A communiqué from the Ecuadorian indigenous federation CONAIE
Quito, March 3, 2009
The discharge of oil caused by the collapse of the OCP (the second largest pipeline in Ecuador) has threatened the health of more than 40 native communities whose ancestral territories are to be found along the River Coca and the River Napo.
Statements received from the South Amazon refer to many serious health problems, especially in women and children. Many of them have been hospitalized in Coca with poisoning producing nausea, stomach pains and vomiting.
In the opinion of those living in the affected area, the procedures taken to mitigate the effects of the oil spill and clean up the environment, are insufficient. Only a few expansion buoys for containing the spill have been deployed, which does not deal with the quality of the water that is fundamental for human consumption, irrigation and animals. The environmental and human health damage may be irreversible and should be fully addressed by the Government.
Serious consequences are already being observed hundreds of kilometers away with the death of large quantities of fish, boas and bagres (a specimen of catfish) in the community of Pañacocha, in the canton of Shushufindi, Sucumbíos province, located 350 KM from the spill, as well as in the canton of Aguarico in Orellana province 500 KM away. Children there are already suffering severe stomach pains, headaches, etc. A member of the Federación de Comunas Kichwas Unión de Nativos de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana (FCKUNAE), who lives in one of the communities along the border with Peru, gave testimony. He reported the pollution is accentuated in the cantons of Ersatz, Orellana and Aguarico, where lands used for agriculture, hunting and fishing are seriously contaminated by black oil from the spill.
The consequences have been demonstrated over the years from previous spills, which have caused health problems in the affected zones. Children and adults who have bathed in the river have been dermatologically affected and an adult woman is losing her sight. These cases were registered in the community of San José del Coca. Help has only arrived in urban zones. In a telephone interview with an official from the provincial Orellana Health Direction, he observed an oily slick on the river.
With these precedents, CONAIE demands that a state of emergency be declared in the communities affected by the spill and that urgent attention to health issues be given to every affected person. It also requires the creation of an independent overseer to report to the authorities on the size of the spill and the health, social and environmental consequences, as well as the procedures implemented in matter of prevention, repair and compensation.
