And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 14:28:47 -0700
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Scott Crawford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: California-based Occidental Petrol in Ecuador Amazon
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>OCCIDENTAL OIL EXPLORATIONS ENDANGER THE SURVIVAL OF ECUADOR'S
>INDIGENOUS TRIBES
>
>article, from Shaman's Drum Magazine, fall, 1997
>submitted by Accion Ecologica
>
>
>In April, 1997, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) sounded an alarm,
>charging that Occidental Petroleum Corporation was preparing to start
>seismic testing and oil drilling in eastern Ecuador's Block 15, a
>million-acre tract of primary Amazonian Rainforest north of the Napo
>River. TAN warned that the construction of oil exploration roads into
>the remote area would lead to the ecological destruction of the region
>and would threaten the survival of the Native peoples who lives there -
>the Huaorani, Secoya, and Siona.
>
>Occidental Petroleum, a California-based company, leased oil extraction
>rights in Block 15 from the Ecuadorian government in 1986. Due to the
>opposition of environmental groups and the fact that the eclogically
>sensitive region contains a relatively small supply of oil - only enough
>to satisfy U.S. needs for about two weeks - development of the area was
>put on hold for nearly a decade. Early 1998, however, Occidental
>announced plans that it was proceeding with oil exploration in Block 15.
>
>Occidental is one of the world's largest oil companies, with corporate
>assets totalling nearly $18 billion and annual revenues of over
>$9 billion. It produces oil and gas in twelve countries, and it is
>exploring for oil in twenty-three others. It has racked up a notoriously
>poor record on environmental and indigenous rights issues, particularly
>in the Upper Amazon River Basin. On June 25, 1997, the Candoshi people
>in northeastern Peru accused Occidental of invading their legal
>territory and drilling exploratory oil wells, despite the tribe's
>vehement opposition to such development. In Columbia, the U'wa people
>have been fighting to keep Occidental from drilling for oil on their
>ancestral homelands, and they fear that a 1997 Consitutional Court
>decision will allow the government to approve oil explorations despite
>the tribe's objections, which includes thousands of U'wa willing to
>commit mass suicide.
>
>Now, it appears that Occidental is running roughshod over the peoples
>living in Block 15. For thousands of years, the Secoya, Siona, and
>Huaorani have lived as wise stewards of the region, honoring and
>protecting the two million acres of rainforest that make up their
>ancestral homelands. If Occidental is not stopped soon, chainsaws will
>slice wide seismic test tracts through the region's irreplaceable
>rainforest, and giant Caterpillar tractors will scrape away the fragile
>topsoil, turning "temporary" roads into permanent highways of
>exploitation.
>
>The Huaorani living in Block 15 are some of the least acculturated of
>Ecuador's indigenous people. Until about thirty-five years ago, they
>ferociously resisted contact with the outside world, and several
>Huaorani clans remain "uncontacted" today. Their language, Waorani
>Terero, has no linguistic connection to any other known language. The
>Huaorani population is estimated at only about 1,200, not counting
>several uncontacted clans, and their physical and cultural survival is
>severely endangered.
>
>There is growing evidence that one of the most reclusive Huaorani clans,
>the Tagaeri, has migrated into the forest of Block 15, probably as a
>result of Occidental's recent oil explorations in neighboring areas. The
>Tagaeri have diligently avoided all contact with outsiders, making them
>one of the world's last independent, self-sustaining nomadic cultures.
>Unfortunately, their move north of the Napo River puts them directly in
>harm's way.
>
>Occidental's incursions into Block 15 have begun to impact Ecuador's
>Secoya and Siona peoples, who live on the banks of the Aguarico River in
>the northeastern province of Sucumbios. There are only about 350 Secoyas
>and 250 Sionas remaining in Ecuador.
>
>The majority of the Secoya and Siona people have consistently opposed
>oil exploration in their homelands, fearing that development would lead
>to their cultural and territorial extinction. Inder growing pressure
>from Ecuador's environmental and human rights groups, Occidental
>promised to negotiate with the Secoya and Siona before prospecting for
>oil on their lands, but the company appears to be employing underhanded
>tactics to get its way.
