On September 26, 2016, traditional Indigenous leaders of Peru traveled to Lima to meet with new Kuczynski administration officials regarding the remediation of contamination in their territories.

On September 12, 2015, hundreds of people from Quechua, Achuar and Kichwa communities of the Pastaza, Corrientes, and Tigre rivers united to form a peaceful protest at the site of the Andoas airport in the Upper Pastaza region of Loreto where Lot 192 has its headquarters. Using their bodies to block the landing strip, mothers, children, elderly and others occupied the space for a total of 12 days.

Indigenous communities have mobilized to occupy 14 oil wells in Lot 192, the largest oil concession in Peru, which is operated by the Argentine company Pluspetrol.

The state of Peru is in the process of launching the bidding process for the largest oil concession in the country, Lot 192, which expires this year, while affected Indigenous communities are still waiting for their demands to clean up contaminated areas from the previous 44 years of exploitation.

Photo: Alfonso Lopez Tejada and Jose Fachin at the COP 20 in Lima. Photo by ACODECOSPAT Kukumas

In Lima, Peru, the United Nations Climate Change Conference known as COP 20 is currently taking place, and finally, Indigenous leaders have been given a seat at the table.

Next month, governments from 195 countries will be meeting in Lima, Peru for the “COP 20” United Nations Climate Change Conference.  In preparation for the conference, the government of Peru unveiled a plan in July to reduce carbon emissions per capita to 75 percent of current levels by the year 2050.

Indigenous protesters are under threat by the Peruvian government after a law was passed that effectively gives the police the “license to kill” according to the Lima-based Instituto Libertad y Democracia.  The law grants: “members of the armed forces and the national police exemption from criminal responsibility if they cause injury or death, including through the use of guns or other weapons, while on duty.

By Public Citizen

Our friends at the Peruvian organization Alianza Arkana have published a report outlining the deception of Argentinian company Pluspetrol as they manage their reputation as a socially responsible company, despite the years of contamination of Indigenous territories in the Amazon.

Aurelio Chino Dahua, the "apu," or traditional leader and president of the Quechua Federation of the Upper Pastaza, attended this year's UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in May in New York city, with the support of Cultural Survival in partnership with the Rainforest Foundation US. Cultural Survival coordinated a meeting for him with both the outgoing and the incoming Special Rapporteurs on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya and Victoria Tauli Corpuz, respectively.