Amazon Theater

Peru: indigenous occupy Amazon airfield

On the morning of April 16 at least 200 indigenous Yashínanka and Yines occupied the airport in Atalaya, capital of Atalaya province, Ucayali region, in Peru's Amazonian area. The Inter-Ethnic Association for Development of the Peruvian Forest (AIDESEP) had been leading a strike since April 13 (or earlier, according to one source) around demands for the repair of environmental damage and for an end to illegal cutting and to the granting of land for mining and oil drilling without consultation with the local communities. The protesters also demanded that the government drop the proposed Law 840/2006, known as the "Law of the Forest," which would increase private investment in the development of state-owned forests.

Peru: oil rush accelerates, government weighs new reserves for uncontacted tribes

The head of Peru's state oil company has announced that it will auction off up to twelve new "lots" for oil and gas exploration, according to reports. The announcement was made by Perupetro's chairman, Daniel Saba, who has previously said that companies can even explore in reserves inhabited by uncontacted indigenous tribes.

Peru: Colombian state oil company set to enter uncontacted tribal lands

Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol is set to enter territory inhabited by some of the world's last uncontacted indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon under an agreement reached this week. Ecopetrol signed a deal with Brazil's state oil company, Petrobras, which has a contract to explore in two regions—both inhabited by uncontacted tribes.

Brazil: Supreme Court rules Raposa-Serra do Sol indigenous territory

In a landmark ruling, Brazil's Supreme Court March 19 found that the Raposa-Serra do Sol indigenous reserve in northern Roraima state should be maintained as a contiguous territory. The 10-1 decision upholds the demarcation of the territory, home to some 18,000 members of the Makuxi and other tribes, as designated in a 2005 presidential decree. The decision requires the removal of rice growers within the reserve, who brought the legal challenge to the demarcation.

Ecuador's Ecological Action group ordered closed

Saying it "has not complied with the aims for which it was created" in 1998, Ecuador's government withdrew the legal charter of the Quito-based non-governmental organization Acción Ecológica, effectively ordering the group closed. The order, issued March 2 by Health Minister Caroline Chang and made public a week later, was protested by Acción Ecológica as "unconstitutional."

Ecuador oil spill affects 47 indigenous communities

Ecuador's trans-Andean Heavy Crude Pipeline (OCP) is back on line following a rupture that spilled 14,000 barrels in the Amazon region. The pipeline was shut for seven days following the Feb. 24 leak near the rainforest community of Santa Rosa, Napo province. Specialists were mobilized to the region to contain the oil slick that contaminated local waterways. But Marlon Santi, leader of Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), said, "There are 47 communities affected, the situation is grave."

Ecuador freezes oil income from firm slated for massive Peru contract

The French company slated for a massive contract in Peru's Amazon region is having its income from oil revenues frozen in neighboring Ecuador. The announcement was made by PetroEcuador after the company, Perenco, missed its deadline to pay off $350 million in back taxes to Ecuador's government. According to reports, PetroEcuador said it would freeze the income from 720,000 barrels of oil produced by Perenco.

Brazil: uncontacted tribes flee loggers' bulldozers

A tribe of 300 hunter-gatherer nomads is fleeing from bulldozers in the Brazilian Amazon as their last forest is rapidly destroyed, Survival International reports. Around sixty members of the Awá tribe have no contact with outsiders. Survival International has launched an urgent campaign for the protection of the Awá, with one group of illegal loggers said to be only three kilometers form their community.

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