Ecuador tribes vow to fight oil threat

Remeber Rape of a Nation? Well, this, just like ‘Rape of a Nation’, is again one of those stories about indigenous cultures being threatened just to serve needs of our ‘civilization’. In this case our lust for oil threatens the land of three tribes deep in the Ecuadorian rainforest (see map of the region here). The Achuar, the Shuar and the Kichwa have begun to organize themselves politically but because of Ecuador’s debt burden it might all be for nothing.

Much of it, though, lies beneath remote areas of the Amazon rainforest.

Now the indigenous people of the region are starting to organise themselves politically in a bid to keep the oilmen out of their ancestral homes.

In global oil terms, Ecuador is a relatively small player. But revenues from its existing Amazon oil reserves are critical in keeping the country’s economy afloat.

Now, with the country sitting on huge potential new reserves, there is enormous pressure to expand production.

Ancestral land

The difficulty is that much of it lies beneath pristine virgin rainforests which are legally designated indigenous tribal territories.

We were here thousands of years before Christopher Columbus arrived – the land can’t be touched, it’s our inalienable right
Milton Carrera, Achuar president

In 1999 the government sold exploration rights in two areas, known as Blocks 23 and 24, which are at the heart of Indian reserves – without consulting the tribes involved.

Six years later and exploration has yet to get under way.

There are three indigenous peoples living within these Blocks: the Achuar, Shuar and Kichwa peoples. Each has set up political organisations to help keep the oilmen out of their territories.

Milton Carrera is president of the Achuar, a tribe of about 5,000 people living…

Posted by BurningMonk

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