An army sergeant was killed and another wounded Feb. 26 in a Sendero Luminoso attack on Bajo Somabeni Counter-Terrorist Base at San Martín de Pangoa, Junín department, in Peru's conflicted Río Apurímac-Ene Valley (VRAE). With the death of Sgt. Ronald Gabriel, the number of soldiers killed in the VRAE, a remaining pocket of Sendero activity, since Aug. 30, 2008 reaches 43. (AP via Univision, Reuters via Terra, Feb. 26)

Juan José Quispe, attorney with Peru's independent Pro-Human Rights Association representing survivors of last June's Bagua massacre, issued a statement Feb. 26 protesting Defense Minister Rafael Rey's proposal for an internal military hearing instead of a trial on homicide charges for two generals of the Peruvian National Police (PNP) accused of ordering the violence. The generals, Luis Muguruza and Javier Uribe, have been formally charged with the deaths of four indigenous residents in the June 5 confrontation at Curva del Diablo, a stretch of road in Bagua, Amazonas department, where police opened fire on protesters. It is now believed that 34 were killed in the incident. Quispe said Rey sought to protect the generals' "impunity."

Representatives of Peru's Amazonian indigenous alliance AIDESEP and affiliated regional organizations opened meetings in Lima Feb. 15 with the National Institute for the Development of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples (INDEPA) to arrive at a "plan for protection of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact."

The special commission appointed last year to investigate last June's deadly confrontation between National Police and indigenous protesters at Bagua in the Peruvian Amazon handed in a final report over the New Year holiday, endorsed by the presidential appointees on the panel—but disavowed by those members representing indigenous communities. Speaking on the stalemate, President Alan García assailed his critics in the opposition Nationalist bloc in Peru's Congress for defending the "assassins" of 24 police agents. He made no reference to the at least 10 indigenous activists killed at Bagua.

The Peruvian government is aggressively touting claims that international oil majors are about to return to the country's hydrocarbon-rich Amazon region after being scared off by political instability for nearly a generation. Daniel Saba, president of the state energy company PetroPeru, told reporters Nov. 10 that the French Total, one of the world's four top oil companies, is currently evaluating potential contracts. "They are interested in entering the zones where hydrocarbon discoveries are occurring, whether gas or petroleum; they are investigating the Peruvian market," he said.

The Peruvian government's unprecedented attempt to destroy the country's Amazon indigenous movement has been condemned by indigenous leaders around the world. The wave of condemnation comes after it was revealed that the government plans to disband Peru's national organization for Amazonian indigenous peoples, the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP).

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell nearly 46% to the lowest annual loss on record in 2009, the government reported Nov. 12. The government's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) found that 7,008 square kilometers (2,705 square miles) of forest were cleared during the 12-month period ending July 2009, the lowest extent since annual record-keeping began in 1988. "The new deforestation data represents an extraordinary and significant reduction for Brazil," President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a statement.

The Native Federation of the Rio Madre de Dios (FENAMAD) reports that at least 200 indigenous people have gathered at the settlement of Salvación, the local base for Texas-based Hunt Oil in the rainforest region of southeast Peru, in an ongoing occupation to halt the company's operations. After a meeting at Salvación between company representatives, local indigenous leaders and high-ranking government ministers Oct. 28, FENAMAD announced it was breaking off dialogue and announced an open-ended plantón (protest vigil). Fifty National Police officers have been mobilized to Salvación, where the stand-off continues.

Seven Yanomami Indians in Venezuela have died from an outbreak of suspected "swine flu" in the last two weeks. Another 1,000 Yanomami are reported to have caught the virulent strain of flu. The Venezuelan government has sealed off the area, and sent in medical teams to treat the Yanomami. The regional office of the World Health Organization has confirmed the presence of swine flu. There are fears that the epidemic could sweep through the Yanomami territory and kill many more Indians.

After a week of marches and roadblocks, Ecuador's indigenous movement and President Rafael Correa have opened talks. On Oct. 5, a delegation of some 150 representatives from the three regional organizations of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) attended a meeting with the president and his cabinet in Quito.