In Peru, indigenous people are holding about 70 vacationers on a ship to pressure the government to do something about an oil spill in the region. A German vacationer is also among them. The embassy in Lima is in contact with the tourist.
Around 70 tourists from home and abroad have been arrested in the Peruvian Amazon region in protest at government inaction after an oil spill. Among the passengers on the ship are said to be tourists from the USA, Spain, France, Great Britain and Switzerland. According to information from the “Bild” newspaper, a pregnant woman and a baby (one month old) are said to be in the hands of the villagers. A German vacationer is also in the hands of the protesting villagers, as a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in Berlin announced.
The vacationers would be held on a ship on the Marañón River, said the community leader of the village of Cuninico, Watson Trujillo Acosta, the radio station RPP. Everyone is fine. If old people or sick people are among them, they are allowed to leave the ship, emphasized Trujillo Acosta. From Berlin it was said that the embassy in Lima was in direct contact with the German tourist and with the local authorities in order to find a solution. By arresting the vacationers, the villagers want to persuade the government to do something about an oil spill in the region.
Most recently, oil had repeatedly leaked from a pipeline belonging to the energy company Petroperú and had polluted the Marañón river. “We demand that a state of emergency be declared and that a commission led by the President visit our region,” said village chief Trujillo Acosta.
Petroperú said that the pipeline is being deliberately damaged again and again. More than 50 cases of damage have been registered since December last year. According to its own statements, the company took care of cleaning up the affected areas and supplied the residents with drinking water and food. “They are kind and respectful to us, but this is the only way they have to find a solution for their village,” Ángela Ramírez, a cyclist who was stuck on the ship, wrote on Facebook. “The sooner they are heard, the sooner they let us go.”
Apparently, the villagers did not allow transport ships to pass either and blocked the Marañón River. According to traders, there could therefore be supply bottlenecks with vegetables in the city of Iquitos. “Our goods are stuck because people won’t let the ships through,” dealer spokesman Diego Bautista said on radio station RPP. “Vegetable prices are already rising.”