After bloody confrontations between police and indigenous Peruvians, the country has decided to abolish two highly disputed laws.

The laws gave foreign companies the right to develop the Amazon area, which is rich in oils and minerals. This was seen by indigenous people as a threat to their traditional way of life.

Demonstrations protesting against the laws got out of hand at the start of this month when at least 24 demonstrators and 10 police officers were killed. The vote which took place in Congress was witnessed by dozens of spokespeople for Peru's 400,000 indigenous people. They were very happy with the outcome.

photo by visionshare/flickr