www.survival-international.org/news/4706

"Business as usual": Peru approves massive oil project just days after "Amazon's Tiananmen"

Survival International
30 June 2009

 
Crossed spears left by uncontacted Indians in the region where Perenco is working. copyright Marek Wolodzko/Survival


Peru's government has given the green light to an Anglo-French company to drill for oil in the Amazon, just thirteen days after more than 30 people died in protests against the exploitation of the rainforest.

The project, located on land inhabited by two tribes of uncontacted Indians, is believed to be Peru's biggest oil discovery in thirty years. The company, Perenco, a major gas supplier to the UK, has in the past denied any uncontacted Indians live there.

Until recently, Perenco had been blocked from entering the area by local indigenous protesters. With help from Peru's armed forces, the company managed to break through the blockade on at least one occasion. 

High-ranking figures in Peru's government hope that Perenco's project will transform the Peruvian economy. While protests against the company were taking place, Perenco's chairman, Francois Perrodo, an Oxford University polo blue and scion of one of the wealthiest families in France, met Peru's President Garcia in Lima and pledged to invest $2bn in the project.

The government's green light comes just days after protests elsewhere in northern Peru were violently broken up by police, leading to the deaths of both police officers and indigenous protesters. The exact numbers are still unknown. Survival has issued an eyewitness account of the violence.

Perenco intends to build new platforms and wells involving airlifting in, amongst other things, 42,000 sacks of cement. It admits that "contamination of soil", "contamination of water" and the flight of game and birds are possible consequences of its work. All these are essential to the survival of the uncontacted Indians who live there. More seriously, the Indians face the very real threat of contagion from diseases to which they have no immunity.

Survival's Director, Stephen Corry, said today, "Anyone who hoped that the dreadful violence of the past few weeks might have made Peru's government act with a bit more sensitivity towards the indigenous people of the Amazon will be really dismayed at this news. The timing couldn't be worse - the government is trying to present a more friendly image in public, but as far as the oil companies are concerned, it looks like business as usual."

For more information please contact Miriam Ross at Survival International on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (+44) (0)7504 543 367 or email mr@survival-international.org


Act now to help the Uncontacted Indians
Your efforts are crucial in defending the Uncontacted Tribes. Writing a letter to the Peruvian government can make a real difference.

--sample letter--

S.E. Alan Garcia
Presidente de la República del Perú
Palacio de Gobierno
Plaza de Armas
Lima 1
Peru

[Date]

Your Exellency,

I am extremely concerned about the future of uncontacted tribes in Peru. They are exceedingly vulnerable to outsiders' diseases and they make it clear they want to be left alone. They have the right to live on their lands and to remain in isolation. These rights have been recognised by international law.

I strongly urge the Peruvian government to protect uncontacted tribes by removing all loggers from their land, by stopping the entry of any other outsiders, and by prohibiting any form of natural resource extraction on their territories.

I also call on your government to set up an emergency medical plan in case of contact between the uncontacted Indians and outsiders, and conform to international law by recognising the tribes as the rightful owners of their land. At present these tribes are at huge risk and could well be wiped out.

Yours sincerely,
[your full name & address]

--end sample letter--

____
copyright Survival International, 2009

www.survival-international.org/news/4712

Peru Government prepares to investigate 'Amazon's Tiananmen'

Survival International
30 June 2009


 
A wounded protester is beaten by police, Bagua, Peru - copyright Marijke Deleu and Thomas Quirynen


Peru's government is gearing up to investigate the tragic violence in the Amazon last month that left more than 30 people dead, over a hundred injured, and many still missing.

A government committee has ten days to choose the investigating team, which will be led by members of the Catholic Church and is being created after a recommendation by the UN's Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya. Peru's prime minister, Yehude Simon, has said that the team will include representatives from all sectors of society to avoid any accusations of bias.

The preparations are being made after continuing speculation about events in Bagua, northern Peru, where the violence took place. A high-ranking police officer recently suggested that soldiers from the Peruvian army escaped from their barracks to fight on the indigenous protesters' side, but these claims have been dismissed by an Armed Forces spokesman.

Meanwhile, a Peruvian judge has rejected charges brought against Alberto Pizango, the leader of Peru's national Amazon Indian organisation, AIDESEP, and four other AIDESEP leaders. The charges are likely to be re-filed. Pizango has had to flee the country and is currently a political exile in Nicaragua.


How you can help
Please write a letter to President Garcia to express your concern.

--sample letter--

S. E. Alan Garcia
Presidente de la República del Perú
Palacio de Gobierno
Plaza de Armas
Lima 1
Peru

[Date]

Dear President Garcia,

I am deeply disturbed at the violence in northern Peru that has resulted in so many deaths.

As you know, the indigenous communities of the Peruvian Amazon have been protesting peacefully for months at the way their lands have been opened up to oil and gas companies without their consent.

Under both Peruvian and international law, the Indian peoples of the Amazon have the right to the ownership of their traditional lands, and development should not take place there without their consent.

Your government, however, has ridden roughshod over this right.

Your demonization of the well-respected Indian organisation AIDESEP and its leader, together with your calling the Indians "barbaric", "ignorant" and "savages", is counter-productive and will surely simply exacerbate an already inflamed situation.

I urge you to suspend the activities of oil and gas companies in the Amazon until your government agrees to peaceful negotiations with the Indians' representatives. Furthermore, there must be an independent and impartial enquiry into the tragic events of June 5th.

Yours sincerely,
[Your full name & address]

--end sample letter--

____
copyright Survival International, 2009