Rafael

I feel such suffering to see this river, and the future generations that will suffer greatly, and worse for the nature

The powerful vision that our ancestors, that my father gave to us so that this jungle, so that it would remain whole, so the medicines and the spirits would remain intact.

They will destroy it because of politics, and the others who believe in money- Why? Because the advance in politics to make people believe in money, so that this beautiful land is damaged, so that the river is damaged, the wilderness is damaged. 
Then we will not have a soul, our consciousness and our spirits will not be complete in future generations, so we clearly denounce this destruction.

We don’t want it like this, they must respect our home, our river, our animals, our insects, our mountains, spiritual mountains, the spirit of lightnings, the spiritual trees of medicine. Now all this is being stripped naked with chemicals, trees, animals, fish, insects, all are dying. Also the pipeline comes with an electric fence 90 feet on both sides and we want that they respect our rights, not us or the animals know what they are doing and we need this clarified. The government, the director of mines, you need to know that this is killing a nation of Indians. 

For this we want solidarity from many friends from other countries. This company, frankly must not destroy like this; We are denouncing them, why do they not even consult us? We know the jungle, do they do this with consulting the women and children? This electric fence will hurt the animals.

We are denouncing this nationally and internationally, so this is done right. These people who work for ARCO must not be liars. Why do they put chlorine, thousands of grams, to kill insects and fish and we like Indians are getting sick. Not even the animals can drink this water. The children cannot bathe. We are denouncing this. The government must control, not sell it off like this. This is our home, we are not breaking your windows, we are not, if we did this in five minutes they would kill us; We say no more petroleum in the Amazon.
When I saw what they were doing, I cried, like they were cutting my stomach. I don’t want them putting a pipeline across my stomach, NEVER, and I promise that I will give my life, always I will fight it and IT IS MY RIGHT. I do not disturb the house of the government, or the house of the military, I don’t disturb the police, no one; It’s my home, my pharmacy, my medicines, my rivers, my fish.

These people, these engineers, I am not stealing cows, chickens, or blankets, not anything for them to come after us. I am defending our rights, my community, our wilderness, this we are defending.

Flavio

This is the land of my grandfather, Carlos Yu, he came here and it is 90,000 acres, The Curaray river passes through this territory. Now this land is ours but the company ARCO wants to destroy our homeland, our animals, our richness. They don’t respect us; We call this land Pashpanshu, named after some very beautiful birds who sings very pretty, but if this land is destroyed these birds will stop singing, and the Indian will stop talking when they kill us, but our spirits will live on.

This territory of our ancestors, And we are speaking of the damage to the river; that fish have died- it is our natural resources, our supermarket; for this they have to pay us, it can’t stay like this. They never account for their actions. When the butterfly dies and the fish die and the snakes and the animals run away- Arco has to bring these animals back to the same place, just like it was- they have to pay us.

Friends we have to unite and tell them to leave and take the pipeline from this place. They said they would put modern technology in their operations but they have not, they are destroying, they are killing the place. They said they would let everyone see their environmental impact study, but they have this study hidden away and will not let us see it. They have never once let us see it.

We cry for sadness that they are destroying this place, they must leave. ARCO they are at fault, they have bribed certain leaders and the communities have not benefited. They are giving out candies but we are not children, nor do we want money. 

Look, you eat for 15 days a soup made of dollars, and I will eat a soup made of magic leaves for 15 days and we will see who will live longer.

We ask for respect for our lands, respect for our spirits; Listen we have many gods and if this company kills us we will reincarnate and come back and continue to fight. 

Let me tell you, the owner of this company will not let us see him and he will buy the consciousness of another and send them to kill us. We want to speak to the owner of this circus, we do not want violence. 

We ask for solidarity from all youth who want to defend ecology and we ask you to send letters to our government pleading that they stop this company.

This jungle also is for the government, but they want to destroy their own country, and then pay airfare to another country to know a tiger in a zoo or a deer.

They don’t understand this, they think they will buy air or water from another nation in order to live when they have it in their own country.

People of the world listen: The jungle is a pharmacy, a supermarket and a natural university for Indian people. No one has civilized us, we have been civilized for thousands of years-, our science knew that you would come and destroy our richness, to steal our richness.

The rest of the world needs to think.- Breath pure air.- And think that future generations will also need this air.

Moses speaking after his walk past the work camp

I went down to our first house in Curaray, there I cut some bananas and then I went to look for some food. I went to the river to fish but I saw that the fish were dying, they were floating on the water. I asked why are they dying? and I knew that it was coming down from the work camp, and I left those fish because I knew that they were inedible. I only had banana that night. Then I went hunting the next day, but I saw that the animals had fled far away. Before it was not like this, and I felt like crying but I did not.

