The Vigilante Amazónico last week reported accusations by members of the Awajún and Wampi ethnic groups that mining companies had moved in heavy equipment on rivers in their territories in the Amazonas region of northern Peru.

They allege that communities living along the Cenepa River had been offered substantial sums to allow the companies to set up dredging devices (dragas) along the river in order to extract alluvial gold. The companies are now poisoning the river through their use of mercury to purify the gold, they say.

Agustina Mayán, president of the Organización de Desarrollo de las Comunidades Fronterizas del Cenepa (Odecofroc) was recently in Lima to urge the authorities to respond to the plight of the communities. She says that attempts to get the regional authorities in Bagua to do something had come to nothing.