G Smith
GREENPEACE has announced its executive director will travel to Peru to
personally apologise for the environmental group’s stunt at the
world-famous Nazca lines, which Peruvian authorities say harmed the
archaeological marvel.
The group added it was willing to accept the consequences.
A senior Peruvian official said his government would seek criminal charges
against Greenpeace activists who allegedly damaged the lines by leaving
footprints in the adjacent desert.
Greenpeace said in a statement: “We fully understand that this looks bad.
We came across as careless and crass.”
Greenpeace regularly riles governments and corporations it deems
environmental vandals. Monday’s action was intended to promote clean energy
to delegates from 190 countries at the UN climate talks in nearby Lima.
But the group signalled yesterday that it recognised it had deeply offended
many Peruvians.
It added Greenpeace’s executive director, Kumi Naidoo, would travel to Lima
this week to apologise. Greenpeace will fully co-operate with any
investigation and is “willing to face fair and reasonable consequences”,
the statement said.
The Nazca lines are huge figures depicting living creatures, stylised
plants and imaginary figures scratched on the surface of the ground between
1,500 and 2,000 years ago. They are believed to have had ritual
astronomical functions.
In the stunt at the UN World Heritage site in Peru’s coastal desert,
activists laid a message promoting clean energy beside the famed figure of
a hummingbird comprised of black rocks on a white background.
Deputy culture minister Luis Jaime Castillo called it a “slap in the face
at everything Peruvians consider sacred”.
He said the government would seek to prevent those responsible from leaving
the country and ask prosecutors to file charges of “attacking
archaeological monuments”, a crime punishable by up to six years in prison.
The activists entered a “strictly prohibited” area where they laid big
yellow cloth letters reading: “Time for Change; The Future is Renewable”.
They said after initial criticism that they were “absolutely careful” not
to disturb anything.
Mr Castillo said no-one, not even presidents, is allowed without
authorisation where the activists trod, and those who do have permission
must wear special shoes.
The Greenpeace delegation chief to the climate talks, Martin Kaiser, said
none of the people involved in the action had been arrested.
“I think activists are always taking responsibility for what they are
doing,” he said. “We clearly underestimated the sensitivity of the situation.”
He would not say whether any activists face internal sanction for the action.
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