El Comercio Ecuador

Amazon. They Are Damaging the Waters and the Forests

Huaroanis Appeal for Protection in the United States

May 25, 2005 (9:23) Amazon Indians Ask for a Halt to Petrobras Project

(Washington, AP)

Two leaders of the native Huaorani community of Ecuador are in Washington, DC asking for a halt of Amazonian petroleum operations in the country, stating that these operations threaten to destroy their ancestral lands, according to finding species which is helping the Huaorani with management.

Alicia Cahuiya, president of the Assocation of Huaorani Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon, and Moi Enomenga, the ex-vice-president of the Huaorani council, specifically mentioned the necessity of stopping the work on the road being built by the Brazilian company Petrobras.

Leda Huta, director of the organization Finding Species, in the U.S. Capitol, stated that the leaders have spoken with Carolyn Maloney and Jim Leach, both members of the House of Representatives, and Trevor Alleyne, from the Western Hemisphere Office of the International Monetary Fund.

According to Huta, the new highway will pass through the center of Yasuni National Park and the territory of the Huaorani, and that the work is proceeding despite a government announcement by President Alfredo Pallacio the past week which stated that the present oil contracts would be reviewed.

She said that the Petrobras project includes a 54 kilometer highway, two perforation platforms, and a processing center all within 15 miles of a Huaorani community.

In the meeting with Maloney, Cahuiya stated that the members of her community have become very familiar with "the problems of and sicknesses that affect our communities as a result of the contamination of the waters, destruction of the forests, and harm to the animals."

"We are opposed (to this project) as mothers in order to protect our children, while at the same time protecting our forests." Cahuiya said according to Huta.

Maloney expressed that she was united with the Huaorani "In their plea to Congress to protect their extraordinary Amazon environment and their rights as Indigenous peoples."

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