“Peru-Brazil Indigenous People to fight Amazon oil exploration”, 15 Dec 2014

Peru…host of the COP20 UN climate conference…is facing rebellion by a 3,500 strong indigenous people deep in the Amazon committed to fighting oil exploration in their forest territory…following the government’s failure to consult Matsés communities or respect their rights…[Member of the Matsés]…an indigenous people living on both sides of the Brazil-Peru border in the...Amazon say they are prepared to fight with spears, bows and arrows if companies enter their territories to explore for oil…[They]…have publicly opposed operations by Canada-based firm Pacific Rubiales Energy for at least five years, but they say that neither the company nor Perupetro, the government body which granted the licences to two oil concessions in Peru, are taking any notice…The Matsés based in Brazil are equally concerned about the concessions…The bi-national meeting concluded with the “total rejection” by the Matsés of both oil concessions, and the signing of a statement saying the decision was“unanimous” and stressing the social and environmental impacts of oil operations elsewhere in Peru…The Matsés say they were not consulted by Peru’s government before the two concessions were established in 2007…but Pacific Rubiales claims this right has only applied since 2012…Pacific Rubiales says it “fully respects” the Matsés’s position and is therefore not currently “performing any exploration activities” in Lot 135 and Lot 137, but declined to respond to a question from The Ecologist why it still holds the licences to both concessions…