Uncontacted tribe in Brazil. Photo taken May 2008, Survival International

An Anglo-French oil company is poised to send up to 1,680 workers into a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon inhabited by uncontacted Indians. The company, Perenco, has just been given the go-ahead from the Peruvian government to construct 14 oil wells in the region. Contact with western workers could end in violent conflict or the decimation of the Indians by disease.

Perenco denies the existence of uncontacted tribes in the area, despite confirmation of their existence by Peru’s government, Ecuador’s government, the company that used to work in the area (Barrett Resources), and Peru’s indigenous organizations.

Peru’s national indigenous organization, AIDESEP, has appealed to Latin America’s top human rights body, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, urging it to help prevent Perenco working in the region. Get involved in this urgent act. Help Survival International help the Uncontacted Indians. Posted Survival 1.07.09

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