Madrid, 23 Feb. Twenty environmentalists and Peruvians demonstrated this Thursday at the headquarters of Repsol, shortly after the anniversary of the oil spill that a refinery operated by this company caused on the Peruvian coast, including an “ecocide” according to environmentalists and fishermen concerned, the oil company still does not support.
The activists, coordinated by Ecologistas en Acción, Asociación Entrepueblos, the Peruvian Collective of Madrid, the Kunturkanki Collective, Fridays for Future Madrid, Greenpeace and the Observatory of Multinationals of Latin America, carried out an artistic action to express their rejection of the ” impunity” of Repsol, a company they claim responsible for the damage of the ecological disaster whose damage can last “between six and ten years”.
Dressed in white overalls and boots, several dozen people spread out in front of the headquarters of the multinational in Madrid a black carpet that simulates oil, as well as a net with fish stained with oil, a barrel and several banners reading the motto of “Repsol takes care”, and they remembered the “more than 50,000 people affected” and the nearly 11,000 hectares contaminated.
After the accident of January 15, 2022 in which 11,900 barrels of crude oil spilled at the La Pampilla refinery, operated by Repsol, Ecologistas en Acción assures that the company “has invested more money in advertising campaigns to clean up its image in Peru than in compensation” to compensate for the economic impacts – especially for the fishing sector – or environmental.
“We are facing an ecocide enterprise that has caused the biggest oil spill in Peru’s recent history,” said Tom Kucharz of Ecologistas en Acción, who in statements to EFE criticized the fact that “one year after this ecocide, Repsol has not fulfilled its obligations.”
For example, he points out that “15 days after the spill, Repsol had to draw up an inventory of everything that had happened, which it never did and therefore did not comply with Peruvian national legislation and the international standards for the protection of the environment”. .
Kucharz also regretted that the political crisis that the Latin American country is currently experiencing “has favored Repsol’s impunity”, since “at the beginning the Peruvian government was willing to file a criminal complaint”, but “to date, No. It is being processed,” he pointed out.
Thus, the activists chanted demands such as “Reparation and justice” or “Repsol, clean up your shit”.
“This type of discharge caused by Repsol contravenes all the objectives of stopping the loss of biodiversity, protecting marine ecosystems, also combating climate change and of course contravenes the objectives of sustainable development because there is a population less than 50,000 people than their right to education, work, public services and a clean environment are affected,” Kucharz added.
For his part, the president of the Association of Artisanal Fishermen of Puerto de Chancay, Zenon Gallegos, who traveled to Spain with other groups of fishermen as part of a tour coordinated by the Entrepueblos association, accused the Spanish oil company of having “deceived” and claimed that the situation is in a position for fishermen to be able to fish through statements that “have been denied”.
“This large-scale ecological disaster has affected our income, there has been an economic collapse and there has been a family collapse because, in addition to income and food, many families have been affected by mental health damage due to to worry and stress,” Gallegos added.
The fisherman, who explained that he now has to carry out his work in another area, assured that the amount the oil company proposes to pay to those affected by the oil spill is “miserable” compared to the income that the fishermen will cease to get in the years it takes time to remove all the crude oil from the affected waters. EFE
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