The contamination comes from the helicopter pad, all the way down. Arco company in each place where there is a work camp, like the one I saw at the headwaters of a small river, they are spilling gasoline and chlorine into the river, we can’t drink that water I had to look for a place where there was water. The river was no good. We can’t just sit back in front of this situation and do nothing, we have to fight back against all these problems that are ruining this beautiful jungle, and not only for us but for our children, who one day will be born, and they will suffer more than us. We have to fix it so these oil companies don’t leave it so bad for the humans, the animals, birds, all these things. So it is a good jungle again with good air for good breathing.

We could, now that they are here; Our decision is to keep on fighting, we need to get rid of them they are hurting our jungle. To us our pure air; nowhere do they breath good air like we have, they breath bad air in the cities and its not the same. People come from different places and they can’t believe how sweet our air is, this is the best air to breath. So our decision is to go forward, we can’t go backwards and we can’t let this destruction happen, we will probably die at the hands of these companies and it won’t be our fault.

Clara Luz 

I don’t like the company, I have never liked the company. I want to live like my parents, like when I was young- I want my land to be for my children and grandchildren so that they can always live happy without contamination. And I never give permission for the company to pass over my land. And when I get mad watch out. If they come to my land without consulting me, I don’t know what will happen to those who are exploiting the richness of nature where we have our sacred territories.
 

We as the women do not want the company, for my part we have started an organization called Allpa Warmi ( women of earth) and we are looking for a place to sell our art works, the ceramics, just this we  want, that’s all.

Aida

I represent my nationality Achuar and I will explain about nature, nature is our market and when the oil company comes in; I have walked all the way to the capital to defend our land. Right to the door of the company, to the door of the government, to tell them to leave us in peace and to not destroy our homeland, our natural market, our medicines. We do not live by the food of the city, we live by the food of the nature- we do not want these companies, we want to live by our culture and by our own work and making our things with our own hands. We don’t need them in our land, we are not fooled by their cheap gifts of candy and medicine, we have our own medicines, thank you

Luisa

I am spokeswoman from San Jacinto and work with OPIP And I walked on the marches to Quito to see that man, whats his name? The president of the republic. He would not help us in any way, he did not want to hear about how we want to live free without any oil companies. Our ancestors lived free but now they want to take advantage of this money situation, They want to fool us like they have the others with empty offers, but as communities we have a better way. They are causing division amongst our organizations, we want to move forwards with our projects, but they are trying to stop it, they won’t help the communities. 

We are against the petroleum people, now they are in Villano. San Virgilio was my grandfather’s land and now as grandchildren we are trying to defend it.
My parents who are older they are being sued by the oil companies, even my mother. We don’t know anything, why are they suing us? We have not robbed the company. We want to work by our own efforts in our communities, we did nothing to them to be sued.

We need solidarity and not be sued. We want to live like our grandparents, free, happy, healthy and not sick. This contamination will do us harm.

Olimpia

I am Olimpia from Union Base, and I am a mother of 10 children. For this reason I marched to Quito for my children. And with these oil companies they will finish off nature. Nature is being destroyed and the only way left to live is by selling our handcrafts. So I want to sell handcrafts, We need help to sell our handcrafts.
 

Atlantic Fichfield Corporation has discovered a major petroleum reservoir at Villano in Pastaza province. Over their 20-year contract with Petroecuador, the national oil company, they expect to recover 160 million barrels of 21-degree API-standard gravity oil. 

ARCO's Ecuador project, Villano, is claimed to be an industry model for exploration and development in an environmentally sensitive area.
 ARCO estimates that the Villano field holds reserves of 175 to 200 million barrels. This oil is owned by the Ecuadorian government and will be produced under contract with Petroecuador. Over the 20-year production phase of the contract, ARCO and Agip will recover the equivalent of 125 million barrels of oil in repayment for their costs of exploration and development, plus a service fee.

Once the field comes on line , production will rise to rates of 30,000 to 40,000 barrels per day depending on capacity available in the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (or SOTE, as it is called for its Spanish acronym.)

With the alleged approval of the Environmental Impact Study in April 1998, development is underway. Villano's first production is expected in 1999.

The pipeline will be constructed to carry 80,000 barrels per day of crude oil, but will initially carry 30,000 b/d. The excess capacity will be available for other developments or will give ARCO/Agip the potential to increase production from the Villano oil field. 
   
The pipeline route was supposed to have been carefully selected to avoid potential obstacles such as rivers and streams and to follow existing natural paths. In choosing the final route, they were supposed to have consulted with indigenous communities about the best path to follow. And they claimed that they would establish some sort of cooperative venture with an environmental or indigenous group.

ARCO/Agip are also building a 170-kilometer (105-mile) secondary pipeline to transport crude oil from the Villano field to the Transecuadorian Pipeline System. 

