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Peruvian Tribe Takes on Oil Giant

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 March 2008, 13:35 CDT

Tribes in Peru are determined to turn the tables on oil companies that have set up operations in their territory.

The Achuar tribe, inhabitants of the Amazon Rainforest of north-eastern Peru for thousands of years, alleges that Occidental Petroleum has contaminated their territory by damaging their land and making their people sick, some even to the point of death.

Occidental, based in Los Angeles, left the region eight years ago. It said it denies any liability in the case.

"We are aware of no credible data of negative community health impacts resulting from Occidental's operations in Peru," said Occidental.

Tests for oil in Peru began almost 40 years ago when many foreign companies were given an open invitation to test and drill in the Amazon.

The Achuar’s spiritual leader, Tomas Maynas is the plaintiff in the suit that alleges Occidental Petroleum ignored industry standards and used out-of-date practices by dumping around 9 billion barrels of toxic waste into streams and rivers over 30 years.

He said animals deserted the land, fish died and crops wilted as a result of drilling in the region.

"The Peruvian state just wants to extract as much oil as they can from our land. They've made millions of dollars but we haven't seen it here,” said Maynas.

"We know there's wealth here and there'll be more drilling so the state will keep on killing us . But sometimes, when there is pressure, the state gives in."

After Occidental left the region, Pluspetrol took over.

The Achuar men occupied and held the Amazon oil wells in protest. The Peruvian government and Pluspetrol agreed to change its practices in 2006 after losing millions of dollars a day.

Additionally, Pluspetrol promised to reduce contamination and to pay millions of dollars to establish a 10-year health plan.

"This oil industry should be of benefit for everybody - maybe today it's not of benefit to indigenous people and the government should find the best way to solve that problem," says Roberto Ramallo, general manager of Pluspetrol Norte.

Petronila Chumpi, a 29-year-old native to the region said that further action is imperative.

"A whole generation had their health damaged. How can we keep quiet as our parents did?" asks Chumpi.

"We can't allow this, we're a new generation, we know how to read and write and we have to help our people because they didn't have the knowledge to defend themselves against the oil companies. But now we do."

The Achuar people still claim there is evidence of contamination and oil spills, as they continue to log the location of the problems on their GPS devices.

Still, the fact remains that the tribes live on top of an enormous amount of crude oil, and almost three-quarters of the Peruvian Amazon is leased for oil exploration and extraction.

"It's just coming into the jungle, developing the resource, getting the economic benefit and historically it's been whatever happens to whoever was there before, happens,” said Bill Powers of E-Tech.

"There's no plan, there's no effort made to ensure that they maintain their cultural integrity or that they have something to do once the rivers and the forest don't provide what they used to provide."

Ivan Vasquez, regional president of Loreto said the Amazon must preserve its diversity at all costs.

"The ecosystem is the genetic bank of the Amazon, as it brings together genetic matrices which don't exist anywhere else - thousands of interconnected genetic bases,” he said.

"That is our capital, the genetic bank that we have to preserve for humanity, and for the world."

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Photo by Martí Orta Martínez y Cristina O'Callaghan Gordo

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On the Net:

Occidental Petroleum Corporation

Pluspetrol

Achuar Peru

Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports

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