Deadly clash with Indian protesters sends Peru leader’s approval rating down for 3rd month

September 30th, 2009 Chile invites Peru to disputed military exerciseSANTIAGO, Chile — The Chilean air force said Tuesday it has invited its Peruvian counterpart to send observers to military maneuvers that Peru has interpreted as threatening and wants canceled. The air exercise is set for late October in an area of northern Chile near Peru and is to include participation by the air forces of the United States, France, Brazil and Argentina.

August 22nd, 2009 Peru's Amazon Indians warn of renewed protestsLIMA, Peru — Peruvian Amazon Indian leaders are warning of renewed protests, alleging Friday that the government has not honored promises made in the aftermath of June violence that left at least 23 police and 10 Indians dead. Indian leader Salomon Awananch accused the government of blocking the formation of an independent truth commission to investigate the June violence.

August 16th, 2009 Protest in Peru over slow recovery from 2007 quakeLIMA, Peru — Residents of a city destroyed by an earthquake in southern Peru two years ago protested Saturday over the slow pace of reconstruction, and police fired tear gas after the demonstrators blocked an important bridge. Some 4,000 people in Pisco blocked the Huamani bridge for four hours, disrupting traffic on the main route linking the south with the national capital, Lima.

August 7th, 2009 Relatives of police killed in Peru blame officialsLIMA, Peru — Relatives of police officers killed during a government crackdown on Amazon Indian protesters are seeking criminal charges against Peru's former interior minister and three police chiefs, a lawyer said Thursday. Ten civilians and 23 policemen were killed June 5 when a small, heavily armed troop of officers cleared a highway blockade where nearly 5,000 Indians were protesting development on their ancestral lands.

July 12th, 2009 Magnitude 5.3 earthquake hits southern PeruLIMA, Peru — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 has struck southern Peru. The country's seismic institute says there are no immediate reports of damage or injury.

July 3rd, 2009 Peru bus collision kills 23 near Lake TiticacaLIMA, Peru — Two buses crashed head-on Thursday on a mountain road near Lake Titicaca in Peru, killing at least 23 people and injuring 50 more, police said. The morning crash occurred in the Santa Lucia district, about an hour's drive from Lake Titicaca high in the Andes, a Puno state highway police officer told The Associated Press by phone.

June 19th, 2009 Peru Congress revokes contested Amazon decreesLIMA, Peru — Peru's Congress on Thursday revoked two key decrees that had sparked deadly protests by Amazon Indians opposed to development on their lands, a vote hailed as a victory for indigenous groups. After five hours of debate, lawmakers voted 82-14 to strike down the decrees, which indigenous groups said would speed the sale of their lands for oil and gas projects.

June 18th, 2009 Peru Indian protest leader arrives in NicaraguaMANAGUA, Nicaragua — Peruvian indigenous leader Alberto Pizango arrived Wednesday in Nicaragua, where he has been granted political asylum after facing charges in his homeland for his role in protests against Amazon development that turned bloody. Pizango left Lima on a Copa Airlines flight and was greeted in Managua by a Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry representative.

June 12th, 2009 Police fire tear gas in Peru protestsLIMA, Peru — Riot police have fired tear gas to keep protesters away from Peru's Congress as thousands march in favor of Amazon Indians who want it to overturn laws they say threaten their lands. Some 4,000 students, labor unions and other native Peruvians from the country's Andean highlands to its jungle lowlands joined the mostly peaceful nationwide protests.

June 6th, 2009 Peru: 9 more police killed in Amazon protestLIMA, Peru — Peru's defense minister says nine more police officers have been killed as security forces battle Indians in the Amazon who are protesting oil and gas exploration on their remote lands. That brings to 20 the number of police deaths.

June 5th, 2009 Peru says 5 police killed in Amazon protestLIMA, Peru — Peruvian authorities say five police officers have been killed by Indians protesting against oil and gas exploration on their ancestral lands in Peru's Amazon. Indigenous leaders say 15 protesters were killed in the clash in an area called Cruz del Diablo — or "Devil's Cross" — in Utcubamba province.

May 14th, 2009 Bolivia: Peru ties 'at risk' over refugee decisionLA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivia's president says relations with Peru are at "high risk" after the neighboring nation gave refuge to two more former Bolivian officials accused in the 2003 army killings of dozens of protesters. Evo Morales says his government is considering its response to what he calls a "provocation and an open aggression" by his Peruvian counterpart, Alan Garcia.

May 8th, 2009 Georgian officials to hold talks with oppositionTBILISI, Georgia — Georgian officials are ready to meet with opposition leaders to discuss their demands, the parliamentary speaker said Friday after monthlong anti-government protests turned to violent clashes this week. Speaker David Bakradze welcomed opposition leader Irakly Alasania's statement Thursday that the protest leaders were ready to talk with authorities, and said officials were willing to hold talks Friday.

May 6th, 2009 Several said injured in Georgia clashTBILISI, Georgia — Police armed with truncheons have beat opposition leaders during a protest in Georgia. It appeared to be the most serious outbreak of violence in more than three weeks of demonstrations calling for President Mikhail Saakashvili's resignation.

May 1st, 2009 Peru Indians block jungle airport in land protestLIMA, Peru — Ashaninka and Yines Indians are blocking an airport in the central Peruvian jungle town of Atalaya as well as two stations on a northern oil pipeline to protest laws that they say threaten their ancestral land and resources. Edson Rosales, spokesman for an Indian rights group in the Amazon, says 15,000 Indians have been protesting since April 9 and plan to start taking over oil and gas rigs.