Guadalupe Llori, governor of the Amazonian province of Orellana, was seized from her home and arrested on December 8 by the Ecuadorian military and charged with terrorism and sabotage for her support of the local strikes and protests. Locals who assembled at her house to contest her arrest were dispersed with tear gas.
For the last couple of weeks, protests and road blocks have been taking place particularly in the oil-producing community of Dayuma, on ancestral lands of the Huaorani and Tagaeri peoples who were displaced in the 1960s and 70s by the oil companies, paving the way for many poor settlers from other areas in search for a better life. Especially inhabitants of Loja in the Andes and Manabí at the coast which experienced a severe drought at the time moved to this part of the Amazon when the Agrarian Reform opened up the rainforest as no-man’s land to be claimed by anyone able to cut down 50% of the trees of a given piece of land.
This is the latest of 11 protests over the last 9 years which have brought Dayuma – and its oil production – virtually to a standstill. The strikes are intended to make the government and the oil companies operating in the area notice that the people of Orellana “are citizens, too”, whose interests need to be taken into consideration when making (or omitting) decisions which have serious consequences on their lives.
The current protest concerns in particular the failure to asphalt major stretches of the road to Dayuma (40 km south of Coca), improve basic services, such as clean water and electricity, promises long made and never kept by a series of Ecuadorian governments. Moreover, the people are asking for oil workers to be recruited locally, and oil spills and other environmental disasters to be cleaned up and remedied.
President Correa, however, has made his intolerance towards protests around oil wells and other production structures crystal clear and declared a State of Emergency in Orellana. Civil rights have been suspended. Curfews from 10 pm – 5 am are in place in many larger settlements, including Dayuma, which now resembles a village ravaged by civil war. Many of its 2800 inhabitants have disappeared – deeper into the forest, or to stay with family elsewhere – leaving the place half abandoned. Some women and children have remained in some of the wooden houses and shacks from where they now watch about 1000 fully armed military personnel patrol the area non-stop in order to “guarantee oil production”. 22 people still remain incarcerated in Tena after a violent raid of Dayuma on November 30. Amongst them the local watermelon vendor, the tyre mender, the newspaper distributor, the welding assistant, the baker. All are facing terrorism and sabotage charges, and could be sentenced with 12 years in prison.
The road blocks (which were successful for about 10 days) are said to have cost the state-owned oil company PETROECUADOR almost 3 million dollars daily, bringing down production by 36 barrels a day.
More information (in Spanish):
El Universo – Detenida Prefecta de Orella
El Universo – Detenida la Prefecta Llori
El Comercio – La Justicia se subordinó al Presidente en Orellana
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Friday, February 15, 2008 at 12:01 (542) |
I’ma photogapher/reporter and i met Guadalupe LLori before her arestation. I have a complet report about her and the movement against petrol in ecuador. Could you help me to published my work in diferent medias ? Thank you
Friday, February 22, 2008 at 02:53 (162) |
I was really shocked when I learned that Guadalupe Llori was arrested. I met her last year and she impressed me in her commitment for the people affected by the oil industry. It is really bad news to learn that a politician is arrested because she fights for the good, the rights of her people. Which honest person will become a politician, if this is his/her fate?
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 07:16 (345) |
I have just discovered this site as I was searching information on Guadalupe Llori and I was very happy to find some words of sympathy with what she is going through. I have come to know Guadalupe and her family personally and we have mutually visited each other in Belgium (where I live) and in Ecuador. I have been following the developments closely since December 2007 when Guadalupe was arrested. I read the Ecuador press on the internet daily and remain in regular contact with the family. I have also contacted some human rights organisations to try to bring attention to the case at an international level, as I am convinced that it is extremely important that it doesn’t remain an internal matter with all the abuse of power and corruption that takes place in Ecuador. It seems to me that laws are followed when it is convenient to the authorities but when it is not, they are simply ignored. Indeed, Guadalupe remains in prison despite a decision taken a few weeks ago by the superior court of Nueva Loja, whereby she was to be released from prison immediately. Today the case of amnesty for all the “Dayuma prisoners” should be treated by the Asamblea Constituyente and I sincerely hope that justice will win, so that Guadalupe will finally be released from prison after a nightmare that has been going on for almost 3 months!
Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 09:54 (454) |
Good to see there is some outrage about this out there! keep up the good work everyone.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 11:57 (540) |
[...] At best he is a social-democrat whore to heavy industry who calls environmentalists and indigenous peoples things like “extremists” and “infantile” and strikes down upon their popular protests with military might in the best of capitalist manners: [...]