The last two decades the Kichwa people of Sarayaku have been fighting to keep oil companies out of the land of their ancestors. They say they are fighting for Mother Earth and their freedom. For the oil giants ENI and ConocoPhillips it is the law of the jungle that rule.
By KNUT-ERIK HELLE (Text and photo)
Engulfed in a never ending sea of green we are on our way deep into the Ecuadorian Amazon basin in a raggedy four seat airplane dishearteningly named the “Wings of Hope”. Worries concerning missing safety belt and the door that needed a lot more than firm push to stay in place soon fade in face of the green view of the lungs of the planet. One worry will take just a little more than a breath taking forest landscape to dismiss though. Rumors say the Suhar warrior tribes once again have started their old tradition hunting for human heads, which they shrink to the size of a fist. A women we met as we tried to find our pilot claimed a pair of French tourists and several locals had disappeared without a trace in the jungle recently. She didn’t mind elaborating the story at all, claiming she had already shot at strangers approaching her home in the forest. Apparently well off American collectors offers thousands of much needed dollars for each mummified miniature head. Welcome to the jungle.
A nature loving people
The Kichwa communities in Sarayaku are far more peaceful people and have never practiced head hunting. The territory of the tribe covers 345.948 acre rainforest in southern part of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Kichwa Nation of Sarayaku consists of communities and family groups living in different parts of the jungle. The forest people live a simple life based on hunting and fishing. They cultivate crops of vegetables and fruits. Clothes are washed in a nearby stream and the food is prepared in the fire place of their traditional houses called Wasis. They also make traditional style ceramic pots. Recently photo voltage panels have been installed in several homes, giving enough electricity to at least provide light in evening. Even if some of the rive canoes have engines, they are all traditionally made by whole tree trunks.
”We are a forest people living from what the jungle gives. We are not poor, but rich in nature and clean air. We have no need of a money economy here”, Franco Viteri tells. He used to be an elected leader for the Kichwa communities in Sarayaku and have traveled a lot to agitate for the rights of indigenous people. Today he lives a traditional life in Sarayaku without any formal positions. Viteri and his people wish to live a rich life with simple means in balance with the jungle they depend on. They have themselves established protected areas within their territory where hunting and fishing is forbidden. Here the jungle and the rich diversity of species living there stay undisturbed.
The black curse of Sarayaku
All had been well for the Kichwa community if it wasn’t for the oil found within their territory. Ecuador is among the poorest countries in South-America with more than 10 billion dollars in debt, giving the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a strong influence of the economic policy making of the republic. The government of Ecuador is under strong pressure to implement liberal policies toward multinational companies hunting the planet after oil. Due to the estimated five billion barrels of oil in the Amazon region of country, debt canceling has not benefited Ecuador as it has other poor countries, as the creditors see the income potential.
"The oil companies do not take environment or human rights into account. Thirty years of oil operations have not benefited the people of Ecuador. The oil has on the contrary lead to corruption, violence, poverty, destruction of the environment and human rights", Franco Viteri claims.
Divide and Conquer
”The companies try hard to divide us. They offer money and small benefits like digging wells, improve infrastructure, build schools and health posts. This is not the benefits we want. We want a healthy environment and a life in peace”, Viteri stress.
During the two decades the forest people of Sarayaku have been fighting the oil companies they have been subject to abuses documented in three reports from the human rights organization Amnesty. The authorities have in co-operation with the oil companies tried to use the army to force the Kichwa community to give up their struggle.
”We will not allow the companies to come here. The whole community agrees that we don’t want them here”, Melania Santi says. She is the elected vice president of the Kichwa Nation of Sarayaku.
”They come here to steal resources and destroy our environment. The companies do not care about the damages they inflict”, she adds.
A fight on behalf of the world
As like many other places around the world the people of Sarayaku also experience changes in the climate.
“We also notice changes in the climate here. It is warmer than earlier and it rains harder. We see the growth of the plants is being affected and we get more easily ill now than before”, Franco Viteri explains. He views his peoples fight for leaving the oil in the forest as their contribution to limit the global warming.
“The fight against the oil companies is just not for our own benefit, it is a fight for the whole world community. We wish to protect the forest because the planet needs it and it is important for a global climate in balance. Everyone depends on the climate. We want to leave the oil in the ground here, as our gift to the world”, Viteri elaborates.
