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| First contact can decimate tribes. An estimated 50% of the Nahua, a tribe in south-east Peru, died after contact in the 1980s. © Jonathan Mazower/Survival |
French company Perenco has hit Peru’s headlines after a controversy over oil exploration in a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon.
Perenco was featured on page six of the daily newspaper La Republica after indigenous leader Alberto Pizango criticized the company for claiming uncontacted tribes in the region where it is working, known as Lot 67, do not exist. Pizango made the comments, in a letter to the government’s indigenous affairs department, shortly after returning from eleven months in political asylum in Nicaragua.
The headline of the Republica article is ‘Warning: Pizango says there are uncontacted tribes where oil company Perenco wants to build a pipeline.’ The article cites Pizango’s letter, saying that independent anthropologists, the regional government and the company that worked in the region before Perenco have all recognised the existence of the tribes.
Perenco recently admitted transporting, by helicopter, ‘seven Eiffel Towers’ worth of ‘material and consumables’ into Lot 67. It is also hoping to build a pipeline to help move the oil from Lot 67 to Peru’s Pacific Coast.
Act now to help the Uncontacted Indians of Peru
Your efforts are crucial in defending the Uncontacted Tribes. Get involved in this urgent effort in the following ways.
- Writing a letter to the Peruvian government can make a real difference.
- Donate to the Uncontacted Indians campaign (and other Survival campaigns).
- Write to your MP or MEP (UK) or Senators and members of Congress (US).
- Write to your local Peruvian embassy
- If you want to get more involved, contact Survival…
