Tribal people occupy an oil field
Activists decry the environmental damage to their territory.
Activists have been protesting PetroPeru’s operations for years. Here in 2017 in the capital city of Lima.
AFP
Indigenous activists protesting environmental damage in their territory have occupied an oil mine in the Peruvian Amazon and trapped 41 workers there, state oil company PetroPeru said on Friday. They want PetroPeru to clean up their land, which was damaged by an oil spill 25 years ago.
The company said in a press release that Petroperu is implementing all possible measures to secure the release of 41 people who were deprived of their rights at the Morona station of the Norperuano pipeline, seized by members of the Fernando Rosas community last Wednesday. . According to him, the activists “did not allow (the workers, who were blocked on the platform) to exercise their right to freedom of movement”. “PetroPeru reiterates its request to the leaders of this demonstration (…) that they leave the Morona station” for a negotiated solution, the oil company urged.
“Not a drop of oil will fall on their land”
The Morona station of the Narperuano pipeline is located in the remote part of the Amazon region of Loreto, about 1000 km northeast of Lima. The indigenous community’s grievances were summarized in a letter sent to Peruvian authorities, which AFP was able to consult. It says the oil company, which they say covered up the oil spill 25 years ago, “prevents them from cleaning up” their contaminated territory every time it rains.
They promise that “no drop of oil will go on their land” until it is cleaned up. NorPeruano has one of the largest oil pipelines in the country. Built forty years ago, it transports crude oil from the Amazon to Piura on the coast, 800 km away.
AFP
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