According to the Smithsonian tropical research Institute the jungle of Ecuador is among “the biological richest areas on the planet”. The rainforest in Ecuador and the Sarayaku territory is one of the planets 17 mega diversity areas, with 10 percent of all plant species in the world and 18 percent of all bird species.
Moreover the people in this part of the Amazon have been more isolated than in other parts due to geography and fierce resistance to strangers like missionaries. Therefore the people here have kept their traditional style of living in a more disturbed form than other places.
Italian conflict
Currently the Sarayaku Kichwa nation is in the middle of a conflict with the italian oil giant eNI SpA (ente Nazionale Idrocarburi). The eNI subsidary AGIP (Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli) have consorted with a Sarayaku resident that after 25 years has returned to the forest. In co-operation with him, AGIP have cleared the forest to build a landing field for light air planes and set up several houses, without consent from the rest of the Sarayaku community or their elected leaders. The air field will make it easy to bring oil workers into the jungle and the Sarayaku are guarding the place to make sure no more work are done to help AGIP get a foothold on their territory.
In 1989 the forest people also threw out oil workers from eNI-AGIP from their territory. Now the company again tries to establish a base close to a oil well despite that Sarayaku have gained support in the Inter-American Commission and Court on Human Rights. According to a temporary court ruling the government in Ecuador should make sure there will not be any attempts to resume oil drilling while the human rights case still is under processing at the court.
AGIP is not the only multinational oil company that wants to explore the oil resources on the territory of the Sarayaku Kichwa nation.
Oil block 23
The indians have also fought the multinational ConocoPhillips. The company has seven oil licenses in the territories of several different indigenous communities in Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazonas. ConocoPhillips owns half of oil black 23 on the border of territory of Sarayaku. The Argetinian Compania General de Servicios (CGS) operates the block. In 2002 the companies tried to start exploration work on the block. Sarayaku mobilized by establishing 20 camps along the border of their territory. They painted their faces with the traditional plant colors and armed themselves with spears made from palm trees. The oil workers where going to be kept outside their ancestral lands at any cost. On one occasion the Indians kidnapped four workers. After a detailed lecture concerning why they were not wanted in the area, they were released.
Several Amnesty reports document how the Kichwa people have been subject to a campaign of threats and intimidation during the conflict with ConocoPhillips and CGS. Sarayaku’s lawyer was attacked and beaten up and an environmental NGO supporting Sarayaku has received a bomb threat. The Ecuadorian government threatened to deploy the army and police in order to protect the workers of the oil companies. After three and a half month the oil workers of the oil companies where pulled out of the area.
In 2006 the CGS and ConocoPhillips publicly admitted violating the rights of the Kichwa people in the 2002 conflict. The threat facing the forest community from the companies at block 23 is still very real, despite support from the Inter-American Commission and Court on Human Rights. ConocoPhillips and CGS still have legal rights to do further exploration at block 23. Still there are seismic charges in the ground left by the companies.
Staying in touch
Despite the conflict with the oil companies, the Kichwa people in Sarayaku have not chosen to isolate themselves from the outside world. On the contrary they have realized how much they depend on staying in touch. Sarayaku both have internet connection over satellite and regular radio contact with Pujo, the largest city in the province.
”We find it important to keep relations to the outside world. We don’t want to isolate ourselves. When we’re in touch with the rest of we world we can also confront it and gain support for our struggle”, Franco Viteri explains. Berta Gualinga is coordinator of a project that educate teachers in the community. She tells about the indigenous Tagaeris people that have chosen to live in isolation further north. Many think the whole people now are on the verge of disappearing for good.
“We are learning from the world outside and use knew knowledge and technology. We can’t do like the Tagaeri-people. They have shut themselves in, but then they also have no one to protect them. We learn to know both worlds and we can defend ourselves”, Gualinga points out.
Franco Viteri thinks is important with a global connected world, but then a different world than the multinational companies wants.
”What we want is a global perspective in human rights, peace and environment”.
The last two decades the Kichwa people of Sarayaku have been fighting to keep oil companies out of the land of their ancestors. They say they are fighting for Mother Earth and their freedom. For the oil giants ENI and ConocoPhillips it is the law of the jungle that rule.
