The war's aftermath: bad news for the Alto Maranon

From Peru Oil News, #8, 23 July, 1995

Following the at least temporary cessation of hostilities in the Peru-Ecuador border conflict, a chorus of calls have gone out in Lima for the "Peruvianization" of the contested area. The spearhead of this effort will ironically be the Argentine-US YPF/ Quintana oil development project in Lot 50. The victims will much more likely be indigenous people than Ecuadorean land claims.

While mortar fire and mines from the war took their own toll of Aguaruna and Huambisa lives, the native soldiers and civilians may have only been paving the way for a dramatic assault on their culture and lifestyle. The Aguaruna and Huambisa are engaged in a race to obtain title to their land as renewed pressure for colonization mounts. However, these titles do little to protect them from Quintana/YPF, who have planned pipelines and well sites that transect titled communities and promise to bring waves of workers and wreak havoc on communities and hunting grounds.