Indigenous Amazon people ban oil company from their land and pledge to physically block developers

'We stand by the firm decision of keeping our territory clean,' says alliance

Natives armed with spears set a road blockage at the entrance of the Amazonian town of Yurimaguas, northern Peru (Getty Images)

Indigenous Amazonian people have publicly banned an oil company from their land and warned them that they are willing to physically block the drilling from happening if necessary.

At the beginning of December the Peruvian government approved Santiago-based company GeoPark Ltd to produce oil in Block 64, which is home to dozens of indigenous people.

The move is part of President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s drive to remove red tape and generate profit from the region’s natural resources.

The Archuar federation, FENAP, which represents 45 communities within Block 64 in the northern Peruvian Amazon, has issued a public ban on the Chilean oil company entering their territory.

The Archuar have pledged to physically block the company — previous attempts to do this have resulted in dozens being killed.

“We have lived through the bad experience of damages to our habitat, health, and life as a result of activities related to the Northern Peruvian Oil Pipeline and activities of the oil company Talisman, from which there continue to be environmental liabilities, in part within our territory, that to date have not been remediated,” the Achuar said in a statement.

“Given this we have taken the firm decision to not permit any oil activity within our territory.”

“We stand by the firm decision of keeping our territory clean and conserving it for future generations.”

Block 64 has around 40 million barrels of oil in proven and probable reserves. GeoPark partnered with Purvian fuel company Petroperu to try to exploit it two years ago, yet the previous government was hesitant.

Although the Archaur’s ancestral lands span around two thirds of oil production, many of the settlements do not have formally own the land, Reuters reported.

The Archuar have called on courts to annul the 1995 creation of Block 64 and rescind approval for GeoPark to enter the territory.

One lawyer for FENAP, Raquel Yrigoyen. said both actions were illegal because the government did not consult the Achuar — a stage required by laws protecting indigenous people.

In a statement issued earlier in December, GeoPark said it “respects the rights of indigenous people and would not seek to develop areas where local populations are opposed to drilling activity”.

Yet FENAP refuted the comments, saying GeoPark had expressed implicit interest in expanding exploration and extraction throughout Block 64 belongs to FENAP.

PetroPeru’s environmental and safety record has been strongly criticised following multiple oil spills.

While President Kuczynski has acted to strengthen his ethical credentials through founding a non-profit company for distributing clean water, while previously serving in the cabinet as energy minister he was entangled in controversy for providing large tax breaks to foreign oil companies.

Drilling in the Amazon has long been fought by those living in the area. In 2009, conflict broke out on the Devil’s Curve, a motorway near Bagua after thousands of indigenous people gathered to block oil company access to the jungle.

President at the time Akan Garcia sent in the military to deal with the process, and at least 32 died in what was later known as the Bagua massacre.