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Issue 8: Profiles of Resistance II

On the Record - The Fight for the Amazon
Vol. 16, Iss. 8
March 21, 2002
Profiles of Resistance: The Huaorani and Zapara
 
Contents:

• In the News: Ecuadorian Government Scales Down Electric Privatization Plans
• The Huaorani: No Protection
• The Zapara: Rejecting Extinction
• References and Resources
• Glossary

From the Editors:
 
In this issue of his series on the indigenous people of Ecuador, Peter Lippman profiles two nations of the Amazon that are fighting against the encroachment of oil: the Huaorani, whose land is under threat from no fewer that six oil block concessions, and the Zapara, whose population has fallen to just 200.

Ecuadorian Government Scales Down Electric Privatization Plans
 
In a dramatic reversal of its earlier plans, the Ecuadorian government has drastically reduced the number of electrical distribution companies that it proposes to privatize.
 
Instead of selling 51 percent ownership in 17 companies, as announced earlier, the government has decided not to sell shares in any of the companies located in the Andes or the jungle. Only seven companies that are located on the coast will be put up for sale.
 
The privatization plans have caused enormous controversy in recent months because workers fear they will lead to layoffs and price hikes. Electrical workers and students took to the streets in Cuenca and other cities to protest, and one student was killed in demonstrations in early February of this year.
 
Leaders of the Popular Front and CONAIE, the nationwide indigenous federation, had threatened further actions if privatization were to proceed, saying that they might induce blackouts and even threatening a 'popular uprising.'
 
The government has insisted that privatization is the only way to attract the billions of dollars of investment needed to stop frequent blackouts and to modernize the electrical system. However, last week both the Quito and Cuenca city governments decided to block sale of the shares they own in local distribution companies. This makes it impossible to sell a controlling interest in much of the Andean electrical network and means that the companies in the highlands and the Amazon will be taken off the sales list.
 
Sale of shares in electrical companies in the coastal region will still go ahead in late April, according to current plans.
 
Gustavo Pinto, president of the Chamber of Industries for the Quito area, criticized the suspension of sales, calling it a 'terrible atrocity' and warning that it could cause 'serious regional differences.'
 
But for once Ecuador's president, Gustavo Noboa, conceded to the demands of the opposition. 'First and foremost, we are democratic and respect the opinion of the Ecuadorian people,' he said.
 
The Huaorani: No Protection
 
'We lived in peace before the oil companies came. When they came, we didn't know how big they were. We thought Maxus was small, but then within a few months big companies came. They set up huge camps to explore for oil. Once they came, it was impossible to get them out.' --Ricardo Nenquihui, president of ONHAE
 
The Huaorani are one of the most fabled nations of the Amazon. Reams of verbiage -- part anthropological, part touristic, and part environmentalist  -- have been produced about their folkways, their hunting, and their bravery. Writers never fail to mention their spears and blowguns. Sometimes they are called 'savages.' (This was the ironic title of a sensitive book by author/activist Joe Kane.)
 
Some of the sensationalist writing about the Huaorani is true, but they are a people with their own traditions and their own territory, struggling to survive and remain healthy like anyone else on the planet. When 'folklorization' of a culture happens, it is usually a sign that the culture is dead. The Huaorani are still hanging on, but their traditions and territory, like those of all the other indigenous nations in the Oriente, have suffered greatly from the depredations of Texaco and other oil companies.
 
The Huaorani occupy some of the most remote territory in Pastaza, Orellana, and Sucumbios provinces, equivalent in size to Massachusetts. It is now under threat from no fewer than six blocks of oil concessions. The block that has already done the most damage and that has been the focus of the most Huaorani resistance is Block 16. Part of Block 16 is in the Yasuni National Park, a 'protected' zone.
 
This is nothing new for the Huaorani, whose history has been one of encroachment on their land by oil companies and usurpers, both Mestizo colonists and other indigenous groups alike. Contamination and loss of hunting grounds have caused the Huaorani to flee from advancing 'civilization,' while simultaneously fighting a rearguard battle to preserve some vestige of their autonomy.
 
It has been an unequal fight, because spears, clubs, and the courage of a hunter are no match for the modern corporation. The Huaorani organization ONHAE (Organization of the Huaorani Nation of the Ecuadorian Amazon) was formed only in 1990, relatively late in the history of resistance to oil development, and it has taken time for its activists to learn to withstand the maneuvers of what they simply call 'the Company.'
 
In 1990 the Huaorani were granted communal legal title to over 600,000 hectares of their territory in the largest title grant to date. But that was only around one-third of traditional Huaorani land, and because the Ecuadorian Constitution granted the government power to control subsoil minerals, the Huaorani did not receive real autonomy with their titles. Not only do they not own the oil under their ground, but also conditions attached to the title agreement forbid them from obstructing oil development and prohibit them from receiving any royalties from the oil. They are on weak ground.
 
An early Huaorani struggle centered on the oil companies' plan to build a road into Huaorani territory to gain easier access to Block 16. This concession was owned by Conoco, but that company withdrew in 1991, citing 'better economic prospects elsewhere.' Conoco's pullout was termed a 'partial victory,' and credit was given to the protesters. But the Dallas-based Maxus Oil Company took over the concession and went on to use every divisive maneuver in the book to gain access to the oil under Huaorani land.
 
In 1992, hundreds of Huaorani demonstrated against the construction of a 150-kilometer road into Block 16. They also blocked the entrance to the Quito office of Maxus. After initially stalling, the Minister of Energy and the President met with Huaorani representatives. They did little more than confirm that the road would go through. No other alternatives were offered. For good measure, the Huaorani were told to read the conditions of their land title.
 
The access road was then constructed through old-growth tropical rainforest, opening the way to colonization, deforestation, and all the other ills that accompany oil exploration. Maxus touted its 'environmental consciousness' and promised to prevent an influx of settlers. But neither Maxus nor any other oil company is destined to stay in Block 16 forever, so ultimately there will be no 'conscientious' oil company to prevent colonization.
 
Meanwhile, the road has caused erosion and loss of plant species. Around 30,000 hectares of primary rain forest were cut down. Dumptrucks removed hundreds of loads of sand and gravel from the Aguarico and Napo riverbanks. Gas flares burning 40,000 cubic feet of natural gas per day contaminated the atmosphere. Construction noise in the forest and use of helicopters for exploration scared away wildlife.
 
The road disrupted the flow of many of the streams it crossed. Drilling waste was used to build the road, and eventually it started leaching into the ground water. Spills from oil flow lines and from boats traveling the Napo River contributed to the contamination. Salt licks vital to the survival of wild animals were destroyed. Boats carrying chemicals overturned in the rivers within Yasuni Park, and oil spills took place at the wells. Thousands of acres of forest were destroyed in Block 16. Hundreds of rivers are now polluted, including most of those in Yasuni.
 
The companies even engaged in a bit of environmental gerrymandering to gain access to the oil of Block 16. Originally, part of the block was in Yasuni Park. The 900,000-hectare park was created in 1979 and declared a World Biosphere Reserve in 1989 by the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Besides being part of the Huaorani traditional homeland, Yasuni is also home to over 200 different tree species, 500 bird species, and an unusually high number of freshwater fish species.
 
To allow drilling in Block 16, the Ecuadorian government altered the boundaries to the park. The Tribunal of Constitutional Guarantees ruled the change illegal, but the government did nothing to dislodge Maxus from the park.
 
Not only did the Ecuadorian government sacrifice the environment and the Huaorani homeland to indulge Maxus, but it also gave up potential income. For all the destruction wrought upon the area, the crude oil that Maxus pumped from the ground turned out to be of poor quality. So the government gave Maxus rights to two additional oil wells belonging to the state oil company Petroecuador, outside of Block 16. Maxus mixed oil from these wells to make their oil more profitable.
 
The contract between Ecuador and Maxus gave an unusual advantage to the oil company, in that it required the government to compensate Maxus for any losses incurred. Maxus was the only company to receive such beneficial treatment. Maxus earned $600 million for the oil that it extracted from Ecuador. However, it gave the government receipts for $800 million in expenses, asking for compensation for the $200 million over its income. Among other expenses listed were monthly salaries of $40,000 for its executives. [1]
 
The Huaorani have also faced the dilemma described earlier in this series: whether to resist or negotiate.
 
In 1993, they chose to negotiate. ONHAE signed a twenty-year 'Agreement of Friendship, Respect and Mutual Support' with Maxus that required Maxus to provide health, educational, and development assistance to the Huaoranis in return for Huaorani permission to prospect for oil throughout their territory.
 
But the promised services were not delivered, promoting ONHAE to move onto the offensive. Ricardo Nenquihui, the President of ONHAE, described what followed:
 
'We organized groups in the communities; people to go to the wells with spears and clubs. We gave radio and television interviews where we publicized our demands. About 70 Huaorani would go to a well and camp there. The army came with tear gas. We just wanted the oil companies to stop their work so that we could talk to them.'
 
Some Huaorani also staged a blockade on the road that Maxus built into their territory, surrounding over 100 vehicles with spears and slashing their tires. The sit-ins and blockade made a splash in the media, and Maxus made attempts to improve its 'environmentalist' image. But the changes were largely cosmetic.
 
Huaorani culture has been under pressure for much of the last 50 years, since the time that evangelical proselytizers first arrived in the region. In 1956, five missionaries who were trying to establish a ministry among the Huaorani were speared to death. Rachel Saint, the widow of one, continued to work in the area, eventually converting some Huaorani and founding a Christian settlement.
 
Over the years that followed, some of the Huaorani were 'civilized.' They studied religious teachings and learned to speak and write Spanish. They began to wear Western clothing and eat food prepared by the oil companies. The documentary film 'Trinkets and Beads' quotes community member Babae as saying, 'I didn't believe in God before, but now I do because Rachel Saint came and civilized us and now we wear clothes.'
 
Rachel Saint's efforts paralleled those of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), which has documented indigenous languages throughout Ecuador. Behind its academic façade, SIL is an effective evangelical infrastructure. Anthropologist Marc Becker wrote, 'Rather than defending native cultures, the end result of their work often was the transmission of western cultural values and clothing, with the accompanying disruption of traditional economic patterns.' [2]
 
In 1991, the South and Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC) described the collaboration between religion and oil: 'What is taking place in Pastaza is a familiar scenario in the rainforests throughout South America. First, valuable natural resources are discovered on Indian lands by North American or European companies. Next, the Summer Institute of Linguistics moves in to local Indian communities in order to undermine the Native culture and prevent the influence of Indian federations. Then roads are built, and massive exploitation of resources and rapid colonization begins...' [3]
 
It may be a coincidence that the William Hutton, General Manager of Maxus, also belonged to an evangelical church. But this certainly did not hurt the coordination of church/oil company designs upon the souls and resources of the Huaorani people. There were several attempts to expel SIL from Ecuador, and this was finally achieved during the 1990s. But the damage had been done.
 
Throughout the past three decades, the Huaorani have been struck by periodic epidemics. In a repetition of the holocaust of the Spanish conquest era, many of them died off from polio and, more recently, hepatitis. Ricardo Nenquihui of ONHAE described the health problems that face the Huaorani: 'Due to the influx of foreigners, there is the flu, and measles, and alcoholism. There are venereal diseases too. Before, we didn't have these problems. There used to be problems with snakebite, or someone would get in a fight with a spear.' Missionaries from SIL explained to the Huaorani that the epidemics were a 'divine punishment' for the death of the five missionaries in 1956.
 
More recently, in the early 1990s Capuchin priest Alejandro Labaca and Sister Ines Arango were speared to death when they went to make contact with a remote community of Huaoranis. Chris Jochnick, board member of the Center for Economic and Social Rights, commented on the unsophisticated way that the Huaorani dealt with these representatives of the outside world: 'Labaca saw that the oil companies were coming, so he went to the jungle to talk to the people, but he was killed.'
 
When asked whether this seemed harsh, Jochnick replied, 'From their point of view it was probably the only sane response, because the moment there is contact with the outside world, there is quick assimilation and cultural extinction. Because there are no defenses. Diseases and pollution cause total destruction. They are culturally unprepared for that kind of shock.'
 
