Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas

Peruvian Protest against Pluspetrol Turns Deadly



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One person died and dozens more were injured after a protest against the Argentine energy company Pluspetrol turned violent late Tuesday night. A 25-year-old man, who was identified as Ever Pérez Huamán, passed away Wednesday morning after receiving a bullet wound to the abdomen. Police representative Edwin Rojas has said an investigation is underway to find out who fired the shot.

The protest began on Monday, led by the Frente de Defensa Ambiental (Environmental Defense League) in the Pichanaki district in central Peru, and escalated late on Tuesday when, according to Peru’s interior ministry, over 500 people blockaded the roads leading to a Pluspetrol office in Pichanaki, destroyed two tents, and stole a water pump. Police forces reportedly responded by using tear gas to quell the crowd, and protesters then reportedly attacked with stones, spears and guns. Protesters say that the energy company contaminates their land and rivers.

However, representatives of Pluspetrol have dismissed the accusations of environmental contamination. “It is a very basic exploration; we haven’t drilled, we haven’t contaminated anything, there is no possibility of a spill because we’re not producing anything,” said Pluspetrol spokesperson Daniel Guerra.

Pluspetrol has been working in Peru since 2001 and has been conducting exploratory work on lot 108 in Pinchanaki since 2012. The nearly 3 million acres of land comprising the lot is a key excavating site, and experts have compared the quantity of gas reserves available to those of Camisea, which supplies half of Peru’s electric energy.

Despite the promise of large quantities of natural resources, energy companies and local farmers and Indigenous groups continue to clash in Peru. Pluspetrol has been the focus of tension in two separate areas of the Peruvian Amazon since January of this year. Protestors claim they are demonstrating against President Ollanta Humala, who as part of his 2011 presidential campaign promised to defend the Amazon region against exploitation by the extractive industries.

Read more about land rights and the extractive industry in AQ’s 2014  Peru Country Study and the Spring 2014 issue of AQ on consulta previa.

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