http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1219-06.htm
Published on Friday,
December 19, 2003 by Reuters
Battle Rages with Ecuador Indians Over
Jungle Oil
by Amy Taxin
[ Photograph
of Secoya elders protesting against ChevronTexaco... ]
CAPTION:
"'TEXACO NEVER AGAIN'
Ecuadoriean Secoya Indian elders join hundreds of demonstrators
in a march to the courthouse where a landmark trial pits indigenous
rainforest peoples against ChevronTexaco, demanding the oil giant
clean up the environmental contamination left behind from Texaco's
oil drilling operations, in this file photo from October 21, 2003.
The banner reads 'Texaco Never Again.' Ecuador's government
is hoping for a second oil boom, but unless tensions with
indigenous communities are eased it could be tough for the
country to attract investment." REUTERS/Lou Dematteis
QUITO - In a steamy jungle of winding laurel trees and sprawling
palms, a battle is raging between Ecuadorean Indians trying to
protect land rights and oil companies who want to drill in the
Amazon.
In the northern Amazon,
Indians are suing a U.S. oil company
over environmental damage they say ruined their land and made
people sick. Further south, indigenous demonstrators have led
violent protests to keep firms off their property.
Ecuador is one of Latin
America's least stable nations and
has a powerful Indian movement. But it is also one of the
region's most promising nations for oil development with
a government eager to tap five billion barrels in reserves.
Analysts say it could be tough for Ecuador to attract investment
unless tensions are eased with indigenous communities, who make
up
nearly half the people in the Amazon and are backed by a powerful
national left-wing Indian movement.
Dressed in a pink robe
and sashes of nutshells, Secoya Indian
Elias Piayahuaje is one of 30,000 plaintiffs who accuse U.S.
oil giant ChevronTexaco of destroying the jungle environment
in a decade-old lawsuit that has made many of Ecuador's
Indians wary of promises of "black gold."
"There's no way
for the Secoya people to get their life
back," said Piyahuaje, 47, leader of the 400-strong tribe.
He said oily pits left by a Texaco subsidiary continue
to leak a black sludge into rivers when it rains in northern
Sucumbios and Orellana provinces, the heart of the country's
oil industry near the Colombian border.
The lawsuit so far
hasn't put off investment, analysts say,
citing a new $1.4 billion pipeline built this year by private
oil firms. But companies are keeping an eye on an eventual
ruling that could affect the industry, they said.
Texaco, which merged
with Chevron in 2001, says it followed
accepted procedures during its two decades in the Amazon and
paid for a $40 million clean-up that was approved by the
Ecuadorean government after its contract to produce crude
with state oil company Petroecuador ended in 1992.
Texaco no longer operates
oil blocks in Ecuador.
SOUTHERN AMAZON
Ecuador's government
is hoping for a second oil boom now
that the new pipeline has been built -- which could double
the nation's crude output -- to reduce the poverty blighting
the lives of 60 percent of its people.
But more than 125 miles
further south, Argentine oil company
CGC and U.S. Burlington Resources Inc. have had government
contracts to explore for crude for more than three years
and neither has been able to drill a single well.
Achuar Indians have
protested against oil development
by kidnapping workers and holding demonstrations, saying
they must protect the pristine forest where they've lived
for decades. They are betting on an ecotourism project
instead of oil.
"We've seen proof,
we don't want what has happened in
Sucumbios and Orellana to happen to us," said Achuar
leader Milton Callera. "Our government can't resolve
this problem."
Another group, the
Quichua-speaking Sarayacu, say they
oppose any oil development projects.
Burlington has admitted
it can't move forward
on its exploration schedule due to area protests.
CGC, which won its contract in 1996, halted operations
this year after workers were kidnapped by Indian
protesters.
"We're sandwiched
between the state and Sarayacu and
we're the only ones who are losing in this whole story,"
said CGC's representative in Ecuador, Ricardo Nicolas.
The Energy Ministry
has signed pacts to aid several
indigenous communities that do support oil activity.
"When the companies
begin activity again, we will take
precautions and order civil authorities and police
to lend their support," Energy Minister Carlos Arboleda
told reporters, while accusing foreign environmental
groups of rousing the Indians.
INVESTORS WARY
The government aims
to attract $6.4 billion to double oil
output to more than 750,000 bpd over the next eight years.
Oil is already Ecuador's biggest export and accounts for
20 percent of its economy, according to the Central Bank.
But oil sector analysts
say the country will have a tough
time competing for investment with countries like post-war
Iraq, despite its ample crude reserves.
"How can they
go to a company asking for bids if they
haven't resolved the problem of the moratorium on oil
development sought by indigenous communities?" said
Rene Ortiz, president of Ecuador's private oil industry
association.
One reason Ecuador
has been unable to convince jungle
dwellers of the benefits of oil is that the cash
it generates is channelled to the central government
instead of the Amazon region, where 78 percent of
people are poor.
Standing outside his
rundown cosmetics shop, Santiago
Alomoto, 25, points to the broken stone tiles lining
the street in the jungle town of Lago Agrio as evidence
that those who live in the crude-rich Amazon are often
the last to see its benefits.
"All the oil and
gold that's in the earth should be
exploited," said Alomoto, who is not Indian but a
long-time jungle dweller. "But the wealth should
stay right here."
Copyright © 2003
Reuters Ltd
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