Hundreds of indigenous community members took control of a small Amazonian airport inside Peru's biggest oil block, tribal leaders said on Tuesday, part of a dispute with Argentine energy firm Pluspetrol and the government over pollution and use of local resources.
The airport, in the district of Andoas in Peru's northern region of Loreto, was occupied by native communities late on Monday, indigenous leaders Tedy Guerra and Aurelio Chino said in a phone interview.
"Right now there are about 500 of us at the airport ... flights have stopped," said Guerra, chief of the Nuevo Andoas community.
He added there had not been any clashes with police, who stepped aside.
The airport mainly hosts planes used by privately held Pluspetrol, which operates the nearby oil block 1-AB. The field produces between 15,000 and 17,000 barrels per day, or about a quarter of Peru's relatively small output.
Protesters are considering seizing oil wells and valves if the company does not respond to demands for negotiations, said Guerra and Chino.
Guerra said the company has been using indigenous lands without asking the communities or offering fair compensation, and has been slow to clean up oil spills and leaks.
Pluspetrol said it signed an agreement with the community of Nuevo Andoas in September for the use of a quarry, an arrangement that a larger indigenous group later took issue with.
"Pluspetrol...is making every effort to reestablish dialogue with the community in order to overcome this impasse," the company said in an emailed statement.
In April, Pluspetrol's output from 1-AB dropped after different native communities took control of facilities for about a week.
The two indigenous communities at the airport in Andoas - Nuevo Andoas and Alianza Capaguari - are in one of three Amazonian river basins that Peru placed under environmental emergency in recent years due to oil pollution.
Chino, the president of an indigenous federation covering the Pastaza River basin, said the emergency declarations and ongoing talks with government officials have had little effect.
"Neither the government nor the company are cleaning up the spills," Chino said. "All of these problems are building up."
Peru is rife with social conflicts, especially over natural resources and environmental concerns.
