Quito, Ecuador — Environmental activist Julia Butterfly Hill will arrive at Los Angeles International Airport at seven tonight, after being forcibly deported from Ecuador at dawn. The deportation occurred just two hours before a Habeas Corpus hearing set for Ms. Hill and the seven Ecuadorian activists with whom she was arrested Tuesday during a peaceful protest outside Occidental Petroleum (OXY)’s Quito offices against Ecuador’s new OCP pipeline.
As she was dragged through the Quito airport this morning by immigration police, peacefully resisting deportation until the end, Julia called out to bystanders:
“I’m being deported against my will. I was never told what I’m being charged with. I was never once read my rights. I was shown a piece of paper in Spanish but was refused a translator. I was refused a lawyer and the only reason I’m being deported is because I’ve lent my solidarity to the forests of Ecuador and the communities defending their lands and their basic human rights.”
Such was the haste of the Ecuadorian government to deport Julia before the hearing, that the police car carrying her to the airport speeded, lost control and crashed into another vehicle, leaving her with minor injuries. “The decision to deny due process to Julia Butterfly is clearly influenced by a desire on the part of the Ecuadorian government and OCP to avoid the spotlight being shined on the OCP pipeline,” declared Atossa Soltani, Executive Director of Amazon Watch. “Those pushing this destructive project know that it will not bear being exposed to international scrutiny.”
Speaking on the phone from Panama this morning, en route to the US, Julia added, “Although I am completely exhausted and in pain from my mistreatment at the hands of the police, it is very important to me that people understand why I was in Ecuador. I call upon people in the US and worldwide to support the courageous resistance of these communities against the degradation caused by oil development.”
At the Tuesday protest where the arrests took place, 50 community members from Mindo, Lago Agrio, Esmeraldas and Shushufindi, who are adversely affected by the new pipeline, rallied outside the offices of Occidental and the OCP to demand an end to the escalating destruction of their lands. The seven Ecuadorians arrested were all released in Quito this afternoon, with all charges dropped.
Ms. Hill, best known for her 738 day tree-sit 200 feet atop a 1000-year old threatened California old-growth redwood tree has been in Ecuador since July 9, joining the national struggle to resist Ecuador’s new OCP pipeline. On Monday she accompanied Mindo community members to re-occupy OCP’s construction site in the Mindo Nambillo Cloudforest Reserve. Construction has now trespassed 200 meters inside community-owned property. A judge will visit the site tomorrow, accompanied by local community members, to issue a ruling on the property demarcation.
The OCP pipeline has been mired in controversy since its inception, with hundreds of protests over the last few months along its route, which crosses fragile ecosystems and 11 protected areas. Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum is a key member of the OCP consortium, and is planning significant expansion of its Ecuador operations in pristine Amazon ecosystems, in expectation of the pipeline’s completion.
The majority of Amazon crude that will flow through the pipeline is destined for US West Coast markets. The OCP Consortium includes: Alberta Energy (Canada), Occidental Petroleum (OXY- USA), AGIP (Italy), Repsol-YPF (Spain), Perez Companc (Argentina), and Techint (Argentina). German bank WestLB is lead financer of the project.
