<html>
<body>
<font size=4><b>Oil Spill Devastates Amazon Region in Peru <br><br>
</b></font><font size=3>
<a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/2582-oil-spill-devastates-amazon-region-in-peru" eudora="autourl">
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/2582-oil-spill-devastates-amazon-region-in-peru<br>
</a>Written by David Hill <br>
Wednesday, 07 July 2010 12:24 <br><br>
<br>
On June 19 hundreds of barrels of oil were spilled in a remote part of
the Peruvian Amazon, leading to calls for a ‘state of emergency’ to be
declared and an appeal to the United Nations to intervene.<br><br>
The oil was spilled by Argentine company Pluspetrol on the River Maranon
in Loreto, northern Peru. This is far from the first time. According to a
June 25 article in the Peruvian weekly
<a href="http://www.hildebrandtensustrece.com/index.html">Hildebrandt en
sus trece</a>, the same company has spilled oil 78 times in the last four
years in this region: four spills in 2006, 23 in 2007, 18 in 2008, 23 in
2009, and 10 this year already.<br><br>
‘We went down to the river to do our washing and realised there were
traces of oil in the water. That was a shock. We went a little further
along the bank and soon realised that there were patches of oil
everywhere in the river,’ said one local resident in an interview with
radio station La Voz de la Selva, which has followed events
closely.<br><br>
Local reaction has centred on two main concerns. First, the fact that so
many people rely on the river for their survival. According to leading
indigenous organization <a href="http://www.aidesep.org.pe/">Asociación
Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana (AIDESEP)</a>, at least 28
indigenous communities - in other words, thousands of people - use the
river for their drinking water, cooking and fishing.<br><br>
Second, the fact that Pluspetrol’s and the Peruvian authorities’ response
to the spill was so patently inadequate. A statement from a coalition of
local organizations accused Pluspetrol of failing to act quickly enough,
and Peru’s Energy Ministry of playing down the gravity of the spill.
‘It’s not like the Gulf of Mexico,’ the Energy Minister was quoted as
saying.<br><br>
Tragically, this is nothing new in northern Peru where
<a href="http://www.earthrights.org/publication/legacy-harm">oil has
devastated indigenous land and lives</a> for decades. On the River
Corrientes, Amazon Watch, Earthrights International and Peruvian NGO
Racimos de Ungurahui estimate that nine billion barrels of toxic waste
have been dumped into streams and wetlands since the 1970s. <br><br>
"On the international news the Gulf spill is priority news.
Presidents of governments and multinationals speak about the BP disaster,
but nobody is talking about the damage suffered by our river and
communities," said the
<a href="http://www.redambientalloretana.org/">Loreto Environmental
Network (RAL)</a>, a local environmental watchdog based in Iquitos, the
biggest town in the region.<br><br>
Worse, speaking out against this damage makes you enemies. Peru’s
Minister of the Interior decided to
<a href="http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/6176">expel</a> Paul
McAuley, president of the RAL. McAuley has been a fierce critic of
environmenta and human rights abuses in northern Peru for years. In
response
<a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/missionary-defending-amazon-tribes-peru-must-not-be-deported-2010-07-07">
Amnesty International</a> has called on the Peruvian government to
reverse its decision.<br><br>
“The government’s attitude towards Indigenous people and those who work
to protect their rights is deeply disturbing,” said Guadalupe Marengo,
Deputy Americas Director at Amnesty International. “This attempt to expel
a human rights advocate who has worked tirelessly to protect Amazon
communities and their environment is the latest example of the attack on
Indigenous People’s rights that is taking place in Peru.” <br><br>
McAuley, who has lived in Peru for 20 years and who faces deportation
today, said "What we do at the Loreto Environmental Network is
awareness-raising so that biodiversity is treated legally and
responsibly. To some people that seems to be a threat, or contrary to
public order. Our work is to educate people." <br>
These are grim times in Peru. Since the
<a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/1895-50-days-of-protest-and-one-massacre-in-the-peruvian-amazon">
tragic violence</a> at Bagua last year, when armed
<a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/1896-massacre-in-peru-photo-essay-and-dispatch-on-the-bloody-conflict">
Peruvian police attacked indigenous protesters</a>, the government has
been actively persecuting indigenous leaders and trying to undermine
their organizations. Now it appears to be doing the same to their
allies.<br>
<br>
At the same time, the government continues on its course to open up as
much of the Amazon as possible to oil and gas companies. In recent
months, representatives from Perupetro, the state oil and gas agency,
have been touring cities like London and Paris announcing a further 10.6
million hectares of the Amazon are open for business this year.<br><br>
AIDESEP have condemned Perupetro’s plans and said that indigenous people
have not been consulted. Last month, in a move that provoked storms of
criticism, president Alan Garcia
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/24/peru-president-blocks-conservation-law">
blocked a law</a> that would have recognized indigenous people's right to
consultation about projects affecting their communities and
land.<br><br>
<i>David Hill is a researcher with
<a href="http://www.survivalinternational.org/">Survival</a>.<br><br>
<br><br>
</i></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>