WHAT: Indigenous and environmental leaders will hold a demonstration at the Inter-American Development Bank against the U.S. taxpayer-backed Camisea oil and gas project in the Peruvian Amazon.
WHO: Over one hundred Amazonian indigenous leaders and NGOs will deliver a statement to the Inter-American Development Bank President, asking the Bank to adopt an indigenous people’s policy, and to reconsider the loan for the Camisea project as planned, given threats to the survival of isolated indigenous peoples and irreversible impacts to the region’s biodiversity.
WHEN: Friday, May 9th at 1:00pm. The IDB is located at 13th and H Streets, N.W.
Peruvian delegates are available for interviews and briefings on Wednesday, May 7th and Thursday, May 8th, as well as the day of the protest.
WHY: The CAMISEA PROJECT is a $1.5 billion oil and gas drilling project that will extract gas from the Nahua-Kugapakori Reserve for the protection of nomadic indigenous peoples who have had no little or no contact with the outside world. It will cut through one of the world’s most pristine tropical rainforests and home to the Nahua, Kirineri, Nanti, Machiguenga and Yine indigenous groups.
As reported by the Washington Post, the two major U.S. companies involved in the project are Hunt Oil Co. and Halliburton Co., which have longstanding ties to the Bush-Cheney administration and the Republican Party. The project is seeking public financing from the U.S. Export Import Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as export credit agencies in 5 other countries. Critics point to Citigroup’s recent withdrawal as financial advisor for the Camisea project as further indication that the project is financially, environmentally and socially risky.
There are already reports that the project has caused massive erosion and pollution, has used divisive community relations tactics, and may be the cause of least 8 child fatalities among isolated indigenous groups, who lack immunity to common respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases.
In contrast to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank has NO indigenous peoples policy—despite the large numbers of indigenous peoples in the Americas. Public banks frequently violate indigenous rights in their financing decisions.
The leaders will attempt to deliver a Declaration of Indigenous Demands to IDB President Enrique Iglesias, who has refused to meet with indigenous peoples representing the region currently in D.C. for the bi-annual Amazon Forum this week.
