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Destruction
and Corruption: The Jungle Adventures
of an Oil Company in Ecuador (II)
Local people clean up the mess that companies leave
By
Agneta Enström
Local people clean up the mess that companies leaveIn spite
of being plagued by scandals in several areas of Latin America
recently, the Swedish construction company Skanska shows no
tendency toward discontinuing its shady operations.
On the contrary: Skanska continues its oil drilling in cooperation
with unscrupulous oil companies like Petrobras in the Ecuadorian
Amazon basin. Due to shortage of environmental licenses, the
companies lost the legal right to their activities in the UNESCO-recognized
national park, Yasuni, effective June 2005. Today, however,
they continue to drill in oil fields in the vicinity, although
the environment suffers and the indigenous cultures are threatened
by the industrial occupation.
In
August 2004, in conjunction with a state visit by Brazilian
president Lula da Silva,
the Petrobras
oil company obtained
a controversial permit to drill oil in the Ecuadorian national
park, Yasuni (Oil Block 31). The national park, which is in
the Amazon region, was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO
in 1989, the same year the oil industry began to lay claim
to the region’s subterranean riches.
Yasuni,
considered to be the most important of Ecuador’s
national parks, is home to world-class biological diversity.
Yet the country was not able to rescue it from oil companies,
which today control around 70% of the area (often illegally
and with military help), according to the international network
Oilwatch. The area is home to three indigenous peoples, including
the Waorani people, whose existence is seriously threatened
by oil exploration and the pollution it causes. Nevertheless,
the Swedish construction company could not find any ethical
problems in working with the oil industry in the region.
Skanska
was initially engaged by Petrobras to perform various infrastructure
and civil
engineering works
on the outer edges
of Yasuni. Construction of a harbor along the edge of the Napo
River began in March of 2005. However, due to national pressures,
the construction had to be halted after only a few months.
Petrobras´ permit was recalled at the same time, and
following further investigation, the project was interrupted
until such time as an environmental feasibility study would
be completed. This was followed by the disclosure of a large
number of improprieties, seriously flawed circumstances and
illegalities in the recently launched operations.
Pollution and sanitary carelessness
Repsol
and Skanska burning gasSince 2005, Skanska and Petrobras´ joint
operations have been sharply criticized by environmental organizations,
government authorities and local populations in Ecuador. This
refers particularly to the activities in the Yasuni park, where
local informants from the original villages of Sani Isla and
Ciru Isla have reported that Skanska has polluted watercourses
with toxic substances.
Inspections
in Chiru Isla, made by the Acción Ecológica
and the environmental authority for the Amazonian province
of Orellana, Skanska´s environmental considerations were
found to be seriously flawed. Five families in Chiru Isla reported
to Acción Ecológica that they experienced poisoning
and became seriously ill from the emissions. In addition, the
inspection found that Skanska´s construction site latrines
and waste had been dumped onto the surrounding land, which
is against the sanitary laws in Ecuador, and could also be
a serious health hazard for the local population, which depends
on the local water sources.
Free labor
According
to inhabitants of Chiru Isla, Skanska also exploited local
people as free labor.
In cooperation
with Petrobras and
a third partner, the Argentina-based company Alesco, the company
is reported to have engaged the local population to perform
dangerous jobs – however, the wages for these tasks were
not forthcoming. Beside that, the companies are accused of
having purchased bananas and yucca in the villages, also without
paying. Skanska´s behavior in Ecuador contrasts sharply
with the company’s own Code of Conduct.
“We do not use forced labor, slave labor or other forms
of involuntary labor at our work sites. We do not allow any
practice that would restrict free movement of employees… A
strong and consistent relationship to all employees, built
on mutual respect and dignity, is of vital concern to Skanska.” (Skanska
Code of Conduct)
Exploiting
the local population as free labor, like any other unpaid
or underpaid service,
is common among
the companies
operating in the oil industry in the Amazon region, according
to lawyers from the network Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia
(FDA). “In the oil sector, and particularly in the southern
hemisphere, the companies notoriously ignore human rights and
environmental legislation,” explains anthropologist and
ecologist José Proano from Acción Ecológica, “and
Skanska is no exception.”
The
fact that Skanska´s behavior is customary in the
context of oil drilling in the global South does not help,
nor does it relieve Skanska of the responsibility for its actions.
However, the mechanisms and the desire to counteract social
and ecological disasters caused by Skanska´s activities
are apparently missing in both the company and in political
bodies.
A context of crimes and corruption
Repsol-YPF's field on indigenous landAfter Petrobras and Skanska
were forced to relinquish Yasuni national park for a certain
period while studies were being completed, the duo has continued
to focus on drilling in Oil Block 18, also situated in the
Amazon region. Human rights and environmental groups currently
aim sharp criticism against the operations in this block, as
well. According to legal experts at the FDA, reports on human
rights violations are received on a daily basis in the area.
And these reports are also being followed by investigations
and inspections that confirm the reports given by the local
population.
FDA Lawyer Pablo Fajardo claims that current conditions in
the Amazonian oil region are miserable. According to him, the
situation can be compared to a type of low-intensity war against
the civil population, where the companies try to split, manipulate,
threaten, or even remove those considered inconvenient to the
industry.
“The population is being exposed to serious health hazards
and illness related to oil spills and deliberate waste dumping,” says
Fajardo, “while they often live in fear of the companies,
whose power is expressed through threats and violence. By using
armed private forces, the companies try to control and stifle
local resistance at any price. This is what it’s like
in the entire region, and all companies working with oil are
forced to deal with this reality.”
In its code of conduct and on its website, Skanska boasts
extensively of its ethical responsibility and the fantastic
consideration it practices in all countries in which it operates.
Apparently, their sterling corporate ethics do not apply in
a country like Ecuador, nor in other Latin American countries.
Skanska – one of Sweden’s most important companies – means
a great deal to the Swedish economy. And politically, Skanska
has enjoyed significant support from the Swedish government.
Galo Abril, that works at the Swedish consulate in Ecuador’s
capital, Quito, is one of the uneasy republic’s former
oil ministers. But today, Abril is a Swedish consul, despite
previous involvement in an extensive network of corruption
in the Texaco case, as the country’s oil minister in
the 1990s. This fact is apparently not of concern to the Swedish
state, which focuses mainly on ensuring that Swedish companies
have diplomatic contacts for business undertakings. Perhaps
it is similar circumstances that are contributing factors in
Skanska’s successful avoidance of criticism in Swedish
media, after numerous scandals in Latin America.
Networks fighting against the devastating industry in Latin
America are the international Oilwatch, the Ecuadorian Accion
Ecologica and Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia (FDA). An organisation
that works together with tribal people in affected areas is
Survival International.
More
information:
Oilwatch - http://www.oilwatch.org/
Accion Ecológica: http://accionecologica.org/webae/index.php
Frente de defensa de la Amazonia (FDA): http://www.texacotoxico.com/
Survival International: http://www.survival-international.org/
Agneta
Enström is
an editor and reporter at www.yelah.net.
Yelah is a Swedish independent media group, uncovering activism
and politics worldwide. She has recently worked in Ecuador,
researching Skanska and oil exploration on indigenous land.
(nettila@hotmail.com).Petroleumworld
does not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
note: This commentary was originally published by Upside
Down World, on Wednesday, 24 October 2007 .This article
is part 2 in a series by Agneta Enstrom (Part
1). Petroleumworld
reprint this
article in the interest of our readers. Petroleumworld does
not necessarily share these views.
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