LIMA, Peru — Indians protesting government moves to develop oil, gas and other resources on their lands battled police in Peru’s Amazon on Friday, with authorities and Indian leaders separately reporting 11 police and 25 protester deaths.
Accounts of the clashes and death tolls varied widely, as no independent journalists appeared to be present on the remote jungle highway in the northern province of Utcubamba where the fighting took place.
But the political violence was Peru’s worst in years and augured ill for President Alan Garcia, who has championed development of the Andean nation’s natural resources despite the objections of indigenous groups.
Authorities announced a curfew Friday night in the affected area and announced 36 arrests. Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillos said Indians were holding 38 police officers hostage at a facility belonging to state oil company Petroperu.
The violence erupted before dawn as officers broke up a road blockade by about 5,000 Indians in an area called Curva del Diablo, or “Devil’s Curve.”
