“We ask for the immediate departure of all oil companies from the territories of the Shuar, Achuar and Quichuas peoples.
We Shuar are an ancient people who continue to live in our territory according to our customs and our own cosmovision. We have our rainforest that holds our cultural patrimony—the waterfalls, the forest’s richness, the medicinal plants and wisdom, the rivers, flora, fauna and an environment free of pollution.
The oil companies want to destroy this richness. Each day this will bring incurable diseases, poverty, hunger, and crime. Where is the development? This only leads to the extermination of indigenous peoples.
The Ecuadorian government—Burlington’s business partner—is violating the Constitution as well as international covenants and treaties such as the International Labor Organization’s Convention 169 that guarantee our collective rights as indigenous peoples.
Where are our human rights? In order to aid the oil companies the government is now using the military to enter our territories without agreement, violating the Constitution’s Article 84 that states that we must be consulted.
FOR THIS REASON I APPEAL TO THE SENSIBILITY AND COMPASSION OF BURLINGTON AND ITS INVESTORS TO IMMEDIATELY WITHDRAW FROM THE TERRITORIES OF THE SHUAR, ACHUAR AND QUICHUA OF SARAYACU.
Please allow us development on our own terms—to this end we have our crafts, our traditional medicine, tourism and our own products.
Pablo Tsere
President of the Shuar People of Ecuador