statement came following a resolution by local apus (indigenous leaders) meeting in the town of Imacita, Amazonas region.

Peru issued a formal request to Interpol Aug. 27 for the capture of three Amazon indigenous leaders who have taken political asylum in Nicaragua, including Alberto Pizango, leader of the protest campaign that climaxed in violent conforntations in June. Pizango is accused of "sedition," homicide and attacking the armed forces.

The United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a formal recommendation Aug. 28 that the government of Peru open an "exhaustive, objective and impartial investigation, including indigenous represetatives" into the June 5 deadly violence that ensued when National Police troops broke up an indigenous road blockade at Devil's Curve in Amazonas region—a bloody episode that the Peruvian press has dubbed the "Baguazo." (24 Horas Libre, Lima, Aug. 29)

After consulting with some 300 apus (traditional chiefs) from Amazon communities, the Peruvian indigenous alliance AIDESEP announced Aug. 24 that it is putting off a decision to return to its paro (protest campaign) to give dialogue with the government more time. But AIDESEP spokesman Salomón Awanash warned the administration of President Alan García to take the talks more seriously. "We don't want advisors, but actors who can make decisions," he said. He also said that AIDESEP is demanding an independent "truth commission" to investigate the June 5 violence at Bagua, in Amazonas region, which has been dubbed the "Amazon's Tiananmen." (El Comercio, Lima, Aug. 24; Agencia Pulsar, Aug. 21)

Peruvian lawmaker and ex-interior minister Mercedes Cabanillas of the ruling Aprista Party, with the support of current Prime Minister Javier Velásquez, is proposing legislation that would authorize the National Police to use deadly force against civilians if they believe a violent confrontation is imminent. Opponents of the measure say it would give police broad discretion to fire on protesters—just as indigenous groups in the Amazon are preparing a new mobilization in defense of their land rights.

New aerial photos have revealed illegal loggers operating inside an Amazonian reserve set aside for uncontacted and highly vulnerable Indians. The photos show loggers' camps inside the Murunahua Reserve in Peru, created to protect uncontacted Murunahua Indians in 1997. Three further camps were also found inside the reserve.

The first cases of "swine flu" have just been reported among Amazonian Indians, raising experts' fears of a devastating contagion among peoples with no immunity to outside diseases. Seven members of the Matsigenka tribe living along the Urubamba River in the Peruvian Amazon have tested positive for the virus, according to the health department in Cusco.