HA COMENZADO LA GUERRA, CON LA EXPULSIÓN DE LOS INDÍGENAS DE SUS TIERRAS.
Pastaza. Ecuador.

Con el tema de las petroleras en Pastaza estamos más que fregados... ni te imaginas. Una compañía petrolera (la CGC) ha metido a jucio a la FINAE (la organización de la etnia achuar) y a gente quichua de otra comunidad.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ruth Muñiz"
To:
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 8:31 PM
Subject: Problema gordo

> Esto que os voy a contar es grave, por favor, leedlo y
> difúndanlo lo más que puedan...

Lo hicieron a escondidas poniendo una orden de busca y captura para los dirigentes indígenas y para los más pilas.

Si te cogen y te meten a un interrogatorio así de sorpresa, tú no puedes tener ni buscar los mejores argumentos para defenderte y es más fácil que te acusen. Si les dieran tiempo a preparse y a conocer la legislación les estarían ayudando a saber cómo pueden defenderse, es más difícil que se salgan los denunciantes con la suya, así que te puedes imaginar.

La cosa fue porque en Diciembre del año pasado 5 ingenieros de la CGC entraron sin pedir ninguna clase de permiso al territorio Achuar y Quichua y, claro, las comunidades, que están al loro con las petroleras, al verles y no saber quiénes eran les retuvieron hasta averiguar.
(Con razón, ¿recuerdas lo que te decía?

El hecho de no tener paredes en sus casas, de vivir libres en sus chozas, no nos da derecho a entrar sin tocar la puerta. Nosotros vivimos entre paredes que son las que nos protegen del resto, y no es nuestra suerte vivir con la maravillosa
libertad con la que viven en la selva.

Pero claro, eso hace confundir a la gente porque no encontrar puertas hace que crean que pueden entrar sin siquiera
preguntar.

Lo que ocurrió es que los achuar les retuvieron, tras averiguar que eran "el ogro de las petroleras", hasta que el gobierno no firmó una carta de acuerdo que decía que los problemas los arreglarían despacio y conversando todo bien, pero no de la manera brusca que querían iniciar las cosas los de la CGC.

Esa carta se firmó, y se liberó inmediatamente a los de las petroleras. Sin embargo, este marzo la compañía petrolera manda una denuncia rompiendo el acuerdo de conversaciones pacíficas y poniendo en peligro la posibilidad de comunicación tranquila y cordial.

Claro, si los de la compañía quitan de en medio a los dirigentes, que son los que más saben y los más espabilados, tienen el campo mucho más libre para meterse en los territorios vírgenes con sus socializadores y comerles la cabeza, engañar y embaucar a la gente que vive dentro, que no tendría otro asesoramiento.

Instituciones de derechos humanos han presionado y enviado sus cartas de protesta y nosotros estamos ahí, al pie del cañón a ver qué se puede hacer.

Ha comenzado la guerra, ahora sí declarada. No sé lo que pasará en el futuro, pero nosotros no nos moveremos de aquí!

Estamos en un punto crítico... a ver qué pasará!
Ruth.

Localizaciones del lugar por mapas:
* Mapas de Ecuador.

Más información en Internet:
* Oilwatch.org

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Envío dos documentos en inglés (que no dé pereza leerlo...) para que se vea más o menos la situación.
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"We will say NO forever, we don't want to think about the possibility of oil in the future, we definitely want another kind of future."
Achuar leader Santiago Kawarim.

In Ecuador, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is escalating the undeclared resource war over fossil fuels being waged against Amazonian indigenous peoples. For the IMF, hikes in oil production and credit worthiness go hand in hand. Hence, to meet payments on its huge US$16 billion national debt, the Ecuadorian government is embarking on a massive oil exploitation program in the country’s central and southern Amazon rainforests.

In early 2002, the government announced plans to carve out huge new oil blocks covering 5.9 million acres of globally renowned old growth Amazon rainforest in the ancestral homelands to the Shuar, Achuar, Shiwiar, Zapara, and Quichua peoples. US$2 billion in new investments is needed to build wells, service roads, and flow lines that will crisscross indigenous homelands.

