Peruvian President Alan Garcia is warning that police may have to use a “heavier hand” on indigenous protesters in the Amazon following the recent clashes that left over sixty people dead. Indigenous tribes fear losing control of natural resources after recent presidential decrees opened up investment on extending mining and oil drilling in the jungle. Indigenous activists in Peru are calling for investigations into the violence and the resignations of government officials, including Garcia. On Friday, the actress Q’orianka Kilcher spoke in Lima on behalf of the indigenous protesters.

Q’orianka Kilcher: “And I hear that Garcia has publicly declared my brothers and sisters of the Amazon to be 'not first-class citizens.' I have to say, shame on you, Alan Garcia, because we are all first-class citizens. We are all Peruvian. And I hear that you are criminalizing indigenous protesters by calling them terrorists and savages. Who gave orders to commit ethnic genocide? Who did?”