ACTION ALERT: Ecuador Indians Battle Oil Giants for Amazon
Cultural genocide and rainforest ecocide are too high of price to pay for gasoline. This is occurring in Ecuador as Indians in the Amazon fight to protect their land from marauding oil companies and elitist government officials. In the northern Ecuadorean Amazon, Indians are suing U.S. based ChevronTexaco over environmental damage they say ruined their land and made people sick. When it rains, oily pits left by Texaco continue to leak a black sludge into rivers. This and the fact that so little benefits have accrued to local communities has rightly made many of Ecuador's Indians wary of promises of "black gold". Further south, the struggle of the Sarayacu and other indigenous groups has become a flashpoint for opposition to the oil industry, as their peaceful protest marches have been violently attacked by pro-oil forces. Against this backdrop, the Ecuadorian government plans to open virtually all remaining pristine rainforests of the Southern Ecuadorian Amazon to oil companies, which is certain to lead to more indigenous conflict and environmental devastation. Rainforests of the Ecuadorean Amazon are a biological and cultural treasure to be protected at all costs. The age of reckless abandon is over - oil production in environmentally sensitive areas against the wishes of local peoples is unacceptable.
