Peru: dozens decamp in jungle jailbreak

A manhunt has been launched after dozens of prisoners escaped from Bagua Grande prison in Peru‘s Amazonas region and fled into the jungle in a daring jailbreak.

Peru: Canadian oil company signs deal to explore uncontacted tribe’s land

A Canadian oil company has signed a deal with Peru’s government allowing it to explore land inhabited by one of the world’s last uncontacted indigenous tribes.

Brazil: dam protesters arrested

The Movement of People Harmed by Dams (MAB) protested in Belém, capital of Brazil’s Pará state, to demand the release of 18 people arrested when police broke up a sit-in at the Tucuruí dam.

Peru: indigenous peoples block Amazon tributary to resist oil operations

Kichua and Arabela tribesmen are blockading one of the Amazon’s main tributaries, the Río Napo, to protest the violation of their land rights by oil companies and Peru’s government.

Peru: indigenous occupy Amazon airfield

At least 200 indigenous Yashínanka and Yines occupied the airport in Atalaya, in Peru’s Amazonian area, to press demands for an end to the granting of local lands for mining and oil drilling.

Peru: oil rush accelerates, government weighs new reserves for uncontacted tribes

Peru’s state oil company announced it will auction off up to twelve new “lots” for oil and gas exploration—including in reserves inhabited by uncontacted indigenous tribes.

Peru: Colombian state oil company set to enter uncontacted tribal lands

Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol is to enter territory inhabited by some of the world’s last uncontacted indigenous peoples in the Peruvian rainforest under an agreement reached this week.

Brazil: Supreme Court rules Raposa-Serra do Sol indigenous territory

In a landmark ruling, Brazil’s Supreme Court found that the Raposa-Serra do Sol indigenous reserve in the northern Amazon should be maintained as a contiguous territory.

Ecuador’s Ecological Action group ordered closed

Ecuador’s government ordered closed the group Acción Ecológica, days after it had called for sanctions against the consortium that operates the country’s trans-Andean oil pipeline.

Ecuador oil spill affects 47 indigenous communities

Indigenous communities in the Ecuadoran Amazon are demanding sanctions against the consortium that runs the country’s trans-Andean pipeline following a massive oil spill.

Ecuador freezes oil income from firm slated for massive Peru contract

The French firm Perenco, slated for a massive contract in Peru’s Amazon region, is having its income from oil revenues frozen in neighboring Ecuador following a tax dispute.

Brazil: uncontacted tribes flee loggers’ bulldozers

A group of 300 Awá hunter-gatherer nomads is fleeing from bulldozers in the Brazilian Amazon as their last forest is rapidly destroyed, Survival International reports.