Ecuadorean troops try to end Amazon oil protest

[Judi Lynn]

Ecuadorean troops try to end Amazon oil protest
18 Aug 2005 20:34:49 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Carlos Andrade

QUITO, Ecuador, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean troops took control of government buildings in two Amazon provinces and reinforced security at oil wells on Thursday as they moved to quell protests that have slashed crude production, a senior officer said.

Acting after President Alfredo Palacio declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Sucumbios and Orellana late on Wednesday, security forces fired tear gas at protesters in the eastern jungle city of Lago Agrio, in images shown on local television.

Ecuador's crude oil output has fallen by 63 percent to 198,000 barrels per day since protesters invaded oil camps, sabotaged equipment and blocked highways on Monday, state-owned Petroecuador and a private producers' association said on Thursday.

The disturbances, which are throttling the country's principal source of export income, are the worst faced by Palacio since he came to power in April.
(snip/...)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N18336656.htm

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Ecuador: Sovereignty Takes One Step Backwards
by toni solo
www.dissidentvoice.org
August 15, 2005

Just as the longstanding political crisis in Bolivia hangs fire pending future elections, so too in Ecuador people await some serious attempt at a new political settlement. In both countries the fundamental cause of unrest is widespread popular rejection of "free market" economic policies that have resulted in deepening poverty for the majority. Former President Lucio Gutierrez was ousted in April by a combination of the urban middle classes and disillusioned indigenous rural people. In all the Andean countries, continuing political crisis stems from the refusal of entrenched traditional political classes to reject foreign influence and work for their peoples.

These internal Andean conflicts embody the wider drama of declining US power throughout Latin America. It may be true that as the United States government loses influence in one place it seizes it back elsewhere, as it has done recently with the immunity it won for its military personnel in Paraguay. But the trend is clear. Unless the US and its local allies implement repression across the continent at the levels prevalent in Haiti and Colombia, it is surely only a matter of time before Latin American countries finally realize the liberation so long postponed since the days of Simon Bolivar and Toussaint L’ouverture.

The predictability of US government reaction to developing change in Latin America is almost comical. They seem to think no one remembers the long, despicable record of US intervention and all its tawdry, disreputable and downright criminal techniques. The story is always the same, "do what we want, or else..." The formula has not varied since the days of Thucydides and before. US imperialism is as banal, dishonest, cruel, mean and dirty as every other variety. Anyone who gets in its way had better be well prepared.
(snip/...)

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/solo0816.htm

[Richard D]

1. It's hard for us . . .

. . . in el norte to understand how devastated Ecuador is by the actions of big oil. I recently spent 4 days going down the Rio Napo in a very fast boat. 4 days and not a single water bird seen. 4 days and not a single fisherman. Because Texaco dumped their waste material into the river. Now it's dead. Totally. Been that way since the 90's. May never recover.

There are whole villages where kids cannot walk on anything except oil waste. Where babies are born deformed. Where cancer is far more likely than not. Where illness is the norm.

[wli]

2. sounds like Bushler's plan for anti-war protesters

Except I'm sure Bushler is plotting to break them up with nailbombs, sarin and/or VX gas, and live ammunition, too.

[struggle4progress]

3. Ecuador Cuts Oil Output

Quito, Aug 18 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador´s Energy Minister Ivan Rodriguez announced oil output will be cut by over 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to protests in two Amazon provinces.

Protesters have invaded oil camps, sabotaged equipment and blocked highways on Monday in Sucumbios and Orellana, where President Alfredo Palacio have declared a state of emergency.

State-owned Petroecuador usually exports about 144,000 bpd, but the protests have cut its production to 29,000 bpd from the usual 201,000 bpd. <snip>

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B54A67F2B-BBD2-4607-B6C2-8D7D7AE8C7DB%7D&language=EN

[goforit]

4. Bot the Bushites really know how to make friends.