Until recently, a transport bottleneck and difficulties in access have impeded the expansion of the oil frontier. Now, the OCP crude oil pipeline to be completed in 2003 will boost Ecuador’s transport capacity from 150,000 barrels to 450,000 barrels per day.

Though oil exploitation in the central Amazon is making rapid headway, fierce indigenous opposition to this planned oil boom forced the government to postpone the opening up of Ecuador’s southern Amazon.

However, Ecuador’s new government, though elected with strong indigenous backing, is desperately short of cash to meet its basic obligations and appears committed to qualifying for new IMF loans. With the IMF calling the shots, the southern Amazon continues to face an uncertain future.

Defending Ancestral Territories From An Oil Invasion
Many indigenous peoples of Ecuador’s southern Amazon are saying no to oil development in their territories.

Following the official announcement of the new oil exploitation program, national and local indigenous groups joined to issue a categorical refusal to allow oil companies into their lands. As Achuar leader Santiago Kawarim declared, "We will say NO forever, we don't want to think about the possibility of oil in the future, we definitely want another kind of future."

In Ecuador’s southern Amazon, resistance to oil exploitation is literally a matter of life and death. Southern communities do not want to suffer the same fate as forest peoples in the northern Amazon - Ecuador’s oil production hub.

There, high incidents of cancer, skin, stomach and respiratory problems occur among indigenous communities who fish, bathe and drink from waters polluted by oil and toxic waste spills and seepages.

Recent investigations indicate that cancer rates among these affected communities are three times higher than the national average (for throat cancer that figure rises to 30 times higher).

In contrast, the southern Amazon region remains one of the last large tracts of lowland rainforest in Ecuador that is still virtually undisturbed.

The Shuar, Achuar, Shiwiar, Zapara and Quichua peoples rely on the forest for survival. The Achuar only came into contact with the outside world at the end of the 1960s. They have managed their lands for millennia, combining hunting, fishing and gathering of forest products with traditional cultivation of small clearings - to date only 3% of all Achuar territory has been deforested.

World Biosphere Reserve Targeted for Oil Exploitation
Ecuador’s southern Amazon is home to an astounding diversity of plant and animal species. Over 6% of all birds found on the earth inhabit the area making these territories one of the world’s top five avian diversity sites. Among the most notable species are the Harpy Eagle and a series of rare and endemic animals such as the jaguar, river dolphin and the critically endangered Giant River Otter.

In the central Amazon, oil exploitation is gathering pace within some of Ecuador’s prized national parks and reserves including the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve and Limoncocha and Pañacocha Biological Reserves.

The threat to the Yasuni National Park - a designated World Biosphere Reserve - is particularly alarming. Block 20 (also known as ITT) falls within Yasuni and is estimated to contain Ecuador’s largest known reserves of heavy crude.

IMF Gains, Forest Peoples Lose While the IMF persists with an economic rationale that equates hikes in oil production with credit worthiness, the burden of servicing Ecuador’s debt will fall disproportionately on Amazon communities living in the path of Big Oil. Beyond the Amazon, Ecuadorians will not enjoy the fruits of their country’s oil boom because the IMF is demanding that 80 percent of Ecuador’s future oil revenues from the OCP pipeline be set aside to pay international lenders.

A closer look at the national economy reveals that the oil industry is a root cause of continual economic woes. Since the oil exploitation began 35 years ago, external debt has spiraled exponentially pitching Ecuador into a relentless cycle of borrowing against predicted oil revenues. Ecuador’s external debt - the highest per capita debt in South America -now consumes 42 percent of the country’s GDP.

Three decades of oil development have failed to address widespread poverty. According to the UN 1997 Poverty Report, the unemployment rate quadrupled and the percentage of people living in poverty almost doubled in the period between 1970 and 1990.

Each new Ecuadorian government that inherits this cycle of debt and poverty must answer to the IMF. As the vice-president of Ecuador’s state oil company stated: "The new government is going to have to adopt measures to comply with the IMF guidelines, otherwise it will be difficult to balance the books in 2003." As such, all of Ecuador will suffer the consequences of ever deepening oil dependency.

