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June 13, 2005
Petrol Bombs and Resistance
As a small office of six permanent staff members, one would not suspect that Fundacion Pachamama would be the victim of serious threats on their lives. But my coworkers recounted for me the events of two years ago, when in a series of weeks they were viciously persecuted by whom they suspected were government officials.
It first started with a phone call that turned out to be a death threat. Later that day, they received another call notifying them of a bomb in the building, and the whole building was evacuated. There was no bomb, but you really can’t take a bomb threat lightly. Then, a few weeks later, their offices were broken into and computers stolen. But only their computers, and not even the tiny and easily pocket-able digital camera sitting next to the computer. Somebody was looking for documents and information, and they stole our databases.
Fundacion Pachamama was the victim of such crimes for a few reasons: 1. It’s criticism of the corruption of government and its lack of investment in government-sponsored social services, thereby doing little to remedy the extreme inequality in the country (and the Achuar and Shuar certainly have very little material wealth). But more importantly, 2. It was persecuted for aiding local indigenous organizations and acting in alliances to oppose petroleum development in the Central-Southern Amazon. The government of now ex-president Lucio Gutierrez, who sided with big business interests and industrial petroleum development, felt threatened by Pachamama’s efforts, and thus took measures of intimidation to halt our work. It didn’t succeed though, and we continue to fight to this day.
Petroleum is Ecuador’s biggest export and although Petroecuador, the nationalized and underdeveloped state-run company, has control over petroleum blocks in the country, it usually strikes business-friendly deals that give Northern petroleum companies (Burlington, Texaco, Arco, Halliburton, Repsol, Shell, Occidental) 80% or more of the profits and only about 20% of the responsibility for cleanup. Therefore, most of the income from this extractive industry flees the country. Petroleum extraction is devastating to the environment, and the as-of-yet unexplored Central-Southern region is thought to have lower quality and less concentrated reserves, which translates into greater toxic waste in separation processes and greater environmental destruction. And petroleum does not even provide a sustainable economic enterprise, as estimates show that the petroleum reserves will expire in 20 years if pumped at their current rate.
Pachamama opposes all of this, the environmental destruction, the expropriation of indigenous ancestral lands by oil companies, and the cultural degradation is bundled with the introduction of certain vices typical of mining towns. Pachamama instead proposes utilizing the environmental services of these ancestral lands to brainstorm ideas about how to build economically productive as well as environmentally, economically, and culturally sustainable activities. A difficult task indeed, and many say that this in an impossible goal to reach. But they, as well as other organizations working on similar themes who comprise the Amazon Alliance, work hard on this issue. I am currently researching Pachamama’s work in this arena, and specifically the Plan Verde (green plan) promoted by the Amazon Alliance. This green plan is still in its theoretical and planning phases, but I will soon produce a Powerpoint presentation summarizing the antecedents and need for future action. My boss will make a presentation on this at a conference in Washington, DC in mid July.
Posted by Lee Gilman at June 13, 2005 07:52 PM
