Indigenous people detain tourists in Peruvian Amazon after oil spill

[Eugene]

Source: RTÉ

Indigenous people detain tourists in Peruvian Amazon after oil spill

Updated / Friday, 4 Nov 2022 09:11

Indigenous people in Peru's Amazon have detained a group of foreign and Peruvian tourists travelling on a river boat to protest the lack of government aid following an oil spill in the area, local media have reported.

"(We want) to call the government's attention with this action, there are foreigners and Peruvians, there are about 70 people," Watson Trujillo, the leader of the Cuninico community, told RPP radio.

The detained tourists include citizens from the United States, Spain, France, the UK and Switzerland, and include women and children.

Mr Trujillo said his group had taken the "radical measure" in an effort to put pressure on the government to send a delegation to assess the environmental damage from the 16 September spill of 2,500 tons of crude oil into the Cuninico river.

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Read more: https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2022/1104/1333160-amazon-oil-spill/

[Eugene]

1. Peru tourists released from detained riverboat

Peru tourists released from detained riverboat (BBC)

Around 70 tourists in Peru have been transferred from a river boat, having been detained by indigenous protesters since early on Thursday.

The group - which includes at least three British tourists - held the boat in protest at an earlier oil spill.

"After dialogue with the [head[ of the Cuninico communities, our request to release people was accepted," officials in the Amazon region said.

A British woman earlier said conditions were "starting to deteriorate".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63511143