Sources
El Petroleo No Es Eterno, Centro de Derechos Economicos y Sociales, 1999.
Ecuador Poverty Report, World Bank, 1996
A Rainforest’s Reprieve: Ecuador’s Indians Win A Round Against Oil Development, Kenny Bruno, EarthRights International
Indigenous Nations Oppose Ecuador’s Ninth Round Of Oil Licensing, CDES, CONAIE, CONFENAIE, FINAE, January 27, 2002
Background Environmental Information On Achuar Territory, Ecodecision Cia. Ltda.

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TED Case Studies
Ecuador Oil Exports
Go to All TED Cases

CASE NUMBER: 24
CASE MNEMONIC: ECUADOR
CASE NAME: Ecuador Oil Exports

A. IDENTIFICATION
1. The Issue

Ecuador produces more oil than it needs for domestic consumption and thus it is one of the country's leading exports.

Therefore, any new drilling for oil is not intended to meet local demand but is intended for export overseas, most likely to Japan and the United States. Beneath the surface in eastern Ecuador and within the Amazon rain forest, a relatively undisturbed and biologically rich area, are large amounts of oil.

Critics warn that the habitat could suffer either through the direct spilling of product and soil contamination or through the opening of the area to the outside through the building of roads.

It is believed that the building of an oil industry would have a severely adverse impact on the environment. Some argue against drilling for oil in Ecuador's Amazon area, particularly since the oil is intended for trade.

2. Description.
Fifty percent of Ecuador's national budget is funded by oil earnings and continued oil exploration and production is thought to be necessary to ensure the countries' well being. The country plans to increase production and holds auctions to increase foreign investment.

Dependence on oil revenue has hindered Ecuador's environmental enforcement, which in turn has caused damaging consequences to indigenous tribes living in the Amazon region and to the environment in the eastern (Oriente) part of the country.

Indigenous tribes of Ecuador are fighting for their lands and rights, which have been jeopardized for the past 20 years by oil companies (primarily the U.S. company Texaco and Ecuador's state-run company Petroecuador) drilling in the Oriente.

Several Indian tribes, working with American environmental groups and others, are calling for a moratorium, claiming that drilling has caused environmental damage and poses health risks. The tribes claim that the oil drilling, which included the dumping of oil and contaminated water into the Amazon basin, has resulted in the death of thousands of people.

Several tribes are currently suing the U.S. oil company, Texaco, for $1.5 billion in damages. Texaco claims that its exploration, carried out from 1972 until 1990, did not violate any laws, as Ecuador lacked specific environmental legislation. The company has offered to contribute to a $13.5 Oriente cleanup fund.

Oil earnings fund 50 percent of Ecuador's national budget. While the Amazon region provides the region with the majority of its wealth, it is also the home of indigenous tribes and 300,000 colonists. The Indians of Ecuador, located in the Amazon region of Oriente, have joined forces for the past 20 years to resist oil exploration and demand rights to their ancestral lands.

The leaders from twenty tribes, including the Quichua, Cofan, Shuar, Siona, Secoya, Achuar, and Huaorani, have raised national attention to the land claims and the destruction of the Oriente.

In June, 1990, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorean Andes (CONAIE) and the Confederation of Indian Organizations of the Ecuadorean Amazon (CONFENIAE) staged protests to gain title to their lands and have gained the rights to 3 million acres of land in the Amazon basin. However, the government retains rights to minerals, "allowing oil exploration to continue in consultation with the Indian communities in order to control environmental damage."

In November, 1993, Indian leaders walked into a New York Federal court to sue the U.S. firm Texaco for $1 billion in damages and cleanup costs.

The company retaliated a few weeks later by suing the Ecuadorean government for $570 million, claiming a breach of contract. Texaco says that the claims are completely unfounded, stating that it was a minor party working in conjunction with Petroecuador, the state oil corporation and that it followed "accepted industry practices" and Ecuadorean laws.

