Company Barges Drown Machiguenga Girl Pluspetrol and Hunt Oil Negligence Results in Tragedy | Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch

Company Barges Drown Machiguenga Girl Pluspetrol and Hunt Oil Negligence Results in Tragedy

September 5, 2002 | Campaign Update

Barges belonging to the Argentinean energy company Pluspetrol operating on Peru’s Urubamba River caused the death of a Machiguenga girl in the community of Kirigueti on August 24, 2002. Pluspetrol, working in partnership with Texas-based company Hunt Oil, uses the barges to transport materials for the Camisea gas project, which is under construction in the remote biodiversity hotspot of Lower Urubamba in the Peruvian Amazon.

According to environmental regulations, the Pluspetrol barges should slow down when passing indigenous communities to prevent their considerable wake from causing accidents. However, local community peoples along the Urubamba River have frequently reported that barges do not obey speed restrictions. Several community canoes have already been tipped over by waves caused by speeding barges, with their occupants thrown into the fast flowing Urubamba River.

At noon on August 24, Gianina Terry was washing by the riverside with two friends when two Pluspetrol barges passed together at full velocity. Large waves washed the children from the shore and sucked them into the powerful river currents. Fortunately, the other two children survived. Gianina’s body was found washed up on a beach at a nearby community on August 26. Pluspetrol failed to report this tragedy and the news has only just trickled out of this remote rainforest region.

The Camisea companies refuse to be held accountable for their negligence. On August 12, 2002 at a public hearing for the Camisea gas project in Camisea, Amazon Watch representatives heard community spokespeople question Pluspetrol representatives about company barges breaking speed regulations. With cynical indifference, representative Jose Luis Carbajal replied: we are training 7 teams to supervise fluvial traffic. However in our community consultation workshops, the speed of barges was discussed with you and nobody disagreed – we base our speed regulations on that agreement.

Though operating within Machiguenga ancestral territories, the company has shown complete disregard for the well-being of local indigenous communities. Pluspetrol negligence has caused a string of accidents in the area from fuel spills in the Urubamba River to heavy construction materials falling from helicopters into communities. Increased river traffic and contamination has caused a major reduction of fish stock in the Urubamba River, a staple in the local indigenous diet.

Pluspetrol and Hunt Oil estimate that Camisea project profits will reach US $3 billion. Yet, both companies are failing to invest the minimum resources needed to ensure the safety and health of local indigenous communities and the preservation of globally renowned rainforest ecosystems.

The Inter-American Development Bank and the U.S. Ex-Im Bank are considering funding for the Camisea gas project. Both Banks could send U.S. taxpayer dollars to a negligent company for substandard operations causing devastation in the lives of remote indigenous communities.

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