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Headlines : CorporationsEcuador in crisis as oil protests intensify
The situation in Ecuador is becoming very like that of Nigeria, with a dispossessed and neglected minority bypassed by oil revenues taking matters into their own hands.
Reuters fails to report other actions taken by the protesters such as the destruction of road bridges and the kidnapping of 11 technicians reported by la Prensa=)&language=EN.
As in Nigeria, the government is inflaming the situation with repression and an uncompromising attitude. Meanwhile, Chevron are trying to whitewash the “rainforest Chernobyl” in the California courts.
[Posted By Szamko]Republished from Reuters
QUITO, Ecuador, Feb 21 – Ecuador declared a state of emergency in the Amazon province of Napo on Tuesday after soldiers fired on protesters occupying an oil pumping station and shut down one of the country’s main private pipelines.
The state of emergency prohibits protests and marches in the province.
Leaders of the protest and a doctor at a local hospital said at least three people were wounded in the shooting. About 600 people were still occupying the Sardina pumping station in Napo, about 55 miles (90 kms) east of Quito.
“We will not allow anybody to damage state infrastructure,” Jose Modesto Apolo, the government general secretary, told reporters in Quito. He said the occupation had to end before there could be any talks with the protesters.
A military spokesman declined to comment on the situation, but local television showed pictures of troops firing their rifles at dozens of rock-hurdling protesters.
Television stations also showed footage of wounded protesters lying in a local hospital who said they had been shot by soldiers.
“We want the government to talk to us because this situation is getting out of hand,” Julio Perez, a spokesman for the protesters told Reuters. “We did not order people to invade this pumping…
Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.
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As of Friday or Saturday, 24th or 25th, the Government of Ecuador had given in to demands of the protestors and promised to invest at least $100 Million in the region for education and social programs and infrastucture, including and airpot and highway. The government will also release about 35 protestors arrested during the state of emergency declared on Tuesday the 21st.
$100 million doesn’t seem like much, though, since the Nigerian courts ordered the Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria (of which Royal Dutch Shell is responsible for %30) to pay the Ijaw of the Niger Delta $1.5 BILLION as compensation for environmental degradation. Shell says it will appeal since there is no EVIDENCE of this degradation.