EFE | Quito, Ecuador - Thousands of people marched in Ecuador's capital on Thursday to protest talks for an Americas-wide free trade zone as diplomats under heavy guard led negotiations to lay groundwork for a meeting of ministers.
All: 2002
Amid Growing Resistance, U.S. Hopes to Keep Talks on Americas' Free Trade Pact on Track
Associated Press | Quito, Ecuador - Facing escalating resistance by some Latin American countries for a hemisphere-wide free-trade zone, U.S. trade officials hope to shore up support from allies in the region. U.S.
As U.S. Seeks a Trade Accord, Brazilians Recall Discord
New York Times | SÃo Paulo - For a hint of the trouble lying ahead this week for theUnited States proposals for a free-trade pact with Latin America, considerLuiz Fernando Furlan's chicken problems.Mr.
Thousands Protest FTAA Summit in Ecuador Today as Trade Ministers Kick Off Talks on Controversial Accord Caravans from Throughout the Hemisphere Arrive in Quito To Say ‘No to Free Trade, Yes to Life’
Washington DC — As trade ministers from the Americas gather today in Quito, Ecuador to advance the negotiations for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), thousands of citizens from around the hemisphere are pouring into the streets of Quito.
Oil Pipeline Forges Ahead in Ecuador
The New York Times | Mindo, Ecuador - Environmentalists in this cloud forest ofnorthern Ecuador still dream of halting construction of anew oil pipeline that the builders said could bringspectacular wealth to this poor Andean country.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Protesters Try to Storm McDonald's Restaurant Ahead of Free Trade Talks in Ecuador
Associated Press | Quito, Ecuador - A group of Indian activists and university students tried to storm a McDonald's restaurant Wednesday as part of growing protests ahead of free trade talks scheduled this week.
Despite Energy Potential, Ecuador Expansion Plans Face Steep Challenges
Oil Daily | Ecuador's plans for dramatic growth in oil production face a myriad of potential obstacles, including the region's ongoing financial crisis, environmental protests, and internal political uncertainty.At first glance, the energy industry of the former Opec member seems to be on the fast track for growth.
ACTIONS URGING WESTLB TO STOP FUNDING THE OCP PIPELINE IN ECUADOR Report Back from the International Day of Action
Compiled by Rainforest Information Center and Amazon Watch(update as of 3:30 pm California Time on Oct 24).Actions were held in at least 15 cities around the world - Milan, Dublin, Prague, New York City, Quito, Washington DC, Barcelona, Zurich, London, Munich, Muenster, Dusseldorf, Los Angeles, Warsaw and Canberr
Petrobras Defends Amazon Pipelines - Brazil
BNamericas.com | Brazil's federal energy company Petrobras has begun its public campaign to defend the construction of pipelines in the Amazon, according to local newspapers. Brazil is faced with the dilemma of accepting some damage to the environment in the name of development and progress.
Ecuador Training Mission
October-November 2002 The Team media and communications strategist conducted a two-month mission to Quito to support indigenous and campesino organizations in preparing and coordinating communications strategies identified by local groups for the recent Free Trade of the Americas Summit mobilizations in Quito.
Gasoducto Cuiabá: Impactos Sociales y Ambientales en el Bosque Chiquitano
Descarga el informe en el formato PDF (175 kb)La Organización Indígena Chiquitana (O.I.CH.) y la Coordinadora de Pueblos Étnicos de Santa Cruz (CPESC) realizan desde el año 1999 el seguimiento al Proy
Las Presiones de Grupos Ambientalistas de Alemania Se Intensificarán esta Semana El Crédito para el OCP Ecuador está en Revisión
El Comercio | Corresponsal en Italia Esta semana el Gobierno (regional) de Renania del Norte-Westfalia (NRW) de Alemania anunciará su posición sobre el controvertido proyecto del Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados (OCP) que lleva adelante la compañía OCP Ecuador.
