by CHRISTINA AIELLO
The syndrome of the perro hortelano, the “dog in the barn,” refers to a dog growling over the food that he neither eats nor lets anyone else eat. This was the image that Peruvian President Alan García evoked in 2007 to describe the many indigenous communities in Peru who intended to protect their lands and resources in the face of the impending free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. García’s argument was that Peru’s future economic development would be paved with the income generated by the exploitation of the country’s rich natural resources, primarily in the Amazon, which would be facilitated through the signing of free trade agreements. Though García got his wish, and the U.S.-Peru FTA went into effect on February 1, 2009, the problem that continued to disturb him was that the people who lived on those lands had the audacity to stand in the way of Peru’s progress.