By Patricia Wiesse Rizo-Patrón
The full Congress approved the report about the events that occurred in Bagua with a majority vote, thus releasing the ex-ministers, involved in an act of deadly consequences, from criminal liability and any type of punishment. Mockery, once again.
Last week, it was reaffirmed that, in this country, lessons are not fully learned and are forgotten and that exaggerated public displays of outrage fall into oblivion within days. Mercedes Cabanillas, Yehude Simon y Mercedes Aráoz were cleared of any wrongdoing after a weak and unsubstantial report, manufactured to absolve them from blame and to gather support and favors for the sake of strengthening the alliance between the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance Party (APRA) and Fujimori's party, was approved.
To understand why the report signed by Martha Moyano (Force 2011), Juan Perry (National Alliance) and Eduardo Espinoza (Union for Peru - UPP) became the only report discussed in Congress' plenary session, we must recall how this nonsense came about: a year ago, Congress issued four reports, given that the Commission, which was created to investigate the events that took place in Bagua, could not reach an agreement and became divided. On one hand, Güido Lombardi drafted a report that was the mother of all reports. Another member of the Commission, nationalist congressman, Víctor Isla, did not agree with Lombardi's conclusions and recommendations and ended up presenting a corrected version of this report. APRA Congressmen Falla and Calderón went their own way and drafted a document that caused embarrassment. And, finally, the unexpected happened: Moyano, Perry and Espinoza achieved a majority with a "wash and ware" report.
Moyano and company completely modified the report that Lombardi submitted. They removed the analysis and some conclusions and they accused NGO's and local leaders. They also copied an unrevised part of the report drafted by the Peruvian APRA party, which stated that the native communities were infiltrated by subversive elements. Fortunately, they omitted the sequence of events that occurred at the Curva del Diablo (Devil's Curve) drafted by the members of the APRA party, where they shamelessly stated that the policemen were ambushed on June 5 by thousands of indigenous people, who surrounded Major Bazán's group; they stripped them of their weapons and fired first.
What they did keep was the conclusion in Lombardi's report on the political responsibilities that fall on the Executive Branch for having issued the decrees, as well as those that fall on the ministers for having endorsed them; Mercedes Cabanillas' responsibility for having failed to exercise her political leadership; Yehude Simon's responsibility for not having taken action to resolve the situation and Mercedes Aráoz's responsibility for being negligent and reckless.
All reports agree that the police chiefs, in charge of the operation, should be punished for their behavior. (In the end, all the weight of the law has fallen on Generals Muguruza and Uribe and four other policemen, and an investigation has been opened against these men for the crimes of aggravated murder and serious and minor injuries).
It was a shame that Lombardi's and Isla's reports were not supported by the majority and that the congressman did not reach an agreement. (Even then, they would have needed one more signature). The discussion of one of those two documents would have led to a real debate, both exasperating and intense, that would have resulted in exemplary penalties and not the farce that reproduced all the mistakes, vices, prejudices, misunderstandings and lies in Congress that led to the conflict on June 5, 2009.
The two congressmen were committed to the investigation from the beginning and worked on the document together, until a crucial issue divided them: specifically the criminal liability of some members of the Executive Branch. Isla took it one step further, attributing criminal liability to President García, ex-Minister Cabanillas (for wrongful death) and ex-Minister Aráoz (for the crime of general misrepresentation). It was one legally questionable, but brave step further.
A year later, Lombardi has taken to the media to state that it is not enough to point out political responsibility, if it is not backed by impeachment and some type of sanction, such as disqualification to hold public sector positions. In the case of Cabanillas, the congressman contends that she acted with an utter lack of responsibility when she told RPP at noon on June 5 that Station 6 was under control, three hours before the death of the policemen at such facility. (A great example of her deplorable behavior during the conflict).
Simply stated, the weight of the law will only fall on the policemen in charge of the operation and on the indigenous leaders that led the legitimate protest in defense of their land. Today, there are more than 80 leaders with outstanding arrest warrants, and their situation is unbearable because they cannot leave their land; they cannot work or sell their products and, therefore, the nutrition and education of their children are at risk.
The most regrettable thing is that the accused are neither the ones who fired shots at the Curva del Diablo, nor are they the ones that murdered the policemen at Station 6. They are the most visible and well-known leaders in the region, who were leading the peaceful protest, but who were not able to control the indigenous people who decided to act with violence. The best known case is that of Simón Weepiu, accused of kidnapping, serious and minor injuries and murder. This is the story of the Apu, or spiritual leader, that spent more than 50 days at Station 6 and who maintained good relations with the workers and the policemen. On June 5, he was overpowered by the masses consisting of many people from the upper and middle areas of the Santiago River, as well as other unknown individuals. Simón was knocked over together with Commander Montenegro. They kicked him and beat him. They left him on the ground with his pants ripped to shreds. Before they took the policemen to the mountain, he had to leave Station 6 to save his life.
After the events in Bagua, the relationship between the government and the Awajún people came to an end. It seems that this situation is irreparable.
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Fuente: Justicia Viva. Publicada el 16 de junio de 2011: http://www.justiciaviva.org.pe/notihome/notihome01.php?noti=577
Traducción para Servindi de Sylvia Fisher
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