Achuar people protest Talisman Energy
Posted May 1, 2012 10:53 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A small delegation of Achuar indigenous people are in our city to protest drilling operations in their home land of Peru by Calgary-based Talisman Energy.
In support of them, a self described group of “concerned citizens” have unfurled a banner from the giant trees sculpture on Stephen Avenue.
“They (Talisman) know our position, but they are insisting,” says Peas Peas Ayui, president of the Federation of Achuar Nationalities of Peru (Federación de Nacionalidades Achuar del Perú, or FENAP). “We want to make them understand; we want them to respect us. The [Achuar] people are tired of demanding our collective rights. Since 1996 the Achuar people have been defending their human rights and their sacred ancestral territories from oil exploration and expansion projects by Talisman Energy. This is the Achuar’s 4th visit since 2008, to ask CEO John Mazoni to keep his promise, to simply, leave the Achuar in peace. It’s time for the Talisman to get out of Peru and show that they truly stand by their word and will not repeat the same mistakes as they did in Sudan.”
The visit coincides with the company’s AGM at the Telus Convention Centre.
The Achuar people have been asking Talisman to halt operations in what they call “important hunting and fishing grounds” in the Amazon Rain Forest.
