Pregnant women, a one-month-old baby and elderly people are reportedly among those held hostage
A group of 150 tourists, including US and UK nationals, have been detained by an Indigenous group in Peru.
The group has been held hostage since 10am on 3 November as part of a protest against the Peruvian government after an oil spill in the area, community leaders in the locality of Cuninico told local media. Pregnant women, a one-month-old baby and elderly people are reportedly among those held hostage.
“Our very punctual request is that the government declares a state of emergency due to the constant oil spills in our territory, and a committee presided by the president is then commissioned,” community leader Watson Trujillo told national outlet TVPeru Noticias.
Mr Trujillo told the network that they would soon free the people detained.
Former Peruvian Prime Minister Anibal Torres hit out at local media for reporting that the government was not actively assisting the hostages and went as far as claiming that some members of the Cuninico community were to blame for the spill of about 2,500 barrels of oil, which have killed at least three locals.
“They’re saying that Americans held hostage with babies have not been rescued. That is false, they were driven [to a safe location.]” Mr Torres said.
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Alice Ramirez, a local who claimed to have been detained by the indigenous group, had written on social media that there were infants among the hostages.
‘We spent the night here. We are running out of water to drink, the sun is very strong, there are babies crying, the youngest is only one month old, pregnant women, disabled people, and elderly,” Ms Ramirez said on Facebook. ‘Now we do not have electricity to charge our phones, nor water to clean ourselves.”
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