Ecuador lacked specific environmental legislation until 1990, the same year that Texaco transferred its operations over to Petroecuador.

Texaco states that it is not responsible for water pollution, especially since it stopped operating in the region four years ago.

However, Petroecuador attributes the pollution to Texaco, stating that the U.S. company did operate in the region for 18 years.

A report by the Ecuadorean Union of Popular Health Promoters states, "Petroecuador continues to employ the environmentally dangerous equipment and practices inherited from Texaco, including the discharge of toxic wastes directly into the environment."2 Environmental groups hope that this case will set a precedent for future U.S. oil companies operating in Ecuador.

Many of the indigenous tribes in the Amazon region that once numbered in the thousands have been reduced to the hundreds as a result of the pollution generated by oil exploration and other assaults.

Water contamination has led to increased risks of cancer, abortion, dermatitis, fungal infection, headaches, and nausea. Their drinking, bathing, and fishing water contain toxins much higher than the safety limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Unlined waste pits provide a major source of pollution. They contain a toxic mixture created by the oil production and separation process.

Today, environmental regulations require these toxic by-products to be injected deep underground.

However, the Ecuadorean Union of Popular Health Promoters has found that Petroecuador does not follow these guidelines and continues to release the toxic wastes directly into the environment.

The oil companies that drilled in the rain forest were responsible for "felling thousands of acres of trees, dynamiting the earth, spilling vast amounts of oil, destroying habitats, and fouling rivers."3 This destruction has limited resources available to the tribes living in the Amazon (see BRAZIL case).

Fish have died from water pollution and the game the tribes once hunted have retreated deeper into the jungle as a result of the deforestation.

The Rainforest Action Network found that Texaco alone spilled 17 million gallons of crude oil, abandoned hundreds of unlined toxic waste ponds, and constructed oil roads that opened more than 2.5 million acres of the forest to colonization. Ecuador's rain forests are being cut down by oil companies and settlers at a rate of approximately 340,000 hectares a year.
The wood is used for construction, roads, fuel, and furniture.

Indigenous groups are calling for a 15-year moratorium on oil drilling, which would include repairing the environment, the receipt of 1 percent of the oil profits, and all companies paying an indemnification. However, Ecuador is the second largest producer of oil in Latin America, after Venezuela, and oil revenues form half of its gross national product. Due to Ecuador's dependance on foreign capital, it has exerted little environmental control and has encouraged oil exploration. In January, 1994, the government began a seventh round of bids for 3.2 million hectares in the Amazon region.

Ecuador has withdrawn from OPEC, as it plans to increase its national oil production by one third by 1997. It is currently holding auctions to attract foreign investment and to construct a new $600 million pipeline and road that will lead into an unspoiled section of the Amazon in anticipation of the increased production.

The Indians have responded with threats to seize oil wells and in their fight took over the Energy and Mines Ministry on January 24, 1994 to pressure the government.

They now demand that the new pipeline be built using air transport rather than using a new road.

The government claims to be sensitive to their needs, stating they will respect strict environmental standards. However, it claims the oil exploitation is necessary for the country.

The Dallas based Maxus Energy Corporation is constructing an underground pipeline that will pass through the territory of the Huaorani and Quichua tribes and the Yasuni Park in the Oriente.

The corporation claims it has respected the Indian, their rights, and the environment in its work.
It has made agreements with each tribe and has offered them schools and teaching materials.

The firm plans to invest $60 million in environmental protection.
The members of CONAIE, however, believe an agreement should have been signed with the Indians. They argue Maxus is not contributing enough to the tribes and the environment, in exchange for the deforestation and pollution it creates. The indigenous leaders feel Maxus has divided their people with implicit and explicit bribes of various types. Some have been given food, money, and clothes in exchange for the use of their land.

