Last Friday, six communities Kukam of the creek Cuninico from the district of Urarinas, province of Loreto, denounced that the Marañón Riverits main source of water, is contaminated by an oil spill. Since then, the situation has kept the hundreds of residents of that area in despair.
Julio Arirua Nashnatepresident of the Federation of United Kukama Peoples of the Cashew, in dialogue with RPP Newsmaintained that the spill “is worse than the one in 2014”, because river pollution has left them without food.
“You will remember in 2014 that there was the spill, right now I think it has been the worst spill because, from the ravine of the Cuninico, has gone out to the Marañon. That is the saddest thing for the other towns that are downstream of the Cuninico (…) Of the fish that we consume at this time, there is nothing right now. We have no desire to fish because the trap comes out half black. So, what are we going to eat,” said the community leader.
As he stated, it is not possible to give a precise number of those affected, but the communities of CuninicoNueva Esperanza, Nueva Santa Rosa, San Francisco and other towns along the margin of the Cashew They have hundreds of inhabitants.
“Right now it is not possible to say how many are affected because in each community there is a minimum of 200 inhabitants and some towns are larger and there are more,” he specified.
intentional cut
As reported Petroperu yesterday, the oil spill would be caused by the intentional cut of 21 centimeters of the pipe at kilometer 42+092 of Section I of the Norperuano Pipeline (ONP) in the district of Urarinas. In addition, they specified that it would be the tenth attack of this nature so far this year.
Likewise, the company stated that the cut was sealed with a metal staple to contain the hydrocarbon and that, upon learning of the situation last Friday, they activated the respective Contingency Plan.
About, Ambiguous He said he did not know the cause of the spill and denied any responsibility of any member of the indigenous communities.
“We have nothing to do with whether there was a court or not, that is outside the territory of the Cuninico. It is 2 km. of the territory where we are living. We don’t know what it will be. The rain that occurred 2 days ago, that water has thrown the crude oil into the Quebrada de Cuninico and has gone out to Cashew. That is the most unfortunate. Yes or yes they have to attend to it, because none of the population is to blame for this, “he said.
In that sense, he pointed out that, on behalf of the State, only the Ombudsman’s Office and the OEFA have reached the place, and that hundreds of affected families They urgently need water and food.
“Right now we don’t have water or food. Before this pipeline, we didn’t have the need to ask the authorities to give us food to consume, we didn’t have to bother for water or food. But now, with this spill that is happening, We are in this situation,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that, in 2014, in a similar scenario, the indigenous peoples of Cuninico They reached the Constitutional Court in search of justice, an instance that agreed with them and ordered the remediation of the affected area by Petroperú and the State.
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