Update on Peru Protests: Amazonians Hail Victory

Last week, Checktheweather covered a story on the deadly protests going on in Peru. Indigenous groups in the Amazon were protesting over recent laws passed by the government that made it easier for foreign governments to extract natural resources like wood and minerals from the Amazon Rainforest. Yesterdaythe BBC reported that the Peruvian Government has now backed down and has overturned the laws that would have given free-trade to the United States and allowed them to extract minerals and mine in the Amazon. The Indigenous people of Peru argued that they were never consulted by the Peruvian government and the law would have taken away their human rights. Check out this video update from the BBC!

While this is one victory for Environmental Justice we must never forget the 34 people who died in the protests and the millions of people who are still living in environmentally toxic areas and losing their homeland everyday.