3. Related Cases

COLOMOIL case
OGONI case
TOBAGO case
EXXON case
SELLA case
SHETLAND case

Keyword Clusters
(1): Trade Product = OIL
(2): Bio-geography = TROPical
(3): Environmental Problem = DEFORestation

4. Draft Author: Angela G. Armstrong and Marlon Vallejo

B. LEGAL Clusters

5. Discourse and Status: DISagreement and INPROGress

The Texaco case has been filed, but has not yet been heard. The $1.5 billion suit, based on common law, was filed under the Alien Tort Victims Act, that allows non-U.S. citizens to file for injuries caused by U.S. entities.

Ecuadorean Indians sued Texaco for damages on November 30, 1993, claiming Texaco released more than 3,000 gallons of crude oil into the environment.

The OAS Human Rights Commission is currently investigating damage claims.

Texaco has also filed a suit against Petroecuador, citing breach of contract.
Private groups are involved to the extent they are arranging debt-for-nature swaps to protect the areas.

6. Forum and Scope: ECUADor and UNILATeral.

Specific Ecuadorean environmental legislation was enacted in 1990. This is the same year Texaco withdrew its operations from the region.

7. Decision Breadth: 1 (Ecuador).

8. Legal Standing: LAW

The government agreed to more specific environmental legislation in 1990 and amended its Hydrocarbon Law, putting legislation in place to increase oil exploration.

In April 1993, the Ecuadorian government agreed to grant 3 million acres in the Amazon basin to the Indians.

The government, however, retains mineral rights in the region.

Numerous agreements were made between Indian tribes and oil companies and concessions made in exchange for their use of the land.

Lawyers for the Ecuadorian tribes are seeking a ruling that Texaco should have abided by U.S. environmental protection norms and legislation in its Oriente operations.

C. GEOGRAPHIC Clusters.
9. Geographic Locations.

a. Geographic Domain : South America [SAMER]
b. Geographic Site : AMAZON
c. Geographic Impact : ECUADor

10. Sub-National Factors: YES
The Ecuadorian Indians are protesting against the country's lenient environmental policies on oil exploration that promote the destruction of their lands.

11. Type of Habitat: TROPical.
D. TRADE Clusters

12. Type of Measure: Regulatory Standard [REGSTD].

Oil companies exploring the Amazon basin are expected to work in accordance with Ecuadorian laws, but the argument has been made that they should also abide by home country rules.

13. Direct vs. Indirect Impacts: INDirect.

14. Relation of Measure to Environmental Impact.

a. Directly Related: YES OIL.
b. Indirectly Related : YES WOOD
c. Not Related : NO
d. Process Related : YES HABITAT Loss

Trade (investment) measures and environmental regulations are related to the process of oil exploration.
Roads created to facilitate the exploration process were covered with oil to decrease the amount of dust in the air. This dust had caused respiratory problems for many Indians.

However, the oil on the roads also caused them harm.
Because most Indians walk barefoot, the oil (which can only be remove, ironically, with gasoline) causes rashes and cancer.

15. Trade Product Identification: OIL.

16. Economic Data

Ecuador currently produces 370,000 barrels of oil a day. It plans to increase production to 400,000 barrels a day in 1995. Half of the Ecuadorean gross national product comes from oil exploration.

More than 40 percent of Ecuador's exports in 1990 were oil and derivatives.
Ecuador produced 14,936 thousand metric tons of oil in 1990 and $1.5 billion came from petroleum exports in 1993.

17. Impact of Measure on Trade Competitiveness: NA

The cost of increased environmental protection would severely limit the revenue Ecuador earns from its oil exports, especially with over 30 percent of employment in this sector.

18. Industry Sector: OIL.

19. Exporter and Importer: ECUADOR and USA

Ecuador exports 14,936 thousand metric tons of oil per year (1990), with the United States as the leading importer. Some exports also go to Europe and Asia.

E. ENVIRONMENT Clusters

20. Environmental Problem Type: HABITAT Destruction.
The exploration for oil has created numerous environmental problems of all types in the Amazon region.

The Amazon basin in Ecuador has the greatest number of plant species of any South American country.
The Sierra highlands have been almost completely deforested. Also, the Oriente is a species rich jungle with numerous mammals in danger of extinction.
Oil that was placed on roads to cut dust has flowed into rivers. Oil waste in the past was placed in holes in the ground that contaminated the forests and the ivers.

