NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #30/NN_1992_30.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9478

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Subject: Ecuador:Huaorani Attacked by Oil Co, Govt
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Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit

From: [e-mail]
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 18:29:21 -0800


        The South & Mesoamerican Indian Information Center
                          P.O. Box 28703
                        Oakland, CA 94064

            YURACRUZ, ECUADOR, ATTACKS ON THE HUAORANI

   "I want to stamp on the ground hard enough to make that oil
   come out. I want to skip legalities, permits, red tape, and
   other obstacles. I want to go immediately and straight to
   what matters: getting that oil."
                        --Rick Bass, Petroleum Geologist, 1989


   "Look at the land. Our Grandfather lived here. So do we. It
   is our land here, here we used to live. Stranger, touring
   around you will not come. We lived over these hills, we
   still do, because the forest is our life." --Huaorani chant,
   translated by Laura Rival


Paramilitary Attacks in Imbabura:

On two different occasions a group of paramilitary men attacked
some indigenous on the ex-hacienda of Yuracruz. The paramilitary
groups were hired by the ex-owners who want the indigenous off the
land that now legally belongs to the indigenous.

The group of indigenous of Yuracruz legally received the titles for
the land on October 2, 1992 through IERAC (the Ecuatorian
Institute for Agrarian Reform and Colonization). The Association
of Agricultural Workers of Yuracruz (the legal name used by the 61
indigenous members and their families) paid 63 million sucres
(about $33000) for the land with the agreement to pay another 315
million sucres (about $165000) later. This price was established
as the total value of the land by IERAC.

On October 8, the date established for them to be the legal
owners, the indigenous of the Assocation proceeded to move onto
their land but were obstructed by the ex-owners who were armed.
During this incident the indigenous were attacked with fire-arms,
clubs, and rocks by people from the Company (ex-owners) and their
hired bullys. In a confused spontanious reaction to the attack the
indigenous of the Association fought back in self-defense using
their "ponchos, hands, and courage." The final consequence was 17
of the indigenous were injured (by fire-arms), and a Mr. Manuel
Martinez was killed (on the side of the Company). It is not yet
sure how Mr. Martinez was killed, possibly by gun-fire from his
own side in the confusion of the cloud of smoke from the gun
powder.

On the 12th of November members of the Company along with land
traffickers and hired bullys attacked the indigenous of Yuracruz
again. They came in 2 cars filled with paramilitary men and fired
machine guns scaring the indigenous of the Association onto a small
part of their land. The paramilitary men then went through
Yuracruz and burned 36 homes and killed livestock as they went.

The government has not intervened at all even though IERAC granted
the land to the Association. The police have done nothing and
almost no newspapers will print anything to do with the problems
at Yuracruz.

                               -30-


UPDATE: DEC 13, 92) -- Quito, Ecuador, SAIIC

MAXUS OIL WANTS A FREEWAY ON HUAORANI TERRITORY
COMPANY SEEKS TO EXPLOIT OIL RESERVES

Ecological impacts of the new proposed freeway:

The freeway will cross 150 kilometers of old growth tropical
rainforest (bosque primario) producing deforestation in all of
this area, and if they open trails along it it will generate even
more deforestation. Even greater deforestation will occur because
of the great value of the wood from the trees. The workers will
gain the right to sell the wood up to 60 meters to the side of the
road and their will be no way to control what or how much they
take and sell.

The construction of the freeway will also cause irreversable
sedimentation, erosion, and pollution. The movement during the
construction will cause great sedimentation that along with the
force of the tropical rains could be devastating to the region
damaging the entire ecosistem throught the streams and rivers. It
will also provoke irreversable changes in the morphology and
topography of the area. The machines used will also be releasing a
large amount of pollutants in this previously untouched area.

As a consequence of the deforestation there will be a great loss
of plant species of low population density which could lead to the
extinction of some species. The deforestation will also have a
very strong impact on animals of prey in the area which need
extensive areas to hunt. An example of this is the shrew eagle
which is a sacred bird that lives year to year in the same tree.
Also the sounds of construction will scare away the wildlife of
the area.

The colonization of area after the construction of the highway is
inevitable because there is no way to efectively control it. Under
the document, "Terminos de referencia para la construccion de
puentes y caminos," all freeways are public and free for transit.
Even if the management plan included control sites to control
colonization as is planned, there is no way to control the
colonizers during the construction. Construction of other highways
in the Amazon has shown this in the past. Other areas of the
Amazon have shown that the military is the principle colonizer,
and the military is who is proposed to control the colonization if
the highway is built.

Even if the proposed military control of the highway succeeds to
deter colonists, once Maxus leaves there is no guarantee that the
military control will continue.

The topsoils along the sides of the proposed highway are of clay,
with low fertility and with toxic aluminum. This is according to
the "Mapa Morfo-Edafologico de la Provincia de Napo." It is
recommended to protect the area because with the introduction of
colonization the topsoil will lose all of its plant cover and the
area will become desert. Similar things have happened in the zone
of Cuyabeno, where the topsoil is even better than in the Block
16.

Socio-Cultural Impacts:

With the coming of colonists there will be a series of
confrontations between the colonists and the Huaorani people,
which could be considered a form of ethnocide. The presence of the
colonists and the oil company will produce changes in the cultural
patterns of the Huaorani. The loss of wildlife in the area will
produce great changes in the eating habits of the Huaorani (for
the Huaorani, all elements of the jungle have value). Also, the
sacred sites of the Huaorani will be disturbed and possibly
destroyed. Sicknesses unbeknown to the Huaorani will be introduced
by the new colonizers and workers.

With the proposed solution that the highway be militarized,
the Huaorani will have to live in a militarized area and always
carry identification cards with them. Also the oil company will
have control of the area.

If this area follows the example of what occurred in other
regions, the Huaorani people run the threat of extinction.


UPDATE: HIGHWAY APPROVED BY ECUADORAN GOVT

A quick update that we got at a meeting Friday-Saturday 12, 13,
Dec 92. The Ecuadorian governemnt approved the highway into the
Huaorani territory and construction suppposedly has begun. OPIP is
planning nonviolent protests for when they reach Huaorani
territory, but that won't be for quite a while yet. They say they
have 2000 people ready to sit in front of the bulldozers and other
machines. At the moment the national congress is looking at the
opcion of a moratorium on all activity petrolero in bloque 16.
This means that the congress needs lots of pressure right now!!

Send Faxes and whatever you can. Stress the fact that the
petroleum in that area isnt even very profitable too. The
petroleum in that area is really of a very low quality.

Arq. Sixto Duran Ballen
Fax # [phone]

Mr. C.L. Blackburn
Maxux Energy Corporation
Fax [phone]

Mr. William Hatton
Maxus-Ecuador
Fax [phone]

Campan^a Amazonica por la Vida Fax [phone]

CONAIE 593-2-442-271 (All International calls need Int;l
Dialing Code 011 or others, make sure you get it).


For more info contact:

Guillermo Delgado-P
Latin American Studies
UCSC
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
e-mail: [e-mail]
Fax [phone]

or

The South & Mesoamerican Indian Information Center
P.O. Box 28703
Oakland, CA 94064
e-mail: [e-mail]


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