Ecuador's indigenous movement launched a national "Mobilization to Defend the Water" Sept. 28, erecting roadblocks with rocks, trees and burning tires on several sections along the Panamerican highway and various other locations. The mobilization was called by Marlon Santi, president of Ecuador's national indigenous coalition CONAIE, two weeks earlier, at a "National Assembly to Defend the Water." A statement on the website of Ecuador's Amazonian peoples alliance ECUARUNARI states that the country's indigenous movement has been "exhausted by the process of dialogue" with the Rafael Correa government.

Nearly 30 heads of state attended the Second Africa-South America Summit, a Sept. 26-27 meeting of representatives of 61 nations on Isla Margarita, Venezuela, intended to increase trade and economic development cooperation between the two regions. The first summit was held in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, in November 2006. "North-North and North-South summits have been held," Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister for Africa, Reinaldo Bolívar, told the Inter Press Service (IPS), "but apart from the Summits of South American-Arab Countries in 2005 and 2009, the Africa-South America meetings are the only South-South summits taking place in the world."

Indigenous people and coca-growers clashed over control of land in a national park in northern Bolivia Sept. 27, leaving one dead. Indigenous groups that have land rights in the remote Isiboro National Park, Beni department, have long complained that hundreds of coca-growers have been clearing forests inside their territory. "As a result of the clashes between Yuracare Indians [and] the illegal settlers that are illegally growing coca in their territory, a person was killed, presumably an Indian, and three more were injured," deputy interior minister Marcos Farfan was reported as saying by state news agency ABI. (Reuters, Sept. 27)

An officer of Peru's National Police was killed Sept. 22 as protesting metal workers clashed with security forces at La Oroya in Junin region. Several miners were also injured, and one later died in the hospital after breathing tear gas. The workers were blocking roads to demand more time for the local smelter to comply with a clean-up plan (known as the Environmental Adjustment and Management Program, or PAMA). Doe Run Peru, owned by the US-based Renco Group, stopped production at the smelter in June, after banks cut off credit. The company says an extension of the PAMA deadline, set to run out next month, is critical to getting enough international credit to resume operations. Almost 20,000 jobs are at stake in La Oroya, considered to be one of the most polluted towns in the world. Peru's Congress voted to give the company a 30-month extension in the wake of the violence. (RPP, Reuters, Sept. 24; RPP, Sept. 22; Red, Green and Blue, Sept. 5)

International climate experts will gather in Lima this weekend to debate the impacts of global warming on the Andean region. Scientists from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, the US and France will meet at the seat of the Andean Community for the First International Summit on Climate Change in the Andes. (RPP, Sept 21) There is little debate on whether climate change is real in Huaraz, a town high in Peru's Cordillera Occidental, where the impacts of global warming are already being felt—and threaten imminent catastrophe...

Self-defense committees in indigenous communities of Peru's conflicted Apurímac and Ene River Valley (VRAE) received 400 rifles from the army Sept. 14 to fight "narco-terrorists" operating in the high jungle zone. Commander of the VRAE Military Region, Gen. Ricardo Moncada Novoa, and commissioner for Peace and Development of the Central Selva, Mario Jerí Kuriyama, presided over the ceremony, where the arms were turned over to indigenous leaders from Pangoa and Río Tambo districts in Satipo province of Junín region, near the borders with Ayacucho and Cusco regions. Jonatan Sharete Quinchoquer, president of the Campa Asháninka Organization of the Río Ene (OCARE), said indigenous communities are suffering harassment by resurgent Sendero Luminoso guerillas, and called for more armed forces patrols in the zone. A photo with the story shows a mixed group of soldiers in camouflage and Asháninka warriors in traditional ceremonial robes holding aloft their rifles. (El Comercio, Lima, Sept. 15)

In a joint statement issued Sept. 4, local authorities and social organizations in Peru's conflicted Apurímac and Ene River Valley (VRAE) rejected the government's proposal to declare the area a "combat zone." Signatories, including the VRAE Federation of Agricultural Producers, called upon the government to seek peace by promoting social justice, saying declaration of a "combat zone" would only hurt badly needed invesment in the remote and rugged area. The statement also expressed solidarity with the families of soldiers kiled in recent Sendero Luminoso attacks in the VRAE. (La Republica, Sept. 4)

This reporter ran into his first bit of trouble since arriving in Peru two weeks ago while leaving Arequipa for Lima the morning of Sept. 1. The only bus that left at the time I needed to go was also the cheapest—which I knew meant it would stop at every village and crossroads to pick up passengers. It was rickety, dirty and cramped, and packed full of Peruvian budget travellers—including three middle-aged Quechua women in traditional dress. One of them was openly sobbing as she hugged a relative good-bye at the station; being away from home and family was obviously a frightening prospect for her. We finally departed an hour late, after every seat had been sold. Then, to my dismay, we were halted at a checkpoint just outside the city by agents of the Fiscalía—the special investigative police...