First modification:
After the Government of Peru confirmed two oil spills on its Pacific coast, the Prosecutor’s Office requested this Thursday, January 27, from the Judiciary the impediment of leaving the country for 18 months against the executive director of Repsol in Peru and three other managers. . Meanwhile, in several cities there have been demonstrations calling for the Spanish company to leave the country immediately.
The Peruvian authorities asked the Justice this Thursday, January 27, to prevent the executive director of Repsol in Peru, Jaime Fernández-Cuesta, and three other managers from leaving the country for 18 months for the spill of at least 6,000 barrels of oil that occurred on last January 15 in the waters of the Peruvian Pacific.
The spill occurred hours after the eruption of an underwater volcano near the Tonga Islands. In addition, the Peruvian government confirmed on Wednesday that there was a second spill of 8 barrels of oil in front of a coastal refinery managed by Repsol. However, the Spanish company has denied that other spill.
This same Thursday, the Judiciary must evaluate the request of the Prosecutor’s Office in the Temporary Preparatory Investigation Court of the Puente Piedra-Ventanilla Court.
The request comes after the Lima Northwest Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation against representatives of the La Pampilla Refinery, operated by Repsol, for the alleged crime of environmental pollution.
One of the biggest environmental catastrophes of recent times in Peru
In addition to requesting that the director of Repsol be prohibited from leaving the country, the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office also included the head of the Maritime Terminal 2 of the La Pampilla Refinery, Renzo Tejada Mackenzie, responsible for the facility where the oil tanker Mare Doricum unloaded crude oil when caused the accident.
Similarly, the managers of Repsol in Peru for Environmental Quality, Cecilia Posadas Jhong; and for Production, José Reyes Ruiz, are in the request.
The environmental tragedy is very serious, since the spill affected approximately 50 kilometers of the Peruvian coast and, in terms of surface, already covers eight square kilometers, most of them in the water, and also affected the territory of two nature reserves.
Committed to remedying the effects of the accident in Ventanilla, we provide updated information that seeks to respond more effectively and transparently through our RRSS and our website. Learn more at this link: https://t.co/0TU2QCBKtq pic.twitter.com/QEx8eyy0Vj
– Repsol Peru (@repsol_peru) January 22, 2022
“It is unacceptable that they continue to contaminate the sea and the environment every day,” said José Llacuachaqui, a representative of the artisanal fishermen in the affected area, quoted by the AFP news agency.
The spill of crude during the unloading of a tanker was, according to Repsol directors, caused by the strong waves that day and that occurred hours after the eruption of an underwater volcano near the Tonga Islands in the Pacific .
But not only fishermen have been seriously affected, hundreds of marine species have also died. The Peruvian government declared an “environmental emergency” for 90 days, ensuring that more than 180 hectares of coastline were contaminated, as well as 713 hectares of maritime areas.
For his part, the prosecutor assigned to the Ministry of the Environment, Julio César Guzmán, reported on Wednesday that the four Repsol officials who “were in charge of evaluating the risks of management” will be summoned to the prosecution.
According to the official, an act of “contamination” under Peruvian law is punishable “with a sentence of 4 to 5 years” in prison. “But in aggravated cases it can reach 6 or 7 years,” he stressed.
Guzmán recalled that those responsible for the refinery gave “false information to the competent authorities” about the oil spill on January 15, since Repsol first reported a spill of “six gallons” (about 27 liters) of crude, but, it later emerged that 6,000 barrels, or almost a million litres, had gone into the sea.
With EFE and AFP