Nearly a hundred people marched on Tuesday to demand that Ecuadorian authorities comply with the provisions of a referendum a year ago and put an end to oil extraction in a sector of the Amazon where indigenous peoples live, including two groups in voluntary isolation.
The leader of the Waorani people, Alicia Cahuiya, said in a speech to the protesters that a year ago Ecuadorians voted for “oil to stay underground to protect the future of Yasuní” and claimed that “the government has not fulfilled Ecuador’s commitment to the Amazon.”
He also asked that a representative of his group be included in a commission that is in charge of planning the closure of oil activities in the Yasuní national park.
A dozen Waorani were dressed in feather and animal skin headdresses and when they stood in front of the Ministry of Energy, some women sang in their native language.
In a referendum held on August 20, 2023, 58.99% of voters said no to crude oil extraction in the Yasuní. The Constitutional Court, which approved the inclusion of this issue, gave the government a one-year deadline to remove the oil infrastructure in the field called Yasuní ITT.
For the past 10 years, around 57,000 barrels of crude oil have been extracted from the Yasuní every day, which, according to official figures, generates an annual income of 1.2 billion dollars for the treasury.
There live two indigenous communities in voluntary isolation, the Tagaeri and the Taromenane, who move freely through the forest and avoid any contact with Western culture. The Yasuní was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1989.
The vice president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities, Zenaida Yasacama, stated at the same event that “we want to make our voice heard” as defenders of nature “which we have not defended for one or two years, we have defended all our lives.”
Energy Minister Antonio Goncalves has said that the field will be closed and that work is underway with state-owned Petroecuador on an “exit and dismantling plan.” The government has previously said that such action could take between three and five years due to the complexity of the task.
Ecuador obtains around 30% of its income from oil activity.
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