The meeting did take place in Salvación. No ministers nor other requested persons came, but the same negotiators as usual. About another hundred people, both natives and colonists, came too. The three foreigners present were identified and intimidated by the district’s prosecutor and police officials who showed an aggressive attitude, besides being heavily armed as if they were ready for a second Bagua.
No agreement was signed and Hunt Oil announced that its work will continue. We also found out that
a) the seismic lines have already been finished almost entirely without the communities knowing about it.
b) there are 1100 workers inside the Reserve.
c) there is a report of footprints of uncontacted indgenous people by an Indigenous SAE worker from Shintuya.
After the meeting everybody opted for withdrawal from the place. The police followed us and settled down next to the “native camp”, which made us flee to the Alto Madre de Dios riverbank in order to travel downriver to Puerto Maldonado the next day.
The conclusion of the leaders is that at this point all possible peaceful means to paralize the company`s activities and get the workers out of the Reserve have been truly exhausted. Now they are thinking of violent measures as the last resort. We are still looking for more press coverage.
Hunt Oil in Peru: The latest news from today’s meeting
This hot off the presses from A Person present at today’s meeting between the representatives of Hunt Oil and the indigenous locals of the Madre De Dios region of southern Peru: