Indigenous Struggles for Participation in Peru’s Oil Circuit: Disrupting Unaccountability and Transitioning to a Post-Oil Future?

This paper examines the extractivist violence against Indigenous Peoples in Peru’s northern Amazon, focusing on their territorial and epistemic struggles in the so-called "oil circuit" or "circuit of death". A central case is block 95, where three Indigenous men were killed during a peaceful protest in August 2020 by police violence. Following this, Indigenous leaders faced defamation and prosecution, being held accountable for the deaths of their ‘three martyrs’, as their families and communities honor them. Persistent Indigenous mobilization eventually compelled the prosecutor to investigate the police and the oil company’s role, but justice for the victims’ families remains elusive. Simultaneously, Indigenous communities in block 95 have pushed for their right to participation in the benefits of oil, as part of their territorial rights. Through recurrent actions of territorial control, they achieved significant changes to the oil contract, including the creation of a 2.5% social fund from oil production to support community development priorities. They also secured greater autonomy in the management of this fund, limiting the company's role to financial contributions. The fund is seen by the Indigenous Peoples as a first step towards compensating the communities for their losses and other harms caused by the oil company's presence and is intended to be used to ensure a transition to a post-oil era. Meanwhile, the company is publicly selling the fund as a voluntary act, as part of its corporate social responsibility, and the defamation of Indigenous leaders continues. The paper critically interrogates the extent to which these struggles and achievements are perceived by the Indigenous Peoples as disrupting the entrenched unaccountability of both the state and the oil company. It explores whether their struggles for a greater respect for the right to participation in this context have the potential to restructure relations on the ground and facilitate the transition to a new, more just reality. The analysis draws on my fieldwork in Peru (2023-2024), long-term prior engagement with the Peruvian Amazon and its People (2009-2018), and a combination of primary sources, secondary materials, and academic literature.