Peru is suing Spanish oil firm Repsol for $4.5 billion over a massive oil spill that fouled beaches off the coast of Lima in January, when an underwater oil pipeline leaked nearly 12,000 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean. Repsol has denied responsibility for the spill, which Peruvian President Pedro Castillo described as “one of the biggest ecocides ever on our coasts and seas.” Locals continue to demand justice.

Perla Zamudio: “We have been enormously affected by the oil spill, just like the traditional fishermen at the port, which the company, Repsol, doesn’t want to recognize. And they said the only direct effect is on the rights of traditional fishermen. But we are all connected in a chain. We lived off and brought products from the Chancay port. Since the oil spill, we haven’t been able to get fish, and people don’t consume products from the port.”