Amazon Watch’s “Creation Stories” Event Featuring the U’wa People of Colombia Draws Hundreds from the Creative Community
On September 24, in collaboration with the Creative Artists Agency Foundation, Amazon Watch hosted an evening with the traditional leaders of the U'wa nation of Colombia who shared their dramatically unfolding "creation story" with select members of the Hollywood community.Mary Stuart Masterson and Julia Butterfly Hill
Chaos in Colombia Blood Spills to Keep Oil Wealth Flowing Colombia: Violence Explodes in Province Where Army, Under U.S. Pressure, Focuses on Protecting an Occidental Pipeline
Los Angeles Times | Arauca, Colombia - Under pressure from Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum and the U.S.
Author of World Bank Environmental Policies Says the OCP Crude Pipeline in Ecuador Threatens Amazon Biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples
Washington D.C. — Environmental groups in Germany and the US released a new report today that provides conclusive evidence that the German Bank Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB) violated its own policies in loaning $900 million to the OCP Consortium building Ecuador’s new heavy crude pipeline.
ENRON-Backed Bolivian Gas Project Set to Get IDB Aid
Bloomberg News | An Enron Corp.-backed project to expand a Bolivian gas pipeline may get as much as $170 million from the Inter-American Development Bank, 10 months after the company's bankruptcy triggered U.S.
Independent Compliance Assessment of OCP with the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Policies.
Download this report (pdf)(542 kb)Download Photo Annex (pdf)(687 kb)This compliance assessment analyzes the
Company Barges Drown Machiguenga Girl Pluspetrol and Hunt Oil Negligence Results in Tragedy
Barges belonging to the Argentinean energy company Pluspetrol operating on Peru’s Urubamba River caused the death of a Machiguenga girl in the community of Kirigueti on August 24, 2002.
Bolivia Field Mission
The Amazon Communications Team embarked on a mission to support Bolivian organizations in documenting and compiling visual and oral evidence of the long-term negative impacts on indigenous communities of the Cuiabá and Bolivia-Brazil pipelines.
Findings of the International NGO Delegation on the Camisea Gas Project
Download report in pdf format (52 k)This report stems from a field mission from August 8 – 13, 2002 to the Lower Urubamba region to investigate the social and environmental impacts of the Camisea Gas Project by a del
Informe de la Delegación Internacional de ONGs sobre el Proyecto de Gas
Download report in pdf format (52 k)Este informe procede de una misión de campo a la región de Bajo Urubamba desde el 8 hasta el 13 de agosto de 2002 para investigar los impactos sociales y ambientales del Proyecto
Burlington Response to Cristobal Bonifaz
See letter (pdf 268k)
OCP Ecuador Increases Pipeline Investment to US$1.3bn - Ecuador
BNamericas.com | The OCP Ecuador consortium will spend US$1.3bn to build the OCP heavycrude pipeline, or about US$200mn more than specified in the contractsigned with the government, OCPs new president, Andy Patterson, saidTuesday in a statement.
Burlington Response to NGO Letter
See letter (pdf 89k)
Beg, Borrow, and Deal What about Enron-Related Government Projects?
FORTUNE | Enron is famous (infamous?) for many things. One of them is its faith in free markets. Not anymore. An Enron-led consortium in Bolivia called Transredes has applied for a $125 million loan from the U.S.-backed Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
EVALUATION: The Inter-American Development Bank’s Public Consultation on the Camisea Gas Project, Camisea
Institute for Policy Studies and Amazon Watch were invited by the Machiguenga Council of the Urubamba River (COMARU) to be present as independent observers at the Inter-American Development Bank’s Public Consultation on Peru’s Camisea Gas Project held in the community of Camisea on August 12, 2002.
Letter from Attorney Cristobal Bonifaz to Burlington Resources
See Letter (pdf 6k)
Enron's Pipeline Pain
Latin Trade | It’s a long way from energy town Houston, Texas, to the dry rainforests of eastern Bolivia. Yet the political heat generated by two governments’ investigations of failed U.S. energy trader Enron is blasting through the Bolivian jungle just the same, like the 628-kilometer gas pipeline Enron built here with U.S.
El Llamado de la Selva
Latin Trade | Existe una gran distancia entre Houston, Texas, y las selvas de la zona este de Bolivia.
