Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 25 -- Armed clashes between protestors and security forces at the facilities of Argentina's state-owned Pluspetrol Norte in Peru's northeastern Loreto region have resulted in the suspension of operations Mar. 20 at Block 1AB when protestors seized the company airstrip.
Col. Armando Martinez, head of special operations for the Peruvian National Police, said the instigators of the attack were not Pluspetrol employees or Indians from the area. He said they were "members of an organization that has wanted to use this labor protest in another way."
Loreto Gov. Yvan Vasquez told the daily El Comercio, "Apparently, subjects who are not Indians participated" in the attacks by "infiltrating the protests and egging on the natives to attack the police."
The protest is not the first by Indians at the Pluspetrol facility. In January, Indians occupied the oil field to demand better social programs, while last June protesters took over Block 8, which lies in the central jungle region, to express their support for a regional strike.
Last October, Indian rights group Feconaco threatened to seize Pluspetrol's oil wells if the company failed to comply with environmental and social services agreements it signed in 2006.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