And shocking it has been. The Huaorani population has fallen from a population of 25,000 after World War II to around 2,000.
 
Oil companies continue to tempt Huaorani communities with gifts and agreements. But today, ONHAE leaders are more alert to the machinations than before. The organization is asserting its independence and working to unite Huaorani communities.
 
In 1997 Maxus withdrew from Ecuador. The company's departure probably was due in part to resistance by the Huaorani, and in part to poor 'economic prospects.' Maxus left Block 16 in the hands of YPF and Repsol, Argentine and Spanish oil companies, respectively.
 
ONHAE is gradually coming around to outright opposition to oil. In 2000, ONHAE drafted a declaration that prohibited all oil companies from working on Huaorani territory. The one exception was YPF-Repsol, with which ONHAE signed an agreement.
 
A confrontation seems inevitable. In an interview, Mr. Francisco Vacas of Agip told The Advocacy Project that Agip would soon be expanding its Block 10 operations in the direction of Huaorani land. He made it clear that Agip would no more respect ONHAE's role as representative than it had previously respected OPIP.
 
The Huaorani have employed one final strategy. Two communities, the Tagaeri and the Taromenane, have rejected all contact with outsiders and moved continually to more remote areas, in the direction of the Peruvian border.
 
It is tempting to think that this will suit the oil companies. Let those who are 'in the way' move away, if need be all the way to Peru where they can cease to be a problem. Let those who stay either obey, or get sick and die.
 
However fierce the Huaorani might have been, their fierceness pales in comparison to the oil companies. But the Huaorani will continue to struggle for their survival. Paradoxically, they will probably have to adopt modern ways to preserve their land and culture.
 
The Zapara: Rejecting Extinction
 
In the 1970s, members of the Zapara indigenous community in Pastaza province learned from an anthropological report that they were extinct. While the report was premature, the truth was that they were indeed on the brink of disappearance as a distinct culture.
 
History has worked against the Zapara from the time of the Spanish conquest. Now, they face the relatively new threat of oil development, which could be their last and most formidable test.
 
A century ago the Zapara were one of the most powerful and numerous nations in the southern Oriente and northern Peru. But slavery took its toll during the period of Spanish rule. 'Upon their arrival to our forest, Europeans sold us in Iquitos and Putumayo as if we were merchandise,' wrote one Zapara leader. Disease and periodic warfare also reduced the population.
 
In 1941 Ecuador and Peru fought a border war, during which time some Zapara were forcibly resettled in an area that came under the control of Peru. No peace treaty was drawn up until the late 1990s. Because of this dispute, the two parts of the Zapara community lost contact with each other for most of 60 years.
 
By the middle of the twentieth century the Zapara population in Ecuador had fallen to several hundred, and many Zapara had intermarried with their more powerful Quichua neighbors. They began to assimilate into that culture and lost their own language. Today, only a handful of elders speak the Zapara language and only five remote Zapara villages remain in Pastaza province. The total Zapara population in Ecuador numbers around 200, with perhaps several hundred more living in Peru.
 
The Zapara have traditionally lived a mobile life, based on hunting, fishing, and subsistence farming, with communities changing locations periodically to avoid depleting their own resources. But encroachments on their territory by Mestizos and their indigenous neighbors forced them to settle in permanent villages.
 
In 1998 the Zapara held an assembly at which they discussed the threat of oil. This meeting marked a historical turnaround in the consciousness of the Zapara. Until that time, they had been represented by OPIP (Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Pastaza), which is dominated by the Quichua.
 
OPIP, as described earlier in this series, had led the fight for land registry in Pastaza. When the land titles were won, they were all registered communally in OPIP's name. This tied the Zapara to OPIP. It did not create a conflict as such, but the Zapara began to feel the need to speak to the world with their own voice.
 
