TeleSUR
Members of the Waorani indigenous community in Ecuador on Tuesday demanded that the government of Daniel Noboa stop oil exploitation in the Yasuní National Park.
On August 20, 2023, a popular consultation was held in Ecuador to stop oil exploitation in the Yasuní National Park.
On that occasion, nearly 59% of voters voted in favour of not continuing to extract black gold.
The Constitutional Court, the country’s highest judicial authority, set a one-year deadline for implementing the results of the referendum.
However, after a year, the facilities of the Ishpingo, Tiputini and Tambococha oil fields of Block 43 ITT have not been dismantled and therefore continue to be exploited.
Former President Guillermo Lasso, at the time, said that the consultation was impossible to implement because the country could not do without the oil revenues generated by the park.
Noboa, during his election campaign, supported the closure of oil activity in the Yasuní park, but after becoming president he changed his mind.
The Ecuadorian president said it was necessary to postpone the implementation of the referendum in order to finance the fight against the security crisis facing the country.
The president of the Waorani Nationality of Ecuador (Nawe), Juan Bay, said that oil has not been synonymous with development for indigenous peoples.
Bay said, “The Waroani people have only been in contact with civilization for 60 years. And with this, oil exploitation began. In the Yasuní National Park it began 10 years ago. Oil has brought problems, death, and a change of identity.”
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