SELVA-VIDA SIN FRONTERAS' AMAZON PINK DOLPHIN
18/2/2024
To fund a crackdown against gang violence, Ecuador’s recently elected president Daniel Noboa is contemplating a moratorium on a vote to ban an Amazon oil drilling project.
Editorial Opinion:
"In essence, and on the one hand, this suggests that President Noboa is prioritizing the exploitation of nature and UNESCO-declared biosphere reserves to cater to the demands of drug users in Europe and the United States, who pay exorbitant sums for the pleasure of consuming extracts of an endemic plant from the Amazon, mixed with highly toxic substances like white gasoline and cement and then snorting it all up their noses.
The Amazon rainforest should not bear the burden of responsibility for the violent criminal enterprises associated with cocaine production, nor for the complicity of national and international institutions in money laundering schemes. Nature should not be made to suffer due to the demand-supply dynamics driven by drug addicts seeking to escape the realities of their mundane lives through recreational or any other form of drug use."
On the other hand, and what is similarly disturbing and manipulative is Noboa’s announcement to the world that the present state of violence in Ecuador is attributable to the country’s evolution into a narco state. In order to combat the narco gangs responsible for the upsurge in violence – Latin Kings, Tiguerones, etc. - Noboa declares to the world that Ecuador is in a state of internal war which, Nayib Bukele Salvadorian style he would pulverize from the face of the earth. To accomplish this historical miracle, the 35 years old political apprentice, apparently requires an estimated annual budget of $ 1.3 billion.
In the first instance this was to be financed by incrementing VAT from 13% to 15%, but Noboa's proposal met with Congressional resistance.
In response to this political setback, and what we consider to be totally unacceptable, Noboa’s new plan to justify national security expenditure by expanding petroleum extraction into the most biodiverse and universally significant regions of the Amazon Rain forest. This is also Correa's proposal, but both he and Noboa will have to be reminded that this plan is illegal as it contradicts the recent national referendum on the subject, now incorporated as law within the Constitution.
To turn to Petroleum as his political saviour is astounding. Is Noboa unaware of the environmental disaster of oil in the Amazon? Is Noboa dismissive of the vast and conclusive documentation provided by the murdered Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio to the Attorney General Dr. Diana Salazar that apparently proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, which mafia really needs to be eradicated and whose tentacles unite oil with the international drug trade? Villavicencio was adament in affirming that the head of this oil/drug related cartel comprises Rafael Correa, Jorge Glas and Nilsen Arias et al, which prejudices Ecuador in the minimum amount of $4.2 billion per year. In other words $ 2.9 billion more than Noboa’s annual internal war budget.
Would it not be wiser for Noboa to concentrate on eliminating corrupt political cartels, redirect the illegally embezzled funds, which would easily provide him with the finances he apparently requires to tackle the increase in violence in certain areas of Ecuador?"
If Noboa were to delve into philosophical contemplation, he might come to realize that Ecuador's challenges cannot be overcome by employing the same modes of thinking that initially gave rise to them.
Within this contect, It would be prudent for Noboa to explore the extensive records of the ongoing trial unfolding in US courts, where the "Correa-Nielsen Arias-Petro-Ecuador cartel" face charges of bribery, corruption, and money laundering, all conducted within the intricate realms of the US banking and financial systems. This cartel boasts an array of prominent members of Ecuadorian socierty as well as international corporations. Raymond Kohut of Russia's Gunvor petroleum multinational, Nielsen Arias, and the Pere Ycaza brothers, Antonio and Enrique, are listed among its ranks. Furthermore, entities such as the Chinese oil giants UNIPEC and Petrochina, the Thailand state-owned PTT International Trading, Pedro Merizalde, Jose Icaza Romero, and Carlos Pareja Yannuzzelli, Correa's former Minister of Energy and Mines, are implicated in these grave allegations presented by US prosecuters. Pareja Yannuzzelli's testimony, wherein he admitted to carrying out the ex-President's directives, adds another layer of gravity to the accusations.
According to the US federal charges, the "Correa-Arias-Petro Ecuador Cartel" allegedly levied fees ranging from $4 to $9 per barrel of oil, contingent upon the terms of the contract plus the commissions charged for Chinese loans. Considering that Ecuador exports an average of 350,000 barrels of oil daily,corruption within the primary sector of the economy is costing the state approximarely $3.15 million per day.
The funds acquired through these illicit means are purportedly funneled into offshore accounts dispersed across the globe, a fact potentially corroborated by flight records of the presidential plane, often accompanied by Correa's confidential assistant, which could provide insights into the movement and destination of these funds.
