Tourists traveling in the Peruvian Amazon experienced an unusual adventure for the 21st century – they were taken hostage by a local tribe. The demand is quite modern — the indigenous community demands at least some government action due to the oil spill, which will take place in September.
The situation began to develop on Thursday, with approximately 150 tourists, including US and British citizens, traveling down the Marañon River to Cuninico in the Loreto region of northern Peru. The local community blocked the river and stopped the boats. Then Watson Trujillo, a leader of the Cuninico community, voiced his demands: tourists were taken hostage by an Amazonian tribe in an attempt to pressure the government to take action on an oil spill that disrupted the local water supply. The community demanded that the government declare a state of emergency due to the oil spill. A total of three boats were detained, with tourists from Spain, France, America, and the UK among those detained, including children, pregnant women, and the elderly.
The Ministry of the Interior of Peru was involved in solving the problem. As a result, most of the tourists were released by the Indians: according to local officials, the tourists were transferred to another boat, and the bravest of them will even risk continuing the journey, even though after a couple of days of being held hostage, “conditions began to deteriorate”, in particular, the tourists ran out of water food
“After a dialogue with the head of the Kuniniko community, our request to release the people was accepted,” said a local official. However, the protesters say that if their demands are not heard, they will continue to block the passage of boats on the river until they receive support from their government.
By the way, recently the authorities of Peru removed one of the most stringent code laws and now tourists can freely enter the country.