Company’s Questionable Agreements with Indigenous Leaders and Overthrown Ecuadorian Regime Leave Burlington’s Oil Project in Jeopardy
(Houston)—On the day of Burlington Resources’ Annual Shareholder Meeting, the company’s involvement in two controversial oil blocks on indigenous territories in Ecuador’s southern Amazon rainforest is raising new concern among its shareholders and the international community. The projects, paralyzed due to indigenous opposition since the company bought into the concessions in 2000 and 2003, fall entirely on the homelands of the Shuar, Achuar, and Kichwa peoples.
These traditional peoples have repeatedly voiced their opposition to oil extraction on their lands. A group of representatives of Burlington investors and socially responsible shareholder advisors recently traveled to Ecuador to tour the rainforest region and meet with representatives of the three nationalities, as well as Ecuador’s Attorney General and Civic Anti-Corruption Commission.
The company is expected to reveal recent ‘agreements’ for a tripartite dialogue between two Shuar tribal federations, FIPSE and FICSH, and the Ecuadorian government. However, the ‘agreements’, have been denounced by the rest of the tribal leadership for violating the democratic resolutions forbidding oil extraction taken by their general assemblies; the leadership status of the signatories is under question and will be debated in emergency meetings called by the Federations; and both tribal federations reaffirmed their opposition to Burlington’s plans in separate statements last week.
The other party involved in the dialogue agreement was the Ecuadorian government and the country’s Minister of Energy and Mines. However, he and the regime of Lucio Gutierrez were forced from office last Wednesday when Congress, spurred by week long popular protest, voted to remove him. This latest effort by Burlington to reach agreements by employing tactics that the Shuar, Achuar, and Kichwa have called “divide and conquer,” continue to illustrate the growing gulf between the company’s public positions and reality of their operations. Burlington’s Indigenous Communities Rights’ Policy commits the company to, “Demonstrate our respect for the cultural, social and religious beliefs and traditions of indigenous communities.” However, their actions on the ground and relations with the local communities continues to create setbacks that have paralyzed the project and continues to fuel indigenous opposition, while widening the company’s credibility gap on the issue among concerned citizens and the investment world.
Meanwhile, a case brought by the Kichwa community of Sarayaku, located in block 23 where Burlington owns a 50% interest, continues to move forward before the Inter-American Commission and Court on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS). Both the Commission and Court are currently verifying whether the Ecuadorian government has failed to comply with their recommendations of precautionary measures and preventive measures. The measures are meant to protect the community who suffered human rights abuses at the hands of the police and contractors for Burlington’s business partner in the Block, Argentinean oil company CGC. The President of the community received several death threats over the last year.
The tens of thousands Shuar, Achuar, and Kichwa in the still pristine rainforests of southern Ecuador have successfully kept oil, logging, and mining companies out of their territories to date, and instead are calling for a plan to permanently protect their region and a plan to promote sustainable development. In the coming weeks, results of the Shuar assemblies by the FIPSE and FICSH federations and the status of Burlington’s oil projects and contracts under Ecuador’s new government will be known.
**Recent video and high resolution pictures of shareholder delegation to Burlington oil block, growing conflict, the indigenous communities, rainforest, and oil drilling available**
