Never mind. This morning, in my ENN newsletter, I see what the bird was talking about....
In a steamy jungle of winding laurel trees and sprawling palms, a battle is raging between Ecuadorean Indians trying to protect land rights and oil companies who want to drill in the Amazon.
In the northern Amazon, Indians are suing a U.S. oil company over environmental damage they say ruined their land and made people sick. Further south, indigenous demonstrators have led violent protests to keep firms off their property.
Ecuador is one of Latin America's least stable nations and has a powerful Indian movement. But it is also one of the region's most promising nations for oil development with a government eager to tap five billion barrels in reserves. article
Perhaps when we invade Venezuela, we can drop off some troops in Ecuador.
Secoya Indian Elias Piayahuaje is one of 30,000 plaintiffs who accuse U.S. oil giant ChevronTexaco of destroying the jungle environment in a decade-old lawsuit that has made many of Ecuador's Indians wary of promises of "black gold".
"There's no way for the Secoya people to get their life back," said Piyahuaje, 47, leader of the 400-strong tribe. He said oily pits left by a Texaco subsidiary continue to leak a black sludge into rivers when it rains in northern Sucumbios and Orellana provinces, the heart of the country's oil industry near the Colombian border.
...Ecuador's government is hoping for a second oil boom now that the new pipeline has been built — which could double the nation's crude output — to reduce the poverty blighting the lives of 60 percent of its people.
Such B.S. Why would it be different this time? Governments who allow their oil to be exploited by foreign companies are not exactly famous for reducing the poverty of their indigenous populations.
Argentine oil company CGC and U.S. Burlington Resources Inc. have had government contracts to explore for crude for more than three years and neither has been able to drill a single well.
Burlington has admitted since 2000 it can't move forward on its exploration schedule due to area protests. CGC, which won its contract in 1996, halted operations this year after workers were kidnapped by Indian protesters.
"We're sandwiched between the state and Sarayacu and we're the only ones who are losing in this whole story," said CGC's representative in Ecuador, Ricardo Nicolas.
Hang on, Burlington. We'll get there. Those damned terrorists are everywhere, and we're stretched kind of thin right now. Draft proposal in the works. After we reSelect His Slowliness, we'll be heading your way.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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