Los Angeles – Q’orianka Kilcher, who won the 2006 ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress in a Film for her performance as Pocahontas in the Terrence Malick film The New World, briefed the media this morning at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica on her recent trip to the northern Peruvian Amazon rainforest. After attending The New World premier in Lima, Peru, Q’orianka spent one week traveling by river to the remote Río Corrientes region to witness the critical situation facing indigenous peoples after years of contamination from oil drilling activities in the area. In response, the United Nations has invited her to participate in events at the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples’ in August.
Of Peruvian Quechua and Huachipaeri descent, Q’orianka visited the area to learn about the serious health and environmental crisis facing the indigenous Achuar peoples who live deep in the Peru’s northern Amazon rainforest. The Achuar currently suffer grave health effects and threats to their cultural survival as a result of petroleum pollution on their formerly-pristine lands. Her trip was organized by Amazon Watch, a California-based non-profit organization that preserves the rainforest and supports indigenous peoples’ rights.
On her fact-finding visit to the Amazon, Q’orianka visited Achuar communities affected by 35 years of oil drilling operations by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Pluspetrol, an Argentine company. Texas-based ConocoPhillips, the third largest oil company in the United States, has further plans to drill in neighboring areas of pristine Amazon rainforest, also the homeland of the Achuar. The Achuar people have declared that they do not want any oil drilling operations on their sacred land. In May 2006, the president of the Achuar Federation (FECONACO) traveled to the company’s shareholder’s meeting to express his people’s concerns.
Q’orianka, who is only 16 years old, made the long journey to the oil extraction zone known as Huayurí in the oil concession Block 1AB, formerly operated by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum(OXY) by boat from the city of Iquitos. Along the way she visited and stayed in Achuar communities where she was told stories about the impact the oil industry has had on the region. People told her about their illnesses, such as stomach pain, dizziness, skin rashes as well as unknown diseases, and how they have been exposed to pollutants by eating fish, drinking water and cleaning with water from the river.
“On my recent visit to the Peruvian Amazon, I saw the beauty of the rainforest, but I also saw the terrible impact on health and the environment caused directly by the operations of oil companies like OXY and Pluspetrol in Blocks 8 and 1AB. I have witnessed oil spills, polluted rivers, dying animals, and many sick children. This saddens me profoundly, and I am also embarrassed that one of the companies is from Los Angeles, California, where I live. I cannot believe that oil companies are allowed to do this without assuming any social or environmental responsibility”, Q’orianka said today.
Leila Salazar, an organizer with Amazon Watch who also traveled to the affected region said, “One of the gravest forms of contamination is the production waters from oil extraction. For 35 years these toxic waters have been systematically dumped directly into drinking rivers and streams at an alarming rate of up to 1,000,000 barrels a day. These waters are made up of toxic hydrocarbons that cause genetic alterations, and are made up of well know carcinogens and other toxic metals such as barium, nickel, mercury and arsenic.”
For years, the Achuar people have been expressing concern about the dumping of toxic waste into their rainforest environment, but it was not until recently that their concerns were confirmed by a government report. On May 29, 2006, the Peruvian Health Ministry gave the Achuar Federation (FECONACO) the report entitled, “The Evaluation of the Sanitary Quality of Water Resources and Biological Testing in Communities of the Corrientes River Basin”, which was prepared by the Intra-sector Commission for the Prevention and Mitigation of Lead Pollution and Other Heavy Metals of the Ministry of Health. This report formally underscores the critical health situation of the Achuar, who tested at high levels of cadmium and lead in their blood. The full report is available in Spanish at: http://www.minsa.gob.pe/portalMinsa/destacados/archivos/242/RIO%20CORRIENTES.pdf
According to Andres Sandi, President of FECONACO, “This report states that among my brothers and sisters (between the ages of 18 and 60), it can be observed that 99.2% exceed the accepted levels of cadmium, and that our children have high levels of lead in their blood. Of the 74 blood samples from children under 18, 66.2% exceed the established limit of lead for the infant population (up to 10 ug Pb/dL in the blood). This is worrisome because we know that lead is dangerous to our health, especially for children. It has been documented that lead causes such symptoms as developmental retardation, behavioral and learning disruptions, as well mental retardation; among other symptoms.”
The Achuar people are planning on outreaching to the president-elect Alan Garcia on his inauguration date July 28 to ask him to declare a “State of Emergency” in the Achuar territory.
Q’orianka expressed her support by saying, “I believe that the Achuar people are living in a state of emergency that needs to be addressed immediately. OXY and Pluspetrol have to clean up the pollution that they have left behind and have to compensate the affected communities. They need clean water and healthcare now! ConocoPhillips is threatening the Achuar people with their plans for oil development in Block 104. The Achuar have said no because they have already experienced the toxic legacy of oil development on their lands. Their decision should be respected.”
Q’orianka sent a letter to OXY’s CEO, Mr. Ray Irani, today requesting a meeting and a commitment to respect indigenous peoples’ rights and an enforcement of the company’s Human Rights Policy enacted in December 2005.
Upon return to Los Angeles Q’orianka was contacted by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and was asked to address world leaders on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples’ on August 9, 2006 in New York city. She will speak at the United Nations Headquarters about her experience in Peru, on a panel discussion entitled “Indigenous Peoples: human rights, dignity and development with identity.”
Q’orianka’s new production company, IQ Productions, is also planning to produce a feature length documentary on the subject, in collaboration with Amazon Watch, to highlight the crisis and bring about immediate change.
