Following protests by indigenous groups in the Peruvian Amazon, Congress has handed President Alan García a rare defeat, overturning two executive decree laws in a vote that some environmentalists say could prompt future challenges to presidential decrees. By a 66-29 vote with no abstentions, Congress has repealed decrees 1015 and 1073, which reduced the voting support needed for native communities in the tropical lowlands and campesino communities in the highlands to make decisions about land use, including sales or leases. Community leaders protested that they had not been consulted about the measures, which lowered the required majority from two-thirds to a 50% plus one. (See “Trade-related decrees triggering protests in Peru”—EcoAméricas, Aug. ‘08.) According to Ernesto Ráez-Luna, director of science and... [Log in to read more]