“Historic Victory in the Fight for Indigenous Rights and to End Amazon Crude”, 7^th November 2019

…The indigenous resistance to oil extraction in Ecuador earned another major victory…Success was achieved in the multiyear effort to stop drilling plans by Andes Petroleum in a 158,000-hectare rainforest concession known as Block 79, which overlaps the titled territory of the Sapara and Kichwa indigenous nationalities…

Ecuador's Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources issued a resolution on October 10th granting a force majeure request by Andes Petroleum – a Chinese joint venture by CNPC (China National Petroleum Company) and SINOPEC (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) – due to the "resistance and social and political opposition" of indigenous peoples potentially affected by the project.

The decision from Ecuador's Energy Ministry comes on the heels of new momentum by the indigenous movement against extraction, attacks against indigenous earth defenders, and a global outcry over the destruction of the Amazon. In Ecuador, one of the largest indigenous strikes in modern history derailed an IMF economic austerity package and the movement continues to call for an end to new oil and mining extraction. A recent court decision in the Waorani v Ecuador case determined that Ecuador's consultation process with indigenous peoples on oil blocks slated to be tendered violated the country's own constitution and underscored the absence of a consultation law to regulate such a process…