"Ecuadorian officials estimate that ruptures to the major pipeline alone have discharged more than 16.8 million gallons of oil into the Amazon over the past eighteen years (compared to the 10.8 million-gallon Exxon Valdez spill). Production pits produce 4.3 million gallons of toxic waste and treatment chemicals."

21. Name, Type, and Diversity of Species.

Name: Tropical Hardwoods
Type: Plant/Angiospermae/Dicots
Diversity: 6,421 higher plants per 10,000 km/s (Ecuador)

These are tropical rain forests and therefore the bio diversity of the area is among the highest of any place in the world.

The forests of this area are not as diverse nor do they have as high a degree of endemism as Old World tropical rain forests.
Bio-diversity for seed plant species in Brazil is perhaps comparable.
The Amazon jungle houses 12,000 species of plants and numerous birds, fish, reptiles, insects, and mammals.
The tapir, howler monkey, jaguar, harpy eagle, capybara and other animals are endangered species.

22. Resource Impact and Effect: MEDium and PRODuct

Deforestation in the Oriente has threatened the extinction of many plants, and the pollution created by the oil exploration process has led to the deaths of numerous animals and people.

Birds important to the forest's biological diversity are fleeing from the road areas and faster growing species of trees are hindering hardwood growth.
Full regeneration will not occur for years. Thin topsoil makes it difficult to re-establish plant cover.

23. Urgency and Lifetime: MEDium and 100s of years.

The rain forest is being destroyed at an annual rate of approximately 2.6 percent. If this destruction rate continues, the "forest cover" will be gone in 40 years.

24. Substitutes: Conservation [CONSV].

VI. OTHER Factors

25. Culture: YES

The Indians' culture has been jeopardized since the European invasions, when they were forced into slavery on haciendas. Today, their culture is again in jeopardy, as their homeland in the Amazon basin is being threatened by oil exploration. Today, members of CONAIE are fighting the state's claim that Ecuador is one culture.

They state that the country is multinational with different cultures on the coast and the Sierra. It is also working to retain all the individual indigenous languages of the Amazon region.

The Manta-Huancavilca tribe in the Costa region now speaks Spanish instead of their native tongue.

26. Trans-Border: YES.

Pollution created in the oil exploration process has entered the Amazon region in other South American countries.

27. Rights: YES.

Indian federations are fighting for their human rights and their land. Political power has long been held by the white aristocracy from Europe and the mestizos.

Indians were not allowed to form groups at community levels until 1973. Indian groups are now demanding constitutional status.

In April, 1993, when land was awarded to the indigenous people, the government still retained rights over the minerals o f the region.

Today, the Indian groups are fighting for their rights by suing Texaco for damages, taking over the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and demanding a moratorium where they would also have a say in the oil exploration of their lands.

28. Relevant Literature.

Brooke, James. "Pollution of Water Tied to Oil in Ecuador." The New York Times (March 1994): 11.
Hidrobo, Jorge A. Power and Industrialization in Ecuador. Boulder: Westview Press, 1992.
Jones, Gregg. "When Worlds Collide; On Delicate Ground Maxus Trying to Reach Oil Without Destroying Rainforest Tribe." The Dallas Morning News (March 1994): 1H.
Kennedy, Jr., Robert F. "Amazon Crude." The Amicus Journal (Spring 1991): 24-32.
Martz, John D. Politics and Petroleum in Ecuador. New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 1987.

References.
1. David Holmstrom, "Ecuador Indians Fight for Forests," The Christian Science Monitor (June 16, 1993), 9.

2. James Brooke, "Pollution of Water Tied to Oil in Ecuador," The New York Times (March 22, 1993, 11.

3. Holmstrom, "Volatile Mix," 10.
Go to Super Page

1-11-97.

>> Autor: cipi-cpn (23/05/2003)
>> Fuente: "Ruth Muñiz" harpyec@yahoo.com

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