Peru: Indigenous Seize 11 Oil Wells Demanding Spill Clean Up

The Achuar indigenous people are fed up with the pollution left behind by foreign oil companies. Photo: Reuters

by Telesurv.TV, sept 2, 2015

The Achuar communities say foreign oil companies pollute their lands and their clean water. They demand compensation and clean up of oil spills.

Peruvian indigenous protesters seized oil wells in an Amazonian oil block Tuesday to press the government to respond to demands for compensation due to the pollution caused by the petroleum operations.

The protesters from the Achuar indigenous communities said they also plan to halt output in a nearby concession.

Victory in prospect for Peru’s Kichwa People after 40 years of oil pollution

A young Kichwa girl at blockade, photo by David Hill.

David Hill, The Ecologist, Feb 10, 2015

A month-long blockade of the Rio Tigre deep in the Peruvian Amazon has secured promises of compensation and cleanup for Peru’s Kichwa communities who have suffered 40 years of contaminated waters from oil drilling operations in their remote Amazon region. But until the funds materialize, they are holding firm in their resolve.

Hundreds of of Kichwa indigenous people living along the River Tigre in the remote Peruvian Amazon are demanding over 100 million Peruvian nuevo soles ($32 million / £21 million) from oil company Pluspetrol in the “environmental damages” they have sustained over 40 years of oil drilling.

Peru’s Indigenous People Blockade Oil Company on River Tigre

Kichwas protesting in the northern Peruvian Amazon following more than 40 years of oil operations in their territories. Photograph: Feconat

Kichwa communities bar River Tigre, an Amazon tributary, with cables to stop oil company boats from passing and accuse government of turning a blind eye to contamination from oil operations in the forest

by David Hill, The Guardian, Feb 2, 2015

Hundreds of indigenous people deep in the Peruvian Amazon are blocking a major Amazon tributary following what they say is the government’s failure to address a social and environmental crisis stemming from oil operations.

Kichwa men, women and children from numerous communities have been protesting along the River Tigre for almost a month, barring the river with cables and stopping oil company boats from passing.

Indigenous Peruvians occupy oil wells, demand compensation

An aerial view of a gas exploration camp, run by Argentine company Pluspetrol, in the Amazon jungle near Cuzco, 470 kilometers east of Lima, on May 18, 2011.  AFP file.

France 24, Jan 28, 2015

LIMA (AFP) – Hundreds of indigenous Indians from the Peruvian Amazon demanded compensation for land use at 14 oil wells, where their demonstrations caused production to be suspended, Argentine oil company Pluspetrol said Wednesday.

Some 300 to 400 indigenous people have been gathering at the oil wells near Peru’s border with Ecuador since Tuesday.

Pluspetrol said the demonstration had resulted in the suspension of production, and had also blocked transportation on a stretch of the Tigre River.

Indigenous protesters occupy Peru’s biggest Amazon oil field

Achuar protest against oil companies, May 2013.

Dan Collyns, The Guardian, April 25, 2014

Around 500 Achuar indigenous protesters have occupied Peru’s biggest oil field in the Amazon rainforest near Ecuador to demand the clean-up of decades of contamination from spilled crude oil.

The oilfield operator, Argentine Pluspetrol, said output had fallen by 70% since the protesters occupied its facilities on Monday – a production drop of around 11,000 barrels per day.