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H10622

Headlines : Environment

Summary:

“The State, in complicity with the oil companies, is systematically violating our rights. The government is incapable of sanctioning those who pollute our rivers and land,” said Robert Guimaraes, vice president of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP), an umbrella group bringing together 47 indigenous federations and six indigenous regional organisations. “That’s why it is up to us to take action.”

Indigenous communities are fighting back against a long history of oppression by a combination of the Peruvian state and the corporations that it has protected. Bolstered by studies showing shocking levels of heavy metals in populations near oil drilling operations, and well organized from years of struggles, indigenous groups are changing the landscape of Peruvian politics and challenging the dominance of foreign capital and the Lima elite.

[Posted By Szamko]

By Milagros Salazar
Republished from IPS News

Campaigners for environmental and social justice file suit against multinational companies

Arankartuktaram! This Achuar cry sums up what indigenous communities in the heart of Peru’s Amazon jungle region are demanding from the State and multinational oil companies — a little respect.

For thirty years the Achuar people in the Corrientes River basin were unable to stop outsiders from polluting their environment. Now, the indigenous group is about to become the first in Peru to take legal action, as it plans to file suit against the companies it blames for the damages.

Oil drilling on indigenous land began in the 1970s with the arrival of U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy). In 1996, Pluspetrol Norte, a local subsidiary of Argentine-based Pluspetrol, began to operate in the upper basins of the Pastaza, Corrientes and Tigre rivers, and expanded its operational area in 2000.

At the most recent indigenous assembly, held Aug. 5-6, the apus (chiefs) accused oil companies of endangering the Achuar people’s health and environment.

This group comprises 8,000 inhabitants of 31 communities in the northern department (province) of Loreto. Of these, 3,000 to 4,000 are direct victims of oil drilling, says Racimos de Ungurahui, a non-governmental organisation that works on behalf of the Achuar in Peru’s Amazon jungle region.

[end excerpt]

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Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.

H10622

Peru: Indigenous Community to Take Oil Company to Court

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