LIMA: Indigenous villagers and an Argentine oil company are making strides toward ending a dispute in Peru's Amazon basin region that led to reduced oil output, the two parties said Wednesday.
Carlos Sandi, president of the Federation of Indigenous Communities of the Corrientes River, said the two sides signed an agreement Tuesday and as a result a roadblock and the shutdown of 14 wells had been lifted.
He said Argentine oil company Pluspetrol had agreed to pay the indigenous community about $360,000.
"That money will be invested in sustainable community projects such as raising pigs and chickens," Sandi said.
Since January, Pluspetrol has been the target of protests by Amazon indigenous communities seeking indemnization for what they believe is environmental damage.
In a statement, Pluspetrol said it had reached an agreement with the indigenous communities that would enable it to begin ramping back up some of its oil production.
On February 10, violent protests left one person dead in the area of Pichanaki.
After the clashes, which also left 20 people wounded, President Ollanta Humala's government ordered Pluspetrol to withdraw from the area.
But such disputes present a dilemma for the government, which is keen to revive mining investment after it fell more than 10 percent last year -- a drop mining firms blame on environmental regulations that they say delay their projects.
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