LIMA – A group of Indians took over two valve stations on the pipeline that carries natural gas from the Camisea gas fields, the firm Transportadora de Gas del Peru, or TGP, said Sunday.

In a communique, the firm said that about 50 Indians on Saturday entered one of its installations and “manipulated equipment, affecting the operation of the heat generator.”

“They they withdrew but remained around the valve facilities,” TGP said.

The company added that an overflight of the area revealed that in the vicinity of another valve installation “another group of natives dug two large holes exposing a stretch of the pipeline, thus putting their lives and the integrity of the Camisea Transport System at risk.”

“Transportadora de Gas del Peru has activated its operational contingency plan,” TGP said, adding that it had communicated “on several occasions with Indian leaders to inform them of the situation and the risks to which their communities are exposing themselves.”

TGP issued a call to the Indians “in the name of cordial relations, cooperation and mutual respect” to “withdraw from the vicinity of these installations and not expose yourselves to these situations of high risk.”

“We trust that this difficult situation will be resolved in the shortest time possible and that normal conditions will be reestablished in the Transport System, for the well-being and security of everyone,” TGP concluded.

Local media reported on Saturday that some 300 Indians from the jungle Machiguenga community had taken control of one of the pipeline’s valve stations.

Native leader Plinio Capegari confirmed that the Indians will continue their protest measures until the government rescinds several laws they consider harmful to their interests.

Capegari said that this group of Indians is the same one that last week took over the town of Machu Picchu, located on the slopes of the celebrated Inca citadel, and forced the suspension of tourist train service to the site.

Local media also reported that some 200 police had been sent to the area to try and retake the valve stations.

The Indians have been on strike for more than a month, taking over petroleum pumping stations and blocking roads and rivers to traffic, circumstances that have endangered the supply of fuel to several cities in the southern jungle region.

The natives refuse to end their strike until concrete progress is made in the dialogue on overturning the laws that, they believe, harm their rights to their lands and allow the entry of transnational logging and oil firms.