The Center for Social and Economic Rights, CDES, demands an immediate and transparent investigation into a tragic plane crash in the Ecuadorian Amazon which caused the deaths of 3 high level leaders of the Shuar people who were engaged in the lawsuit that the Shuar are bringing against the oil company Burlington on grounds of incompliance.
The fatal air accident occurred on Tuesday, May 6 in the Transkutuku mountain range and caused the deaths of Joaquin Najamdai, President of the Independent Federation of Shuar Peoples of Ecuador (FIPSE), indigenous leader Samuel Wampankity, indigenous parliamentarian Rodrigo Wampankity and the Capitan Hernán Rosero, who piloted the 06 aircraft belonging to the company Aeroregional.
The accident occurred as the leaders were all conducting visits, along with members of CDES, to various communities to gather their statements that would serve as evidence in the legal case that FIPSE is bringing against the oil company Burlington for incompliance.
“We demand that the government, through the Civil Aviation Authority (DAC) carry out the necessary investigations to clarify the causes of this disaster that has occurred amidst great conflict in the southern region of the Amazon due to the constant arbitrary actions by the company Burlington against the Shuar communities of the region,” CDES declared yesterday in a public statement.
“We exhort that Congress appoints a parliamentary commission to monitor the investigation of the accident until total clarity is reached on its causes”, added CDES.
CDES has worked with indigenous communities of the southern region of the Amazon with the aim of ensuring respect for their rights to consultation and participation in oil operations. In a legal dispute, the Constitutional Tribunal had ruled in favor of the communities and against the oil company for not having taken indigenous interests into consideration. Since then, as the oil company Burlington continued its work, the indigenous communities with lawyers from CDES filed another lawsuit for incompliance.
“CDES shares the pain of the relatives of the dead and supports their fellow workers at FIPSE and at the same time reaffirms the commitment of our organization to this work, as Joaquin himself requested a few hours before the accident: “when defending territory and life, the commitment and fight goes on no matter what,” stated Patricio Pazmiño Freire, CDES coordinator.
