BOLIVIA-CLASHES Indigenous groups clash with Bolivian police over hydrocarbon exploration on native lands

Record ID: 143085

  • Title: BOLIVIA-CLASHES Indigenous groups clash with Bolivian police over hydrocarbon exploration on native lands
  • Date: 22nd August 2015
  • Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (AUGUST 19, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF THE STATE OIL AND GAS COMPANY YACIMIENTOS PETROLIFEROS FISCALES BOLIVIANOS (YPFB) YPFB PRESIDENT, GUILLERMO ACHA, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF STATE OIL AND GAS COMPANY YACIMIENTOS PETROLIFEROS FISCALES BOLIVIANOS (YPFB), GUILLERMO ACHA, SAYING: "The interests prevailing in
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2015 13:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE8A9DA1PICPEC6807O4WZVC85
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL ORIGINALLY THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Clashes broke out between Bolivian police and indigenous groups in Takovo Mora, Santa Cruz, on Tuesday (August 18) over the recent decree by President Evo Morales allowing hydrocarbon exploration in native lands and national parks.
    Confrontation broke out when indigenous protesters refused to unblock the route between the Santa Cruz and Tarija regions, where 300 policemen were sent to open access after a week of closures.
    "We have unblocked the road. It is an international route and we cannot allow them the luxury of blocking off a road of such importance, where many heavy cargo trucks transit bringing merchandise from the countryside as well as taking Bolivian exports to neighbouring countries," a police delegate told local media on Tuesday.
    Tear gas was used to disperse protesters, and the Government Ministry reported that 26 people were arrested and five policemen injured.
    Indigenous protesters complained that policemen had destroyed vehicles, entered into private homes taking people outside, and held children back as provocation to justify arrests, the Correo del Sur newspaper reported. The Government Ministry denied in a statement any abuse of violence.
    "We were away from it all, my daughter was in the other room, my baby was asleep, and they launched tear gas and broke the windows," said an indigenous women who lives on the lands in question.
    Indigenous leaders in Takovo Moro say that the state-run oil and gas company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) did not carry out an obligatory consultation with the community before proceeding with hydrocarbon exploration within fully documented Indigenous Communal Lands.
    The government said the consultation was not necessary in this case as the exploration is taking place in private buildings. According to indigenous groups, access to the buildings requires workers to pass through communal lands, which they say requires consultation. They also maintain that the water on their land will be contaminated and the local environment negatively affected.
    YPFB President Guillermo Acha said that the indigenous community was given two million dollars in compensation in the last six years for hydrocarbon-related projects in the region, but community leaders say nothing had been received.
    "The interests prevailing in these mobilisations are personal interests on the part of the (indigenous) leaders, people who are trying to mobilise all those living on communal lands because they know they have practically been discovered for not having been able to access the compensation that has been paid to them in recent years," Acha told reporters in La Paz on Wednesday.
    Indigenous groups from other areas of Bolivia and from Argentina have said they will join the protests which are set to continue.
    Morales recently announced that hydrocarbon exploration would go ahead in seven of the country's 22 national parks.
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