At the assembly, the Zapara posed the issue this way: Should they try to continue as Zapara, or should they assimilate into the Quichua -- which was almost a fait accompli? A group of young leaders persuaded the community to form an independent Zapara organization, and this emerged as ANAZPPA, (Association of the Zapara Nation in Pastaza Province). Today, the priorities of ANAZPPA are to preserve the Zapara culture, to reunite the Zapara of Ecuador with their Peruvian relatives, and to protect the Zapara territory.
 
While The Advocacy Project was visiting the office of ANAZPPA in Puyo, Gloria Ushigua, director of tourism for the organization, said that she often encounters a snake when she walks in her home village. 'This snake lives in the river. It comes to look for me when I take a walk in the woods. It doesn't bite. It knows me. Sometimes I play with it for three hours.'
 
These are no garter snakes. To show how long the snakes are, Gloria pointed to some hardwood spears leaning in a corner of the office. The spears reached up to the ceiling. Gloria showed me some photos of herself holding a coiled up snake above her head. When I asked her whether it was dangerous to handle the snake, Gloria Ushigua answered, 'Yes, but I know how to handle it. I don't know how to drive a car, though.'
 
Cultures are differentiated by their technology, and power rests with those who possess knowledge. By tradition, the most important and powerful person in Zapara society is the shaman. The last Zapara shaman in Ecuador knew 500 medicinal plants. By ingesting a certain mind-altering plant, he could know why someone was sick.
 
The Zapara's last shaman ('shimano' in the Zapara language) served as a spiritual and political leader until he died in the mid-1990s. Oscar Montahuano, staff member of ANAZPPA, explained his importance:
 
'Shimanos protected nature and used natural medicines. Our last shimano [Blas Ushigua, father of ANAZPPA President Bartolo Ushigua] died four years ago, and since then there has been a threat to the youth. He was strong against the companies, preventing them from entering and contaminating. Our shimano was able to protect the plants and us from bad spirits. He didn't permit companies to enter. But then we were left without a pilot.'
 
There are no more Zapara shamans in Ecuador, but one survives in Peru. This helps to explain why the reunification of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Zapara peoples is an important goal for ANAZPPA, and central to their cultural survival. In 1998 Peru and Ecuador signed a peace treaty that settled their border dispute, and over the next few years the Zapara were able to travel to Peru to visit their relatives. In the spring of 2001, they brought Cesar Ushigua, the last Zapara shaman, to Ecuador to meet his people. They hope that by reintroducing shamanism to the Ecuadorian Zapara they can produce a new generation of shimanos.
 
As the Zapara struggle to cling on to their own shaman, shamanism is being introduced into the curricula of modern universities in the Oriente. Eighteen shamans from different indigenous communities throughout the region are helping to develop a curriculum for UNIDAE, the University of Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador. Their recommendations, including guidelines on ethical and moral issues, will be included into the university's curriculum plan.
 
In May 2001, UNESCO declared the Zapara culture a masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity because of its oral traditions and other cultural treasures. This breathed new life into the Zaparas' struggle to preserve their culture, and work is under way to record the traditional stories of the community. ANAZPPA also hopes to promote a revival of the Zapara language by teaching it to the youth of the five villages.
 
ANAZPPA president Bartolo Ushigua declared that the award would strengthen the reunification of his people and the preservation of their culture. He noted that an integral part of this preservation was the protection of Zapara traditional territory, because for the Zapara as for other indigenous people, 'nature and culture are inseparable.'
 
The Zapara of Ecuador live in central Pastaza province between the Conambo and Pindoyacu Rivers, occupying 54,000 hectares of land surrounded by Quichua, Achuar, and Shuar communities. For years, the Zapara have been trying to defend their land holdings from these nations. But today, they are working out their differences peacefully. The main threat to Zapara land now comes from oil development.
 
Part of the Zapara land lies within Block 10, controlled by Agip Oil Company. The center of oil development in that block, as discussed earlier in this series, is in Quichua territory at Villano. But the expansion of Agip's operations, as well as the next round of oil block leasing, will certainly affect the Zapara.
 
