current oil threat

Indians Protest Plans to Drill in Ecuadorian Amazon in Latin American Herald Tribune: seem to be proposed stage Caracas,

acessesdApril 11,2010 Author: EFE
published 3/23/2010

The Achuar are continuing to resist oil companies operating on their land even though the government has publicly stated more than once that oil operations will be happening soon in Blocks 23 and 24 of their land (42). The Achuar, along with other indigenous people in the Amazon region of Ecuador, protested against the Ecuadorian government intention?s?gr to start oil production in Blocks 23 and 24 in the provinces of Pastaza and Morona Santiago outside the Ministry of energy and mining in March 2010 in Ecuador (42). The ministry is the government entity in Ecuador that approves plans for resource extraction in Ecuador (42). They have been resisting in many ways (42). They have been doing physical resistance (42). For example, the oil company Compañia General de Combustibles is the operator of Block 23 but the Achuar and other indigenous people lately have prevented the company from doing their activities (42). They have been doing nonviolent resistance including stating and trying to enforce their rights to tribal sovereignty (42). For example, the Achuar made a declaration in 2002 to not participate in any communication, agreement or national program that is associated with promoting oil production (42). In addition, this declaration says that the land designated for Blocks 23 and 24, isn’t considered Blocks 23 and 24 by the Achuar unless the Achuar are consulted about possible land use changes (42). This is because the land designated for Blocks 23 and 24 are areas of land that are currently being used or areas of land that are part of their ancestral lands and are being preserved (42). The Achuar are demanding that the state recognize the lands in question as “sacred territory, a biodiversity and ancestral culture heritage site of the Kichwa people of Ecuador,” and strengthen “alternative economic models based on the natural environment” (42). The Achuar strongly believe that the unresponsible beginning of oil activities in the blocks would have an irrevocable ?e?ffect on the “environment and culture” and change “the social life of the families in the communities, causing major divisions” (42). The Achuar stated “We won’t allow the Amazon region to be transformed into an industrial mining and oil camp, a zone of death, that threatens the life and safety of all Ecuadorians …” (42).