Authorities meet to discuss informal transportation on waterways

Authorities in north-eastern Peru’s Loreto region met on Friday to analyze options aimed at restraining informal transportation on the region’s waterways after a ferry sank in the Amazon River this week, state news agency Andina reported. “The idea is to agree on immediate actions and disciplinary measures to improve transportation security on Amazon rivers to help [...]

Peru’s Amazon leaders retreat insurgency call, agree to pursue claims within the law

Amazon tribal leaders agreed Saturday afternoon to retract their call for insurgency, signing an agreement with the Public Ombudsman’s Office after intense talks and agreeing to continue their demands within the rule of law.  

Amazon Update: Peru Government declares state of emergency in 9 eastern districts

The Executive declared a state of emergency for 60 days in the the Amazon districts of four departments in eastern Peru, including Loreto, Amazonas, Ucayali and Cusco. The decision ws triggered by continuing protests from indigenous communities throughout the Amazon region, most recently in the northeast at Petroperu’s Nº 5 pump station on the North [...]

Four mudslides bury crops, animals and homes in Bongara and Chachapoyas

Unseasonaby heavy rains in Peru’s Amazon region have triggered four mudslides in the jungle provinces of Bongara and Chachapoyas, burying 15 homes, animals, and more than 50 hectares of cropland, daily El Comercio reported Thursday. Approximately 80 head of cattle, sheep and more than 50 hectares of cropland were buried by the mud, which also [...]

Navy gunboat and Perenco Co. ship break indigenous Napo River blockade

A Peruvian Navy gunboat and at least one other boat belonging to oil company Perenco broke through an indigenous blockade on the Napo River, where indigenous communities are protesting the contamination of their ancestral lands by mining companies, and demanding the repeal of a series of laws they say are promoting unrestricted oil exploration. The [...]

Strike in Amazon

By Antonio Zapata Note: This article was written 15 April 2009 for La República newspaper by historian and commentator Antonio Zapata. It has been translated for the Peruvian Times in order to provide some general background to the ongoing critical dispute in the Amazonian area of Peru. ————— While the Fujimori case has been the [...]

Environment Ministry: Peru retains 90 percent of its Amazonian forests, despite deforestation

Peru retains 69 million hectares — or 90 percent — of its virgin Amazon forests, despite deforestation, according to a study by Peru’s Environment Ministry, official state new agency Andina reported. According to the Ministry’s report, deforestation — caused by logging, industrial-scale agriculture, mining and oil extraction, and infrastructure and road development — resulted in [...]

Kichua and Arabela indigenous communities block river traffic in Amazon to protest oil exploration and extraction on their ancestral lands

Approximately 2,000 members of Kichua and Arabela indigenous communities blocked off river traffic on Peru’s Curacay and Napo Rivers in northeastern department of Loreto Wednesday, to protest the contamination of their ancestral lands by mining companies, and to demand the repeal of a series of laws they say are promoting unrestricted oil exploration. According to [...]

US$741 million needed to finish Peru-Brazil Transoceanic Highway

Approximately $741 million – which is about $200 million more than initially planned – will be needed to complete the Peru section of the Transoceanic Highway, a roadway project to connect Brazil’s Atlantic ports with the Pacific coast of Peru, Finance Minister Luis Valdivieso said Wednesday. Peruvian officials may directly provide additional funding for the [...]