The Ecuadorian government is now using the term “force majeure” (literally “major force” or “Cause beyond control”) to describe the opposition to oil concessions on indigenous land in the Amazon. The term is usually used to describe natural catastrophes or major upheavals like war, which can void a legal contract. Because of this change in provision, two transnational companies have been allowed to cancel their oil concession contracts with the Ecuadorian government.

Representatives of CGC and ChevronTexaco, the companies conducting oil exploration on the territory of the indigenous Kichwa people of Sarayacu, claim that Burlington Resources, another corporation, has bought all of ChevronTexaco’s interests in Block 23. The people of Sarayacu claim that they have received information indicating that the interests have only been leased, suggesting that ChevronTexaco still expects to make a profit from their activities in the area.

In a radio declaration on February 17, Ecuador’s Minister of Energy and Mines guaranteed government support of CGC, a foreign corporation conducting seismic exploration on the territory of the Kichwa people of Sarayacu. The minister claimed that 28 communities in “Block 23” – the area demarcated as an oil concession by the government - also support the company’s activities, and that resistance was only coming from two people from Sarayacu.

Business News Americas reported today that CGC, the company performing seismic exploration on Sarayacu territory known as “Block 23”, is pulling out of the area due to “safety concerns”. The news comes just days after a commission from the Kichwa Sarayacu community in the Ecuadorian Amazon met twice with representatives of the national government. Government officials visited Sarayacu on February 3, and the Kichwa people had an opportunity to reiterate their opposition to all oil operations in their territories.

The Kichwa community of Sarayacu located in the Pastaza province in the Amazonian region of Ecuador has a population of about a thousand people. Its name means “River of Corn”. The Sarayacu maintain their traditional lifestyles and culture, but the threats to that continuity have never been greater.

The Sarayacu people of Ecuador are facing new challenges in their struggle against the oil development activities of ChevronTexaco on their ancestral lands. They have been fighting to protect their at-risk environmental and social heritage from the degradation of oil development since 1989. ChevronTexaco's latest action is the creation of a new camp on Sarayacu territory; it claims that the camp is protected with landmines. It is unclear whether they have actually deployed land mines, or whether it is a bluff to keep the Sarayacu from trying to stop this latest encroachment.

Four hundred leaders, elders, and delegates of the organizations FINAE (Federación Interprovincial de la Nacionalidad Achuar del Ecuador), FIPSE (Federación Independiente del Pueblo Shuar del Ecuador) and FICSH (Federación Interprovincial de Centros Shuar) resolved to maintain their opposition to extractive industries, specifically to the oil contract in Block 24 in the southeast Ecuadorian Amazon. The constituent communities are composed almost entirely of the Shuar and Achuar peoples.

On June 28 a meeting was held in Quito, under the title of “International Forum: The Impacts of the Spraying of Crops, Typified as “Illicit Activity”, and the Armed Conflict. Responses of the Indigenous Amazon Peoples of the Boundaries”. Amazonian indigenous peoples from Ecuador, Colombia, Perú and Brazil met to discuss a joint proposal for defending their traditional ways of life and environment in the face of Plan Colombia. The proposal will be addressed to their respective governments and to the United States in the coming months.