An Indigenous group in Peru released all detained tourists on a boat on Sunday. The group of roughly 70 tourists was detained by protesting Indigenous Peruvians.
Members of the Cuninico community of Peru’s Amazon blocked the passage for the tourist boat with the intention of making a statement to the country’s government about a toxic oil spill.
The community members held the group, which included tourists from France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Peru, for a day.
Al Jazeera reported, that Peru’s independent public defender agency tweeted “after dialogue with the (head) of the Cuninico communities, our request to release people was accepted.”
According to local media outlet RPP, none of the tourists were harmed during the protests.
Watson Trujillo, the chief of the Indigenous group, said all the tourists had departed along the Maranon River just after midday on Friday. The Eduardo 11, had been held since the day before by residents of Cuninico.
He also confirmed that they will continue their protests – and blocking the passage of river boats – until the government gives them concrete help to deal with the pollution affecting their land and community.
“We have seen ourselves obliged to take this measure to summon the attention of a state that has not paid attention to us for eight years,” he said in a statement to The Associated Press.
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