LIMA – Villagers from several communities in the Peruvian Amazon region blocked waterborne traffic along two important rivers to protest several laws they consider detrimental to the integrity of their lands.

Indians have been blocking traffic on the Napo and Corrientes Rivers since last Thursday, when community leaders called local residents out to a general strike to defend their rights, the spokesman for the Aidesep group representing indigenous peoples, Edson Rosales, told Efe on Monday.

In remarks to CNR radio, also on Monday, Aidesep president Alberto Pizango said that the strike is being adhered to by more than 1,000 Amazon Indian communities.

“We want a high-level dialogue that respects our human rights,” he said. “We’re going to keep insisting.”

The pressure tactic is being pursued by indigenous peoples in the regions of Amazonas, Loreto, Ucayali, Madre de Dios, Cuzco and Junin, said CNR.

During the protest a group of Indians last Friday took over an oil installation operated by Argentina’s Pluspetrol, though the protesters relented the following day.

The Amazon Indians are demanding that the new laws regarding water and forest resources be repealed, among other things.

Opposition to the water law also spurred road-blocking protests in the southern region of Cuzco that on Monday forced the suspension of train service to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.

Armed with clubs and stones, local residents began a 24-hour general strike called by community leaders to express their rejection of the legislation, RPP radio said.

Among the roads that are blocked is the one connecting Cuzco with the sacred Valley of the Incas and the one leading to the city of Abancay, RPP reported.

As a result of the strike, the firm PeruRail suspended its train service on Monday on all the routes between Cuzco and Machu Picchu – and those rail routes are tourists’ main access to the Inca citadel – as well as along the Cuzco-Puno link leading into the border region with Bolivia and the gateway to Lake Titicaca.

“We regret the setbacks and consequences arising as a result of this regional strike, which is not connected at all with PeruRail,” said the firm in a communique.

According to the latest report by the National Ombudsman’s Office, the number of social conflicts in Peru totaled 238 last month, most of them over environmental matters, a figure much in excess of the 93 such conflicts registered in March 2008.

Cuzco, Ancash, Ayacucho, Cajamarca and Lima were the regions experiencing the largest number of environmental conflicts in March. EFE