Aymara Indians in Peru rise up against the state

Last month, in Ilave, Peru, over 10,000 Aymara Indians lynched the mayor of the city after repeated warnings about government corruption went unheeded. (Click here for original story: click) Today, the Aymara people clashed again with the police, with several indigenous people shot while trying to block the international bridge connecting Peru and Bolivia. (Click here for today's story: click)
Update - 27 May 2004 - click

Peruvian national police attack Aymara Indian community of Ilave, Peru

This story is an important example of the mobilization of millions of indigenous people in central and southern Indian America for the reclamation of their freedom. What makes this issue especially intriguing is that the president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, is Indian himself. Sometimes, it appears, one's allegiance to the state surpasses one's allegiance to Indian people. It seems inevitible that Toledo's misplaced loyalities to the Peruvian state will be his political undoing. The question now arises how many other Indian people will die before the inevitible comes to pass?

Read this article for a perspective about how indigenous peoples are shaking up the political status quo throughout the Andean region: click
Indigenous woman in Bolivia calling for the removal of the central government in October, 2003.