The Multinational Squeeze on the Amuesha People of Central Peru

In 1974 I published an article in the IWGIA Document series (Smith, 1974) in which I told of the struggle of one Amuesha community with a catholic Franciscan mission to retain control over a small area to which these Arnuesha had retreated. In 1976, the Peruvian government awarded this community, now called Tsachopen, title to an area of slightly over 760 hectares; these were precisely the lands which had been under dispute with the mission. It seemed at the time that justice had finally been done to this small community of Amuesha which had known nothing but injustice since the colonists and missionaries had entered almost a century earlier. However, since that victorious day two years ago, the community of Tsachopen has not had a moment of peace: on the one hand, renewed agression by the mission, and on the other, the prospect of invasion by a Japanese mining company have created serious doubts about the value of the land title, about the future of the community, and about the government's stated intention of guaranteeing the rights of its native peoples.