Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon are claiming victory after the nation’s Congress on June 18 repealed a pair of decrees that had sparked months of region-wide protests in defense of indigenous land rights. The government’s about-face — including President Alan García’s admission on national television that he had committed “a series of errors” — followed a wave of international and domestic condemnation of a police raid on a peaceful protest in Bagua on June 5 in which dozens of people were killed. (See our June 15 action alert.)

The two contentious decrees, which were passed in 2008 as part of a package of legislation to facilitate implementation of a free-trade agreement with the United States, opened large areas of the Amazon to foreign investment and made it easier for companies to obtain permits for oil drilling, mining, logging, agricultural and hydroelectric projects.

The Peruvian Amazon is rich in oil, gold and other metals, and timber including bigleaf mahogany, drawing foreign investors eager to exploit these commodities. For decades, the indigenous communities have attempted to resist such efforts. The region of the recent violence is host to oil operations, including the bases of the French company Perenco. Two months ago the company announced a $2 billion investment in oil exploitation in the region, including the drilling of over 100 wells from 10 platforms and construction of central processing facilities and pipelines on indigenous lands. Decades of toxic pollution of Amazonia from oil extraction is a major issue for local people who live in the forest and drink river water.

García’s administration had touted the decrees as key to economic growth, and initially refused to acknowledge the protesters’ demands, calling them “terrorists” with a “plot against democracy.” Indigenous groups, however, said the decrees effectively abolished their territorial rights and were passed without their consultation. The decrees also conflicted with international standards: the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the ILO Convention 169, which Peru ratified in 1993, demand that indigenous communities have a say on issues that affect them — free, prior and informed consent.

Peru’s Congress repealed the decrees by a vote of 82 to 14.

“Today is a historic day,” Daysi Zapata, acting president of Peru’s national Amazonian indigenous organization, AIDESEP, said. “We are grateful that the will of the indigenous people has been heard and we only hope that in the future, the government listens and responds to the people, that it does not legislate behind their backs.”

Zapata called on member groups to end all roadblocks and protests, and for the government to repeal seven other related decrees that also pose a threat to indigenous rights and to enter into a “sincere and transparent dialogue for the good of the country.” She also asked the government to drop criminal charges against six indigenous leaders, including AIDESEP president Alberto Pizango, who was granted political asylum in Nicaragua after the government charged him with sedition.

Zapata and other indigenous leaders expressed regret that the decision to repeal the decrees had not been made sooner. “Was it necessary to lose so many lives in order for the government to see that the laws were unjust?” she asked. Although the official death toll of the Bagua violence stands at 10 civilians and at least 24 police officers, indigenous communities have said at least 40 civilians were killed and 150 or more injured, missing or in detention after some 650 security forces opened fire on the protest. Witnesses also reported seeing security forces burning and dumping bodies in an apparent cover-up attempt.

Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch, which has been closely involved with this issue, said the repeal of the decrees was “a welcome first step,” but noted that “indigenous peoples are likely to continue to be at risk by Garcia’s policies to open up the Amazon to extractive industries.”

Thanks to Stefana Serafina for contributing to this report.