>
>On February 24, 1997, Occidental called a meeting at the Secoya
>communal center of Sehuaya to discuss its desire to start oil
>exploration on Secoya lands. In order to attend the meeting, most
>Secoyas would have had to travel one-half to three hours by river boat.
>Because Occidental had previously called and then canceled community
>meetings, many people did not go to the February meeting. It was attend
>primarily by some younger delegates to the Secoya Peoples' Organization
>(OISE). The few elders and women who were present demanded the need to
>safeguard the tribe's traditional interests. No action was taken.
>
>In May, 1997, Occidental called another meetings, which was attended by
>130 Secoyas. By using threats of military intervention and of the
>revocation of indigenous land litles, and by promising to provide
>"gifts" of Western supplies, the company persuaded the
>twenty-six-year-old leader of OISE, Javier Piaguage, to sign over
>exploration rights to the Secoya homelands.
>
>In exchange for signing over rights to the last 45,000 acres of pristine
>rainforest of his people's land, Piaguage was promised 1 outboard motor,
>1300 sheets of tin roofing, 44 sets of aluminum pots, 5 rolls of
>plastic, 50 rolls of chicken wire, 200 pounds of nails, and 200 plastic
>tubes, to be distributed evenly among all his people. The agreement also
>stated that the Secoya would receive 1,000 Ecuadorian sucres (about 30
>cents U.S.) per meter of seismic test tracks cut, or about U.S. $36,000.
>Secoya elders and women still oppose, strongly, the deal and say that,
>by admitting Occidental into their homelands, Piaguaje has signed a
>cultural death sentence for the Secoya and Siona. These wise voices went
>unheard.
>
>Although Occidental has not met most of the terms of its agreement with
>the Secoya, it has already launched explorations of the tribe's lands.
>It is also cutting exploratory tracts from the Aguarico to the Napo
>River and into the territory of the Tagaeri, the 'uncontacted' Huaorani
>clan.
>
>As predicted, the influx of outsiders has begun to take its toll. Just
>fifteen days after Occidental constructed its first base camp in the
>Secoya communal center of Sehuaya, a Secoya woman was raped by an
>Occidental employee. There was no criminal investigation. Occidental
>simply dismissed the man.
>
>Update: October, 1998
>Occidental has divided the Secoya, bribing the people of the Sehuaya
>Community to sign a contract that Occidental could drill and extract
>three wells for $85,000. However, On October 7th., at 5 p.m., the
>community leaders of the Secoya and Siona, acting in resistance, tore
>up the contract. The newly-formed resistance group travels to Quito to
>appeal support from UTEPA, a pro-indigenous branch of the Ecuadorian
>government, who allies with the Secoya, Huaorani and Siona People.
>
>On October 8, 1998, RAN received a fax from Humberto Piaguaje, the
>newly-elected president of OISE, the Secoya Organization, presenting a
>public denoucement before the Ecuadorian people and the citizens of the
>world, as well as on television stations in Ecuador, expressing the
>Secoya disgust at Occidental's petrol activities in their ancestral
>homeland. He stated strongly a respect for the Secoya culture and
>ancestral values, that all negotiations must be processed with OISE, the
>Ecuadorian government, and with national and international
>organizations; that the Secoya People will not be manipulated and
>splintered from their natural and global environment; and that the
>ancestral union of the Secoya People will not be an object and victim
>of petrol provocation.
>
>Occidental has found oil in Secoya Territory. They are moving in and
>acting as if nothing is going to stop them. Although they are being
>watched by environmental groups, they continue to bribe, bicker,
>threaten as they continue to write up legal contracts.
>
>RAN, Accion Ecological, and other environmental and human rights groups
>have condemned Occidental's insensitive operations in the Upper Amazon.
>They charge that it is ludricous to destroy one of the world's largest
>intact wilderness regions and to endanger the region's indigenous
>cultures in order to extract what amounts to about a two-week supply of
>gasoline in the U.S.!
>
>Accion Ecological asks individuals and groups to write letters of
>support, denouncing the exploitation of Block 15 and demanding a
>COMPLETE moratorium on Occidental Petroleum Corporation activities
>within the Secoya, Siona, and Huaorani Amazon Rainforest homelands.
