Republican News · Thursday 2 May 2002

Ecuador's oil wars

A month ago, a group of 20 activists were arrested in Mindo, a small village north of Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. They had set up a camp trying to stop the construction of an oil pipeline that is threatening to devastate an environmentally unique area and endangers the livelihood of the inhabitants of the region, who mostly make their living from tourism or farming. This kind of news would never have made it to Europe but for the presence in the group of at least 14 Europeans.

Nick Jones, an Irish human rights activist who had previously lived in one of the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico, was one of those arrested. Nick spent a week in Quito's jail before being released without charge when the detention of the group was proven illegal.

The controversy surrounding the OCP (Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados-Heavy Crude Pipeline) has united a diverse number of individuals, including local landowners, small farmers, students, local authorities, environmental groups, conservation organisations, scientists, eco-tourism operators, and indigenous organisations. Since Spring 2001, there have been dozens of demonstrations, occupations of government offices, congressional hearings and lawsuits.

Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to bring in US investments to Ecuador's failing economy, on 17 May 2001, President Noboa affirmed that the pipeline project must go forward. Faced with public opposition, he declared: "I'm not going to let anyone screw with the country, I'll give them war."

It seems that Ecuador's government is set to go ahead with this controversial $1.1 billion pipeline. Germany's largest public bank, Westdeutsche Landesbank is providing a $900 million 17-year loan package. Other banks involved are Citybank and the BBVA.

To them, it does not matter that the pipeline, which would transport heavy crude from the country's eastern rainforest region to the Pacific Coast, will place fragile ecosystems and dozens of communities along the 300-mile route in jeopardy.

 

Phoblacht: What is your experience of Ecuador?

Nick Jones: Ecuador is geared towards export. This means that if you own a banana plantation, a big company, or a shrimp farm, you will be getting good money. But if you are a small farmer, the government is not really interested in your work.

That is why people are emigrating. The economy is in crisis as well. The government introduced "dollarisation", trying to stabilise the economy. So now they use the dollar instead the sucre -the Ecuadorian currency- and still they have not managed to stabilise the economy: inflation is still very high. It was 100 per cent last year and this year it has already reached nearly 20%.

Right now, the struggle of the major social movements, like the indigenous movement, is to work against privatisation of the electricity companies.

It is the same kind of issue as the OCP, handing the country's sovereignty and control of its destiny and resources into private, and mostly foreign, hands. That is what makes people so mad. That is why they are focusing their efforts on the electricity supply; they feel that if they can keep the electricity companies in public ownership, then they are stopping the neoliberal project in its tracks.

 

AP: Why is so important to stop the pipeline going through Mindo?

NJ: To begin with, because to stop the construction of this pipeline is the wish of the people of Mindo. And they know the impact a pipeline has on their daily lives, as there is already a pipeline in the area. The old pipeline was built in the 1970s and as one person told me if you add up the amount of oil that has been spilled from that pipeline, it will equal several Exxon Valdes disasters, and we all know what kind of environmental damage that did.

The OCP pipeline is going to be used to transport heavy crude coming from the Amazon - where the oil extraction is taking place, causing huge environmental damage there - across Ecuador to the Pacific. It is going to be 500 kilometres long and the pipe will pass by several volcanoes, which is incredible stupid, and then the plan is to run it along the mountain rim, going right through the Mindo forest, north of Quito.

Ecologically you are looking at a very sensitive region, with incredible biodiversity. There are around 450 bird species, which is probably a record in the entire world, and around 200 species of orchids, and a lot of wildlife.

The mountain rim, which I visited, it is around a foot wide for a lot of its course. It is extremely steep. And in order to get the 30 metres they need to build the pipeline, they will have to dynamite away half the mountain.

So, this pipeline is going to be incredibly destructive, and any leaks from the pipeline are going to filter down the mountain through the 40 streams that run down to the rivers of the area. Meanwhile, the people of Mindo, who made a reasonable living out of eco-tourism, are swept aside and their counter-proposal for the pipeline to run along the old road, so it would cause less damage, has been rejected because it will mean putting more valves on the pipeline. So, to save a little money, the OCP is ready to destroy the livelihoods of the people of Mindo and the rainforest. It is just incredible arrogance.

So, the new pipeline is basically to expand the possibilities of production. It is not replacing the old pipeline. The company has given assurances that it will install emergency valves and everything, but in an area that is seismically unstable, with regular tremors, landslides, etc, it is just madness to defend the possibility of running an oil pipeline safely.

 

AP: You mentioned that there has been a pipeline in the area since the 1970s. So, is opposition to the pipeline something recent, brought about by the new building work, or it has been there all the time?

NJ: Let's say it is growing. Everything started in the Amazon. A lot of people living in the Amazon are recent settlers, who were actually brought in by the oil industry. You would have expected them to be more pro-pipeline, as they are people that were used to colonise the jungle and would not be terribly interested in the environment. But what happened is that OCP cheated them. They told them that they would get very well paid jobs and in reality they are being paid $3 per day, which is not a high wage, even by Ecuadorian standards. OCP also promised to pay landowners a lot of money for passing through their land with the pipeline, but when they came back with the contracts after all the meetings, the amount of money was ridiculous. So people got really angry.

There was a weeklong strike in the regions of Sucumbio and Orellana, which produce most of the country's wealth but also have the poorest people in the whole state. The protesters closed down both provinces completely. The government declared a state of emergency. Five people were shot dead during a protest. That is how rough it got.

Against all these arguments, the OCP simply say that they are going to use new valves in the pipeline and that if there is an accident - and they admit there will be accidents - it will be OK because the valves will stop too much oil escaping and there will only be the equivalent of 3,500 barrels spilled!

Now, you try and throw 3,500 barrels of oil around the Phoenix Park and see the kind of damage it would do. It will be horrific.