It aint easy being Green - especially in South America

Got this in the email today. Bit scary really to think how much danger you can put yourself in when you stand up for the rights of the environment, indigenous people and other minorities. Makes me even more thankful I live in this country. And it makes me more determined to do the activism I do. If I don't take advantage of my relative security to be able to stand up and demand a safer world and a cleaner environment, how the hell can I expect people like Flor to do so?

21 February 2005 URGENT - THEY WANT TO ASSASSINATE HER NOTICE TO THE FEDERATION OF GREEN PARTIES OF THE AMERICAS AND THE GLOBAL GREENS The Partido Alternativa Verde of Peru wishes to report to the member parties of the FPVA the grievous assassination attempt on the life of the National Secretary General of our organization, Flor de María Hurtado Valdez, by two unknown armed individuals as she was leaving her home last Friday afternoon. Flor de María Hurtado Valdez is leading a significant mobilization in the Amazon area of Peru in defense of the Amazon jungles and the indigenous and native communities. This struggle is taking place in the following setting: l. The State of Peru and the regional government of Loreto have undertaken a process of exploitation of the Amazon forests without conducting environmental impact studies and without the ecological zoning set forth in the laws of Peru, thereby violating their own laws, without giving recognition to the ancestral right of the indigenous people to their own territory in accordance with Agreement 169 of the OIT. 2. Mafioso groups of traffickers in illegally cut timber have taken advantage of an irregular process of auctioning the Amazon forests in order to continue enriching themselves through "laundering" lumber. 3. Thanks to the determined participation of the Secretary General of the Partido Alternativa Verde, the regional headquarters of the Peruvian justice system has just issued a pronouncement, through a transcendental resolution that favors the native community, to exclude 700,000 hectares of Amazon forest. 4. Twenty-seven million hectares of the Amazon territory have already been deforested. This over-exploitation has resulted in abandonment and poverty for the peoples of the Amazon area of Peru and is an assault on the rights of the indigenous communities, who have not been contacted [regarding the deforestation of their lands]. 5. The handing over of the Amazon forests to mafiosos trafficking in lumber has expelled indigenous men and women from their lands, infringing on their ancestral right to use their own natural resources for subsistence, which amounts to genocide. For these reasons, we call on all our colleagues in the FPVA and the GLOBAL GREENS to initiate a solidarity chain, requesting respect for the life our green leader, Flor de María Hurtado Valdez, as well as to repeal the Ley Forestal Number 27308 of the Forest Concessions in the Amazon area of Peru and to call a halt to the nonsensical action of auctioning an additional 14,000,000 hectares, leaving the planet without its green lungs. We will greatly appreciate your addressing your feelings about this situation to the following e-mail addresses, and we hope for a pronouncement fom the various green parties and from the Federation requesting guarantees for the life of Flor de María Hurtado. Green blessings, Alex González President alexrolfidgonzales@yahoo.com.mx --------------------------- Presidente Alejandro Toledo Presidente de la Republica del Perú (President of the Republic of Perú) Palacio de Gobierno - Lima atoledo@presidencia.gob.pe Señor Félix Murazzo Carrillo Ministro del Interior (Minister of the Interior) Plaza 30 de Agosto N° 160 - Lima ministro@mininter.gob.pe fmurazzo@mininter.gob.pe Eduardo Bruce Montes de Oca Presidente Ejecutivo, Instituto Nacional de Radio y Televisión del Perú (Executive President, National Institute of Radio and Television) Av. José Gálvez N° 1040 Santa Beatriz - Lima presidencia@irtp.com.pe ebruce@irtp.com.pe Sr. Robinson Rivadeneyra Reatigui Presidente del Gobierno Regional de Loreto (President of the Regional Government of Loreto) Av. Abelardo Quiñones Km. 1.5 - Iquitos rrivadeneyra@gorel.gob.pe Sr. Alvaro Quijandria Salmon Ministro de Agricultura (Minister of Agriculture) Pasaje Francisco de Zela 150 - Lima aquijandria@minag.gob.pe