>Accion Ecological has also called on Americans - particularly
>Californians - to boycollt Occidental products until the company
>agrees to negotiate its agreements with the Secoya and Siona, and until
>it provides safeguards for the adequate protection of the region's
>peoples and their homelands.
>
>In a recent press release, Accion Ecologica challenged the international
>community to take action now, before it is too late. The effect of
>Occidental's petrol activities will affect the environment for whole
>world. "What is happening in Block 15 in the Ecuadorian Amazon affects
>the indigenous people living there and ultimately all people everywhere.
>We must safeguard the cultural heritage of these original people to keep
>our world humane. We must insure the survival of these unique and
>fragile tropical ecosystems to keep our world diverse and healthy."
>
>Received December, 1998, is the following updated report from Bill
>Vickers:
>
>"Oxy Ecuador has broken off negotiations with the Secoya tribal
>government OISE and signed an agreement with one Secoya village
>(Si'ecoya) for the drilling of the first test well. This was done in
>secrecy and without notifying the president and negotiating commission
>of OISE, nor the external observers selected by the Secoya, thus
>violating previous commitments made by Oxy Ecuador for a "transparent
>process of
>negotiation" with the entire Secoya community and for the entire
>community's benefit.
>
>The Secoya community and OISE had requested a three-month moratorium on
>the negotiations so it could contemplate the environmental impact study
>and management plan and complete its integrated community development
>plan. Oxy had been rather slow in giving the Secoya access to the EIS
>(Environmental Impact Study).
>
>Instead of respecting this request Oxy Ecuador personnel secretly
>approached the Secoya of the Si'ecoya village and offered them $60,000
>if they would sign an agreement for the road and first test well.
>Unfortunately, the families of Si'ecoya were tempted by this offer and
>on September 24 signed an agreement with Oxy Ecuador for $85,000
>
>Oxy Ecuador is trying to justify this action by saying that the land
>title of the Si'ecoya community gives it the right to negotiate by
>itself and for itself. This is a narrow legal interpretation, but it is
>unethical because of the previous commitments of the company to an open
>process, and because the entire Secoya community has traditionally
>viewed tribal lands as communal property, not as the property of a few
>families. Indeed, the lands around Si'ecoya were demarcated with great
>effort by the entire Secoya community and are used by all tribal members
>for hunting, fishing, and collecting.
>
>This secret negotiation has had a devastating impact on the Secoya
>community. The people of Si'ecoya immediately came under intense
>criticism from their fellow tribespeople and they have now met and
>renounced the agreement they signed on September 24. Once the secret
>negotiation with Si'ecoya was discovered and OISE president Humberto
>Piaguaje protested to OXY, he had as "OISE is nothing. I'm not talking
>to you anymore." OXY also refused to accept a letter from Gilberto
>Piaguaje and Celestino Piaguaje saying that they wished to annul their
>signatures on the September 24 agreement."
>
>
>
>
>Letters of concern may be sent to:
>
>SENOR PRESIDENTE de la REPUBLICA del ECUADOR
>Palacio Presidencial
>Garcia Moreno y Chile
>Quito, Ecuador
>Fax: (593-2) 580-735; 558-751
>
>UTEPA
>Luis Ortiz, Director
>Av. Grande Centeno 12-30 y Vasco de Contreras
>Quito, Ecuador
>Tel/Fax: 011-593-2-443-119
>
>RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK
>Attention: Shannon Wright, Amazon Campaign Director
>221 Pine Street, 5th. floor
>San Francisco, California, 94104
>e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Tel: (415) 398-4404, ext. 305
>Fax: (415) 398-2732
>
>
>OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION
>Attention: Dr. Ray I. Irani, President
>10889 Wilshire Blvd.
>Los Angeles, California, 90024
>fax no: (731)-241-4044 or (310)-443 6922.
>
>ACCION ECOLOGICA
>Casilla 17-15-246C
>Lerida 407 y Ponteverdra
>Quito, Ecuador
>e-mail: Paulina Garzon o Isabela Figueroa:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>RAINFOREST RESCUE
>Lorena Gamboa: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Tel: 593-2-546770 Fax: 593-2-560699
>P.O. Box: 17-12-105 Quito-Ecuador
>
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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
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