Update on the Shaman Murders in Peru

Truthout.org has published a new article by Darrin Mortenson on the murders of Shaman in Peru, drawing heavily on an interview with Alberto Pizango, Peru's top indigenous leader and president of the country's most powerful indigenous organization, the Interethnic Development Association of the Peruvian Rainforest. In it he suggest the murders were caused by Evangelical influences and organized crime fueled by corporate interests. Definitely worth the read: http://www.truth-out.org/perus-top-indigenous-leader-says-industry-traffickers-behind-shaman-slayings/1323201142

From the article:

Shaman Wilson in Peru, September, 2009.
Photo: Howard G Charing

When the conquering Spanish and Portuguese arrived, they declared open season on shamans and shamanism. Narby said modern versions of the conquerors' religion continue adding fuel to the old witch-burning fire.

"The people themselves have absorbed the outside ideology, in this particular case, the Evangelical Christian one, which goes explicitly against their own culture," said Narby, who noted that Christian and indigenous groups both have histories of bloody excesses in the Amazon.