PRONOUNCEMENT OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND NATIONALITIES IN RESISTANCE OF THE PROVINCES OF PASTAZA AND MORONA SANTIAGO.

BEFORE THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SIGNATURE OF THE EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION CONTRACT FOR OIL BLOCKS 79 – 83 AND A NEW ROUND OF BIDDING IN THE SOUTHERN AMAZON.

In the city of Puyo, today January 22, 2016, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE) and its subsidiaries, the Achuar Nationality of Ecuador (NAE), the Sapara Nation of Ecuador (NASE), the Association of Shiwiar Communities (AMANA) the Original Kichwa People of Sarayaku-TAYJASARUTA, the Federation of the Shuar Nation of Pastaza (FENASHP) express the following to national and international public opinion:

On January 14, 2016, the Coordinating Minister of Strategic Sectors, Rafael Poveda, announced the signing of exploration and exploitation contracts for oil blocks 79 and 83 in favor of a consortium of foreign companies, among which would be the capital company Chinese ANDES PETROLEUM. Additionally, it indicates that this year a new round of oil bidding will be held in the south of the Amazon, which corresponds to the territories of 7 indigenous nationalities.

Blocks 79 and 83 affect the territories of the Kichwa and Sapara Nationalities, as well as a portion of around six thousand hectares of the territory of the Original Kichwa People of Sarayaku.

Faced with this announcement, we express that our bases have ratified their position of defense of their territory against oil activities. We are not going to allow oil companies to enter our territory.

We denounce the breach by the State of the right to free, prior and informed consultation enshrined in the Constitution of Ecuador and in international human rights instruments. No consultation was carried out in accordance with international human rights standards. Hardly any “socializations” were carried out among a few people and communities addicted to the Government, to whom the impacts of the oil activity were not explained, but only propaganda was offered.

The Ecuadorian Government has failed to comply with the provisions of the ruling in the Sarayaku vs. Ecuador case, since at no time has the right to prior free and informed consultation been regulated, with the participation of the Nationalities and Indigenous Peoples, Sarayaku has not been consulted despite that the new concession directly affects their territory and the explosives that the CGC company left planted in the Sarayaku territory when it attempted to carry out seismic exploration have not been removed.

On the other hand, blocks 79 and 83 cover a large part of the territory of the Sapara Nationality, which is recognized by UNESCO, as “Masterpiece of the Cultural and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”; granted on May 18, 2001, because their language and culture are in danger of disappearing, a threat that increases with the development of an oil project in these territories.

Faced with this, the indigenous nationalities of the South Center of the Amazon, in the course of the next few weeks, are going to go before the state authorities and the company ANDES PETROLEUM itself to warn them that they will not allow the oil operation in their territory and that the concession that the Ecuadorian State will hand them over violates human rights and the judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

FOR THE UNITY OF PEOPLES AND NATIONALITIES IN RESISTANCE

SINCERELY

Bartolo Ushigua

PRESIDENT OF THE KIRANIATA SAPARA OF ECUADOR

Christopher Jimpikit

PRESIDENT FENASH-P

Richard Vargas

VICE PRESIDENT OF THE NAE

Felix Sant.

PRESIDENT OF THE KICHWA ORIGINAL PEOPLE OF SARAYAKU

Franco Viteri Gualinga

PRESIDENT OF THE CONFENIAE.

Fernando Sant.

PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SHIWIAR COMMUNITIES (AMANA)

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