As Noboa finds himself in dire need of funds, addressing and eradicating these illicit commissions on oil exports and contracts would present a relatively straightforward solution. A simple calculation suggests that it would take approximately 412.7 days or 13.55 months to cover his proposed annual security budget if he incorporates the daily income of $3.15 million currently being stolen by the Correa Mafia Cartel .
Clearly declaring internal wars and security issues does not justify drilling for oil from the Yasuni. Darkness can not drive out darkness. Only light can do that. We can only hope that something or someone will enlighten Noboa to the fact that extractive economics has been a total disaster in Ecuador.
Title Article by Doménica Montaño
Last August, Ecuadorians voted to keep the oil from block 43 in the heart of the Amazon rainforest’s Yasuní park in the ground. But months after the victory in the polls, the fate of oil exploitation in Yasuní is still uncertain.
Last month, recently elected president Daniel Noboa said in an interview to a local media outlet that he believed that a “moratorium [to the referendum result regarding oil exploitation in the Yasuní] is a viable path”.
While Noboa supported keeping oil in the ground during the refendum, he now argues that Ecuador is at war and that “we are not in the same situation as two years ago”.
Activists and indigenous people told Climate Home they were concerned about the president’s remarks, adding that democracy is under threat and that their “hope is being taken away”.
Back in August, 59% of Ecuadorians voted to stop oil drilling in block 43. Environmentalists around the world celebrated the victory as an example of how to use democratic processes to leave fossil fuels in the ground.
Since then though, the country has gone through a political and social crisis due to a rise in gang violence. The government declared a state of emergency earlier this year, following the escape of a powerful drug lord from a top security prison.
The new president Noboa suggested that the oil from the Yasuní could help fund the “war” against drug cartels.
Taking away hope
Pedro Bermeo is a spokesperson for Yasunidos, a coalition of indigenous NGOs from the Amazon that led the call for the referendum. He said Noboa’s statement is “worrying, unwise, and undemocratic” as Noboa is saying he won’t abide by people’s votes.
Belén Páez, president of climate and indigenous rights NGO Fundación Pachamama, said Noboa’s statement “is very dangerous in several ways because it attempts against the citizens’ decision and puts democracy at risk”.
As someone who voted in favor to keep Yasuní’s oil underground, Bermeo said that people like him feel their “hope is being taken away”.
Bermeo said that, when the refendum took place, Ecuador was already facing extreme violence and poverty. But nevertheless, people voted to keep the oil in the ground.
“There was a feeling of hope to protect life on the planet”, says the activist. So now Bermeo argues that voters feel defrauded and “have stopped believing in the State”.
Belén Páez added “it makes us all feel bad and distrustful”.
Páez, who has worked to protect indigenous rights in Ecuador, added that Noboa’s remarks could result in a set back of other environmental policies.
Moi Guiquita of the indigenous Waorani people in the Ecuadorian Amazon pulls a boat over flooded jungle areas at the lagoon of the Yasuni National Park in the Bameno community, in the Pastaza province, in Ecuador, July 29, 2023. REUTERS/Karen Toro
Fighting back
On February 1, the indigenous Amazon Waorani Nationality declared themselves in a ‘territorial emergency’ and demanded that the government respects the referendum.
At a press conference, the indigenous group rejected Noboa’s proposal of a moratorium. They added that a moratorium would perpetuate the violation of indigenous peoples’ rights and territory, including those of the Tagaeri and Taromenane, the only two indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation in Ecuador.
The Waorani Nationality announced that, if a moratorium is formally proposed, they will take legal action against the Ecuadorian State. Their decision to do so was supported by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
“We are not going to allow our rights to continue being violated,” said Waoranai Nationality president Juan Bay, “it is time for us to have social and environmental justice”.
Second referendum
Mauricio Alarcón is a rule of law and democracy campaigner at Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo. He said this situation leaves voters with “an unpleasant feeling”.
Alarcón argues that Noboa’s statement is contradictory to his past stances, as he vowed to protect the Yasuní when he was a presidential candidate.
He added that a moratorium on the referendum is technically possible, but it might not be as easy as the government is making it seem.
The results of a referendum can only be reversed through another referendum, he said, which would force the government to propose a new vote on whether to put in place a moratorium..
If what the government intends is a total reversal of what has been decided regarding the Yasuní, a referendum is also the way to go, “and it will be the citizens the ones to have the last word”, states Alarcón.
Since his remarks in January, president Daniel Noboa hasn’t referred to the moratorium again. But government insiders say that it is still a possibility.
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