Following the wave of violent unrest in the Amazon region, on June 10, Peru's congress temporarily suspended two decrees issued by President Alan García that would open vast areas to corporate exploitation and allow companies to bypass indigenous communities in winning permits for resource extraction. The following day, police used batons and tear gas to turn back protesters who marched on the congress building in support of indigenous demands that the laws be overturned. At least 20,000 students, trade unionists and indigenous Peruvians from both the Andean highlands and Amazon lowlands joined protests. Some of the students reportedly hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at police. Several were arrested, but police did not release a figure.

By order of President Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua granted asylum June 9 to Alberto Pizango, the Peruvian indigenous leader wanted on charges of sedition for leading protests in the Amazon over the past two months. Pizango, a member of the Shawi people, sought refuge in Nicaragua's embassy in Lima the day before. The Nicaraguan chancellor, Samuel Santos, said his government will guarantee Pizango's safe conduct to the Central American nation.

On June 5 Peru's largest labor confederation, the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP), condemned what it called "the slaughter ordered by the government of President Alan García," referring to the deaths of at least 20 police agents and indigenous protesters earlier that day when police tried to break up a demonstration blocking a road in Bagua province in the northern region of Amazonas. The CGTP called for Congress to repeal the decrees on drilling, mining and land rights that Amazonian indigenous groups had been protesting since April 9. The labor group had held a one-day national strike on May 26 to support the demands of the Amazonian indigenous group leading the protests, the Inter-Ethnic Association for Development of the Peruvian Forest (AIDESEP). (CGTP press release, June 5)

Nine more police officers were reportedly killed in a standoff with indigenous protesters in Peru's Amazonas region June 6, bringing the total dead since the previous day's police attack on a road blockade in Bagua municipality to an estimated 60. Authorities say 22 officers of the Peruvian National Police (PNP) have been killed—seven with spears. Indigenous leaders say at least 40 of their people have been killed, including three children. The government says it can confirm only nine civilian deaths. Thousands of indigenous protesters armed with spears are blockading roads throughout the region.

In the early morning hours of June 5, Peruvian national police forces staged a violent raid on a group of indigenous people at a peaceful blockade on a road outside of Bagua, in a remote area of Amazonas region. Several thousand Awajun and Wambis indigenous people were forcibly dispersed by tear gas and bullets, leaving at least 25 dead and many more injured.

Indigenous protesters June 1 seized two valves on the pipeline that moves natural gas from Peru's Camisea field in the Amazon rainforest to the Pacific coast—the lastest escalation in a campaign across the region to force the government to resist new laws that would ease corporate access to natural resources on indigenous lands. Transportadora de Gas del Peru (TGP), a consortium of energy firms that includes Argentina's Pluspetrol and US-based Hunt Oil, said about 50 protesters took control of the valves over the weekend. The operators said flows have not yet been affected. (Reuters, June 1)

Peru's largest labor organization, the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP), held a one-day nationwide strike on May 27 in support of indigenous people who have been protesting since April 9 in the country's northeastern Amazon region against a package of laws they say will open up their lands to mining and drilling without consultation with local communities. The CGTP strike came on the second day of a May 26-27 strike called by the Inter-Ethnic Association for Development of the Peruvian Forest (AIDESEP), an indigenous organization which has led the protests in the Amazon region.

Dozens of prisoners escaped from Bagua Grande prison, in Peru's Amazonas region, and fled into the jungle in a daring jailbreak May 31. At least 44 inmates escaped, taking an AK-47 rifle with them, after ambushing prison guards and threatening them with knives, authorities said. The majority of those who escaped were convicted or facing trial for violent robbery. Authorities are seeking agreement with indigenous leaders to stop and search vehicles in the area, and a senior official from Peru's national penal authority has been flown in to coordinate the man-hunt. (BBC News, May 31)