The Zapara are aware that they will soon come under intense pressure from the oil companies and the government. Of the oil companies, Oscar Montahuano says: 'They are trying to divide us, by paying some individuals. But we are now insisting on direct transparent dialogue only with our directors.' Mr. Montahuano insists that if there is any oil income to be gained in Zapara territory, it must go directly to the Zapara communities. However, the stance of the Zapara towards oil development continues to be very resistant.
 
The Zapara representatives in ANAZPPA are preparing to confront the threat. Bartolo Ushigua led the drive to win legal status for ANAZPPA, and the Center for Economic and Social Rights and the Pachamama Alliance have helped them with workshops on collective rights and the impact of oil development. Leaders of ANAZPPA have also visited Lago Agrio to meet with the Amazon Defense Front and witness the impact of oil development in that region.
 
The Zapara have always resisted the temptations of Western culture and religion. Today, they are adopting the same defiant attitude towards the oil companies that they applied towards the religion of the conquistadors -- a straightforward 'No.'
 
 'There are sacred places in our territory that must not be touched. We can't even hunt in those places,' says Bartolo Ushigua, the President of ANAZPPA. 'We are not accepting oil exploration, even though the government is pressuring us. Until our goals are achieved, there will be no entrance of the oil companies to our lands.'
 
Steven Rudnick, activist with the San Francisco-based Zapara Cultural Alliance, has worked closely with the Zapara in capacity building since the founding of ANAZPPA. He has concluded that there is not the remotest chance of the Zapara voluntarily opening their lands to oil development, especially if they succeed in developing sustainable economic alternatives. They may be small in number, but they are strong in spirit.
 
References and Resources
 
1. Maxus, a Risky Experiment by the New President?
2. Nationalism and Pluri-Nationalism in a Multi-Ethnic State: Indigenous Organizations in Ecuador http://www.ku.edu/ftp/pub/history/articles/ecuador.txt
3. Oil Companies Threaten Indian Communities and Amazon

• Zapara Cultural Alliance: 21 Brompton San Francisco, CA 94131 (415) 239-0709 stevenrudnick@hotmail.com
• ANAZPPA -- Association of the Zapara Nation in Pastaza Province tel/fax: (593-3) 885 432 zapara@punto.net.ec
• The Pachamama Alliance
• For a very useful map of Ecuador with provinces, towns, indigenous areas, and the block system, see the PetroEcuador website. Click on 'mapas,' then on 'Mapa Catastral,' then on 'Provincias,' 'Bloques,' and 'Novena Ronda' (Ninth Round).
• For more sources see our longer Ecuador resource list.
• Joe Kane, 'Savages' (Vintage Books, 1996).

Glossary
 
Achuar -- An indigenous community of around 5,000, related to the Shuar. Located in Pastaza and Morona-Santiago provinces.
 
Agip -- Italian-owned oil company drilling in Block 10, western Pastaza province.
 
Block -- A concessionary piece of territory where exploration and drilling rights are leased by the Ecuadorian government to an oil company.
 
CONAIE -- Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Amazon.
 
CONFENIAE -- Confederation of the Nationalities Indigenous to the Amazon  of Ecuador.
 
FINAE -- Inter-provincial Federation of the Ecuadorian Nation of Achuar.
 
FIPSE -- Independent Federation of the Shuar Nation of Ecuador.
 
Huaorani, Zapara, Siona, Cofan, and Secoya -- Pre-Incan indigenous communities of Ecuador whose numbers are threatened by oil development.
 
OPIP -- Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Pastaza.
 
Orellana -- A northern province of the Oriente.
 
Oriente -- The Ecuadorian Amazon; eastern half of Ecuador.
 
Pastaza -- A central province of the Oriente.
 
Puyo -- Capital of Pastaza province.
 
Quichua -- The largest indigenous group in Ecuador; descendants of the Incas.
 
Shuar -- The second-largest indigenous group in Ecuador, pre-Incan.
 
Sucumbios -- Northernmost province of the Oriente.
 
Tagaere -- A sub-group of the Huaorani.
 
Villano -- A municipality in oil concession Block 10, western Pastaza. This Block is controlled by Agip (and formerly by Arco).
 
Yasuni Park -- A national park in the central Oriente inhabited by Huaorani; part of it is protected.
 
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