Historic Forum on Oil Contamination http://amazonwatch.org/news/2011/0707-historic-forum-on-oil-contamination

The leaders said there has never been such unity among the tribes against a common foe"We will no longer struggle for only our own federation. We will no longer just fight for our own river, my brothers," Sandi said, demonstrating the new spirit of solidarity forged last week during a milestone workshop in which nine of the leaders drafted a common political agenda for the region’s tribes which they read out publically at the forum this week. They plan to present this "Declaration of Loreto" to the new President Ollanta Humala when he takes office on July 28.

The nine-point declaration includes demands for the recognition of indigenous communal territories under the Peruvian Constitution and under international conventions, including Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization and similar agreements Peru has made in the United Nations regarding the rights of indigenous peoples.The agenda is loaded with demands for cultural recognition of indigenous peoples’ cosmo-vision, connection to the water and the land and Suma Kausay – well-being."

We do not want to repeat the history of the periods of ... [rubber and hardwoods], gold, silver and, now, of oro negro, oil, which is the blood of our motherland," the draft document reads. "Because these types of activities uphold our impoverishment not only materially, but culturally, and destroy our relationship with our natural environment.... We will create our own efficient and balanced plan for our natural environment based on our ancestral knowledge, our relationship with the forest and our plant spirits."