By Marco Aquino
LIMA (Reuters) – Around 200 indigenous Peruvians have taken over the facilities of a pipeline station of Petroperu, the state-owned company said on Tuesday, as part of a protest by Amazon native groups demanding better economic and social support in the area.
Residents in the Manseriche district of northern Peru’s Loreto region had invaded station 5 of the North Peruvian pipeline on Monday, which had caused the company to stop pumping oil, Petroperu said in a statement.
Protesters “have been irresponsibly installing tents and other items without taking security conditions into account,” the company said, adding it had evacuated its personnel from the area.
Reuters could not immediately reach for comment representatives of the Amazonian groups, who have previously carried out blockades and seizures of oil pipeline stations.
Peru’s new leftist President Pedro Castillo has pledged to redistribute mineral wealth in the Andean nation and promised to give historically marginalized indigenous groups a louder voice in economic development.
The pipeline transports crude oil from the northern jungle regions of Peru to a refinery on the Pacific coast.
In August last year, three Amazonian indigenous people were killed and 17 other people were injured in a clash with Peruvian security forces related to a conflict with oil firm PetroTal.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Stephen Coates)
