At least one killed in protest against energy company Pluspertrol in Peru

World Today

Peru said it will ask Argentine energy company Pluspetrol to leave an Amazon jungle town in the next three days after protests against the company left at least one person dead and dozens more injured this week. CCTV America’s Dan Collyns reported this story from Lima, Peru.

Police said demonstrators tried to break into a police station and military barracks in the small jungle town of Pichanaki. A 22-year-old man was shot and killed, and dozens of demonstrators and police officers were injured. Protest organizers also said more were killed.

Peru’s Interior Ministry first denied that its police officers used guns, despite a ban against firearms. The local police chief has now been fired.

Now, hundreds of police officers have been sent to the town to restore order.

“I want authorities to listen to us because we can no longer bear this abuse, because last night our children were treated worse than dogs, they were beaten, we didn’t want that,” protester Elena Rivero said.

Government mediators are calling for calm.

“The first thing is for peace to be reestablished, for order to be restored, that no more people are injured, that there isn’t more violence – that is the first thing,” Peruvian Justice Minister Daniel Figallo said.

Following the protesters’ demands, Peru has asked Pluspetrol to leave within three days, but the company said it has met all of the requirements but may remove some equipment when it’s safe to do so.

The company says its exploratory operations have been minimal.

“We have not drilled. We have not contaminated anything at all. So there is no chance, whatsoever, of a spill because we are not producing, nor do we even know if there are fossil fuels,” Daniel Guerran of Pluspetrol said.

Meanwhile, Pluspetrol is trying to end other disputes in Peru’s northern jungle where native protesters have seized oil wells and halted production.

Pluspetrol says it has lost about three-thousand barrels of oil per day since indigenous protesters shut down wells.