Peruvian indigenous people have launched a court bid to prevent an Anglo-French conglomerate from prospecting for oil.

Just spotted this, also Santiago Manuin is no longer under a jail threat which is good news, gracias to all my readers who supported his campaign and ofcourse to those of you who help us get Hugo Blanco out of prison last year when a local landowner had him wrongly imprisoned, the Star has been a great help to the lucha indigena.....ironic as Hugo used to be one of the leaders of the Fourth International (USFI) and now is one of the leaders of the Ecosocialist movement.

Amazonians seek halt to prospecting
Monday 07 September 2009 Morning Star
Peruvian indigenous people have launched a court bid to prevent an Anglo-French conglomerate from prospecting for oil.

AIDESEP, the umbrella organisation for Peru's Amazonian Indians, has lodged an urgent appeal with the country's Constitutional Tribunal to halt the project in a part of the Peruvian Amazon known as Block 67.

The court will consider the lawsuit this week.

AIDESEP fears that the project, which is owned by Anglo-French company Perenco, could have catastrophic consequences for the uncontacted tribes living in the area.

Perenco got the green light to start work in Block 67 just 13 days after police broke up an indigenous protest near Bagua in which 30 policemen and civilians were killed.

Perenco denies that uncontacted tribes exist inside Block 67.

Stephen Corry of indigenous rights group Survival said: "How shameful that Peru's Indians are having to resort to the courts to try to get Perenco and the government to listen to them.

"After the Bagua tragedy, the authorities promised to consult with indigenous people before pushing ahead with these massive projects, but yet again they're simply ploughing on against local people's wishes."