Government talks with protesters failed Sunday to end a 12-day occupation of oil fields in northern Peru by hundreds of Achuar natives who say an Argentine companys wells damage the environment and their health. The government and Argentinas Pluspetrol had expected talks to conclude over the weekend, but a company official said the government balked at Indian demands that it grant no more oil concessions in the jungle region.

"The situation has gotten stuck," Pluspetrol Norte General Manager Roberto Ramallo told Reuters Sunday, although Peruvian media reported that a resolution could be close. The protest has affected half of Perus crude production and Pluspetrol said it has suspended 40,000 barrels per day of output, costing it US$2.4 million a day in revenue.

The Indians say polluted water from the oil operations pours into rivers in the region every day and that their communities are not seeing any economic or social benefits from the concessions in their region. "We have said many times that we do not consent to new and additional oil concessions in the Corrientes basin," the Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes River said in a statement issued Friday.

No one answered the telephone at the federations office Sunday. Government officials say environmental damage close to oil wells was killing fish, the nutritional staple of the communities. The company says environmental damage in the area is from old wells, but agrees on the need to improve environmental controls.

When the protest began on Oct. 10 in a remote area, some Pluspetrol workers were unable to leave because protesters blocked roads. On Sunday Ramallo said all the companys workers had been transported out. "At this time no worker is stuck there; weve been taking them out by helicopter," he said.
(Planet Ark, 23/10/2006)
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