PRESS RELEASE*
Iquitos October 16 2006.
To the general public, the government and the media.
The elders (Apus) of the Corrientes in response to public opinion, news articles and commentary regarding media reports issued since Friday, October 13th, 2006 manifest that:
1. Peaceful protesting continues with the same intensity as the first day, there are no oil extraction activities in blocks 1AB and 8.
2. The struggle will continue until official documents guarantee the fulfillment of agreements.
3. The Apus of the 31 communities are preparing a document that will be officially distributed for the public and government to learn of the concerns of the Achuar people regarding the response to their demands.
4. We have recieved copies of the 3 Ministerial Resolutions, from which we can extrapolate the inexact and confusing decisions made by the government to restore Achar rights, limiting our proposal for Pluspetrol to supplant governmental responsibility and that the Loreto regional government, permissive and bureaucratic, be responsible for coordinating the fulfillment of company agreements and committments. And that OSINERG and INDEPA, who have always been in charge of protecting our rights but never did, monitor the agreements.
5. We emphasize that this protest is not to solicit more social responsibility for the Achuar from Pluspetrol, rather it is for the government to do its job and guarantee the fundamental rights of the Achuar and provide them with the basic and necessary services with which to live the quality of life enjoyed by every Peruvian.
6. The Achuar people, having received these resolutions, once again feel betrayed and marginalized by the central government, and are frustrated that the regional government has also not been concerned about our real interests, as demonstrated by these confusing and inexact resolutions.
7. For all the aforementioned, we address you to share that the peaceful protests against the government and its indifference will continue until we can count on official documents that guarantee the real fulfillment of our demands…we are in our own territorios and for the first time we are again the owners of our lands, which we will defend for our children and generations to come even if it costs us our lives….
For equity and governmental social responsibility, for the absence of political will…
For the guarantees of a better quality of life and fundamental rights for the Achuar people…
Please distribute widely. We will continue informing the public.
*(translated from original in Spanish by Amazon Watch)
