An indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon took at least eight public officials hostage to demand help from the central government after an oil spill polluted its lands, authorities said Monday.
The Wampis community of Mayuriaga seized a grounded military helicopter late on Sunday, holding crew members and several officials to press for inclusion in the emergency response plan, said German Velasquez, the president of state-owned energy company Petroperu.
A rupture in Petroperu’s 40-year-old pipeline spilled 1,000 barrels of oil in Mayuriaga on Feb. 3, nine days after a leak in the same duct poured 2,000 barrels near eight other indigenous communities in the same Amazonian region.
Environmental regulator OEFA ordered Petroperu to replace parts of the pipeline after repeated leaks in recent years. It said the two most recent spills polluted at least two rivers, including a tributary to the Amazon River.
Though officials refer to the second leak as “the Mayuriaga spill” because it took place in Mayuriaga, the government did not include the community in an official list of affected groups that would receive emergency supplies and attention.
The government will amend the emergency decree, published last month, to include Mayuriaga, said Deputy Culture Minister Patricia Balbuena.
Source: Reuters
