Oil Comes First in Peru, Not Coronavirus Danger, Not Indigenous Rights
JULY 13, 2020
Oil Comes First in Peru, Not Coronavirus Danger, Not Indigenous Rights
by W. T. WHITNEY
Photograph Source: I, Again Erick – CC BY-SA 3.0
As of July 7, 10,772 people had died of COVID 19 infection in Peru, which is the 8th most severely affected country in the world. The actual toll is probably far greater, especially in Peru’s Amazonian region. Indigenous inhabitants there, isolated from medical care, suffer from the pandemic and from an environment poisoned by oil extraction.
Canadian oil company Frontera Energy had operated an oxygen-producing plant at in Shiviyacu, located near Peru’s northern border with Ecuador. At a meeting June 26 with government officials, the company announced it would shut the plant down. Represented at the meeting was PetroPeru, the state -owned company whose NorPeruano pipeline conveys Frontier Energy’s crude oil to refineries on the Pacific coast.
Peru’s metallurgical and mining industries produce and use most of the oxygen used in Peru. But indigenous communities are apparently seeking that industrial oxygen be made available for treating COVID 19 infection. They denounced Frontera Energy’s decision as a violation of human rights.
The drama plays out in Block 192, in Loreto department. There Frontera Energy produces almost 20 percent of Peru’s oil; it enjoys exclusive extraction rights.
Indigenous communities have been protesting “large exposure to toxic materials and the disproportionate impact on specific groups of the population.” Over the last five years, the company allegedly was responsible for at least 80 major oil spill-overs, six of them since February. Indigenous peoples have expressed concern that waste material and toxins will remain after oil extraction in Loreto is finished.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/13/oil-comes-first-in-peru-not-coronavirus-danger-not-indigenous-rights/