Detailed engineering and environmental impact studies for both the pipelines and oil field development are said to be completed, according to an ARCO spokesman, but these studies are being kept a secret.

Crude oil processing will take place at a Central  Processing Facility (CPF) outside of the primary rainforest in an already inhabited area. From there, the secondary pipeline to the SOTE will follow existing roads as much as possible

When the initial development phase is completed, the project will include:

• Seven production wells;
• Three injection wells for produced water; 
• A 12" 40-km  pipeline from the Villano drillsite to the CPF
• And a 16" 140-km secondary pipeline that runs along the lower reaches of the Andes from the CPF to a pumping station near the town of Baeza, where it will join the SOTE. 

During construction and operations, local residents were supposed to have been trained to monitor the project’s environmental impact from Villano to the CPF. Monitoring in the Antisana Reserve is supposed be overseen by INEFAN along with an as yet unknown internationally recognized environmental consulting firm.
 
From the beginning, ARCO’s managers and technical staff have maintained that they understand that they are working in a uniquely sensitive environment. Ecuador’s rainforests rank among the world’s most biologically diverse regions. They provide a home to perhaps 10 percent of the world’s plant and animal species, including 120 species of mammals, 500 species of fish, 600 species of birds, and at least 12,000 species of plants. This incredibly rich environment has created a challenge for ARCO to apply new technologies that will minimize the environmental impact of their development and operation of the Villano field.
Ecuador’s rainforests are home to about 250,000 indigenous peoples, many of whom depend on the rainforest for their livelihood and are anxious to conserve it. Block 10 is home to several indigenous groups, including Quichua, Shuar, Achuar and Huaorani communities. Ten  Villages inhabited by mostly Quichua-speaking people are located near the Villano drillsite. 

From the outset, Arco has been claiming to have committed themselves to developing a model partnership with their Indigenous neighbors, a partnership that will provide sustainable new social and economic opportunities, while minimizing or eliminating potential disruptions.
 
To meet these goals, ARCO and Petroecuador, along with their selected Indigenous organizations, created the Comision Tecnica Ambiental (CTA), or "Technical Committee." This group was supposed to provide an ongoing forum for exchange of information and indigenous involvement in environmental assessment and monitoring throughout the project.

Arco claims that the development plan for the Villano field was designed with two guiding principles in mind. 

The first is to minimize any impact on the environment that may occur as a result of development. 

The second is to maintain an open and honest dialogue with indigenous communities in the area to ensure that they work together to provide these social and economic opportunities. 

In short, they are claiming that they intend to develop Villano in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Since 1988, ARCO has continually said that they are cooperating with community development efforts in Pastaza and Block 10.

In allegedly working with their Indigenous neighbors;
 
They claim they are committed to these principles:

• Respect indigenous territories and cultures.
  
  
• Apply the most stringent standards and advanced technologies to avoid any potential environmental risk to their neighbors.
  
  
• Minimize casual or unauthorized contact with local residents
  
  
• Act in good faith and with transparency in their relations with governments, organizations and communities.
  
  
• Report, consult and coordinate with local governments, organizations and communities.
  
  
• Provide jobs and training to local communities whenever possible.
  
  
• Discourage the development of dependent and paternal relationships between ARCO and surrounding communities. 

1. Jointly perform an environmental assessment in Block 10, in order to establish a baseline for future evaluations. 
   
   
2. Involve indigenous people in the environmental management plan for Pastaza Province.
   
   
3. Create an open channel of communication and negotiation in order to prevent conflict. 
   
   
4. Establish a fund for social development, environmental control and biodiversity conservation in indigenous territories.

In summary, ARCO’s community relations program has been built on a history of deceit towards the Indigenous People of Pastaza. Over the next 20 years, they claim they will work with various levels of government, Indigenous Organizations and other stakeholders to assure the best use of natural resources, conservation of fragile ecosystems and respect for cultural diversity.

Specifically, they say they will collaborate with the Indigenous People of Pastaza to draft a long-term plan for sustainable development, and search for new ways to generate income and employment. 

They claim they will achieve a broader and better use of renewable resources, emphasizing conservation of the area’s biodiversity. And finally, they say they will improve community access to basic services such as education and health care.

Arco expects to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from their Villano Operations, so far except for 10 years of double talk and deceit:
 

• ARCO hired an archaeologist to explore for artifacts, 
  
  
• ARCO has built and equipped six schools where children are given breakfast along with their schoolbooks, papers and pencils. The company has also created a scholarship program that will help 12 students annually move on to high school in nearby Puyo,  
  
  
• ARCO has built three medical dispensaries for the local populace, served by an Ecuadorian general practitioner.
  
  

Note: this information was obtained from the web page of Atlantic Richfield Co.