The US Embassy in Lima expresses fear that Indigenous people may once again govern Peru.
Former US Ambassador to Peru, Curtis Struble, identified Indigenous activists and tracked the involvement of prominent Quechua activist Miguel Palacin Quispe and activist Felipe Quispe, leader of Pachakuti Indigenous Movement.
A cable dated March 17, 2008, focuses on Indigenous activists and their supporters who, the cable states, were organizing “anti-summit” protests against the European Union-Latin American Heads of State summit scheduled for mid-May of 2008 in Lima.
James Nealon at the US Embassy in Lima wrote the cable released Sunday, Feb. 13. “The greatest concern among our European Union mission colleagues is the threat that radicals could hijack the protests by aggressively confronting ill-prepared security forces.”
In one of six cables released Friday, Feb. 25, from Lima, Ambassador Struble writes of the regions of Peru. He said the southern highland province of Puno has an “affinity for far-left radicalism.”
Continuing his obsession with the feared “radicalism” and Indigenous rule in Peru, Struble writes of the “philosophy” of Antauro Humala. He fears that “Voters would again turn to radical, ‘anti-system’ candidates — to the Humalas or ‘someone just like them’ — in future elections.”
The diplomatic cables from Peru reveal the US white imperialism backbone of the US Embassy – the secretive global structure that establishes mining operations, without regard to the environment, and targets Indigenous Peoples, often leading to assassinations of Indigenous community organizers by mining companies.
In a previously released cable, Ambassador Struble exposed the fact that the diplomats of five countries — US, Canada, Britain, Switzerland and South Africa — organized in Peru to promote and protect mining. This was done in response to ongoing Indigenous protests of mining.
The US and Canadian Ambassadors met with these mining companies: Antamina, Newmont (Minera Yanacocha), Minera Quellaveco, Barrick, BHP Billiton (Tintaya mine).
Ambassador Struble writes, “Many foreign mining firms are finding that the region is rich in mineral deposits, and will soon seek permission from the Ministry of Energy and Mines to develop these resources. The Ministry has few if any back-linkages to the highlands, Quechua-speaking communities that live in potential mining areas,”
“Two mega-mining projects could transform this predominantly agricultural region with massive, multi-billion dollar investments.”
In another cable released Friday, Former US Ambassador Michael McKinley discusses the protection of water resources in Peru. Once again, the Ambassador is on the lookout for Indigenous activists at a protest blocking a highway in Peru, where protesters were opposing taxes on water for farmers.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton states that the Intelligence Community relies on biographical information from US diplomats. Clinton asked US Embassy personnel to collect address books, e-mail passwords, fingerprints, iris scans and DNA.
“The police also reported having spotted Bolivian and Ecuadorian activists among the Indigenous protesters,” Ambassador McKinley wrote.
In previously released cables, the US Ambassadors in Lima name names, placing Indigenous activists opposed to mining on their watch list. Also on the watch list is one Indigenous newspaper, La Lucha Indigena.
By Brenda Norrell
Read the entire articles at Wikileaks Peru: US feared Indigenous power
and
US Engaged in Espionage of Indigenous Activists.
