"An Anglo-French oil company is poised to send more than 1000 workers into a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon inhabited by uncontacted Indians.
The company, Perenco, has just been given the go-ahead from the Peruvian government to drill for oil in the region. It is estimated to be the biggest oil discovery in Peru in 30 years.
Perenco denies the existence of uncontacted tribes in the area, despite confirmation of their existence by Peru’s government, Ecuador’s government, the company that used to work in the area (Barrett Resources), and Peru’s indigenous organizations. Ecuador’s government has even allocated US$38,000 to protect the tribes, and Barrett admitted contact with them was ‘probable.’
Peru’s national indigenous organization, AIDESEP, is opposed to Perenco’s plans. It has appealed to Latin America’s top human rights body, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, urging it to help prevent Perenco working in the region.
Despite this, Perenco intends to construct 14 oil wells and transport between 1400 and 1680 workers into the area. Contact between them and uncontacted Indians could end in violent conflict or the decimation of the Indians by disease."
ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International
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