Longwire’s Newsletter from Ecuador

January 31, 2002

Greetings from Ecuador! My first journey to South America has been both fun and intense. I am here under the auspices of Amazon Watch to do communications work for local environmental activists and tribal confederations.

In Quito, I met up with representatives of Amazon Watch, who were here for a meeting of the Amazon Alliance. There were over 50 delegates representing indigenous groups from Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, Surinam, Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana meeting in a hotel in Quito and later in the Amazon community of Puyo.

I tagged along with the Alliance to Puyo, in the Ecuadorian Amazon where Kevin introduced me to leaders of FINAE, a confederation representing the Achuar natives of Amazonia. They have a communications system they purchased from an Ecuadorian company that consists of ham radio type of equipment. The problem is that the gear is very complex to operate and the people often get lost in the maze of buttons, dials and menus to the point that they can't get back to their operating frequency. This is a big problem when the station is located in a community that is a week's walk to Puyo- it is a long trip to get a clue. I was also introduced to another group representing the Zapara natives who have similar problems with their radio network.

We returned to Quito after 3 days in Puyo, where the Alliance meeting wrapped up. I attended the farewell party at the hotel with the delegates. Someone brought a guitar and I enjoyed swapping songs with several of the folks- it was a true cultural exchange with me playing delta blues and bluegrass and others playing Latin American political and pop songs. It was inspiring to talk with the folks and hear about their struggles to preserve their homelands and cultural identities in the face of Euro-America's rapacious thirst for oil and timber…not to mention the U.S. anti-cocaine intervention (aka "Plan Columbia") in Columbia, Peru and Ecuador in which huge tracts of land are being sprayed with Roundup by US provided helicopters.

The day after the conference, we traveled to the Mindo-Nambillo cloud forest, where activists from the Quito-based environmental group Accion Ecologia and Accion por la Vida, (based in the local eco-tourist community of Mindo) have set up a camp and tree-sit to blockade the construction of a heavy crude-oil pipeline. The proposed route passes right through the middle of what is supposed to be a protected natural reserve. The Mindo-Nambillo cloud forest is an internationally recognized biodiversity-hotspot that is home to the one of the widest variety of birds, reptiles and mammals in the western hemisphere. It is also in the path of one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes. The Ecuadorian government, desperate for foreign money in the face of economic collapse, has ignored their own environmental regulations in approving the pipeline.

We were dropped off in a valley at the foot of the ridge. It was a brutal 3-mile hike up a muddy ridge with a 2000 ft elevation gain carrying a 40 lb pack of techno toys, camping gear and food for the camp. The first part of the hike was up an access road created by the pipeline company. The final part was through a steep swath of slag that will (?) be the route of the pipeline. I was horrified to see the erosion caused by the road and the pipeline right-of-way; whole sections of the route have given way and washed large scars of mud down the steep hill into the green ravines. The engineers plan is to stabilize the pipeline with 20 ft steel pilings driven into the soil and to place the line on ridge tops to prevent them from being buried in landslides. Given the instability of the soil, the wet climate and the nearby volcanic activity, this seems to be wishful thinking…

We arrived in the camp huffing and puffing with sore legs and backs. We were met by 8 activists: 5 Ecuadorians, a Finnish couple and a French woman. I had a strong sense of deja vu; the camp reminded me of Earth First and Ruckus encampments I have been to in the states, with its tarp shelters and eclectic mix of activists. The cloud forest lives up to it's name; there is a thick moist fog present almost all the time; even under the tarps the mist creeps in and leaves everything wet. I was impressed by the fact that the Ecuadorian activists have been living in this environment for almost 4 weeks. Making a meal is a struggle to keep a fire going with the heavy wet wood. Their drinking water is collected from the pools of water that form on the low spots of tarps. Maintaining the basics of living is a full time job. I was happy to note that the men and women shared all cooking and washing tasks as well as leadership roles- this is a big deal in this male dominated culture.

I would also like to point out that U.S. outdoor equipment manufacturers Mountain Hard Wear and Patagonia have made generous donations of tents, clothes and climbing equipment to the group.

I spent this first day setting up the gel-cell batteries and transformers I bought to keep their cell phone and walkie-talkies batteries charged. Since there is so little sun, solar power is not really a practical option; they will swap the gel cells weekly when visitors come to reinforce the blockade and bring food. The spent cells will then be recharged by supporters in nearby Mindo and carried back up the ridge. I also did a workshop on the organization of communications and the use of their other high-tech gadgets. Later we went to shoot video of the tree-sit further up the ridge. There are five trees that are set up with tent-covered platforms on which the activists sleep. Between two of the trees is a large banner which reads "OCP NO PASARA' " (translation:" OCP will not pass" - OCP is the Spanish acronym for crude oil pipeline).

We hiked down the next day. At the pickup point, we were met by an activist who gave us the news that the pipeline company secured an order from the government to evict the blockaders. An alarm went out and several truckloads of activists from Mindo and Quito arrived to hike up in the dark in the pouring rain to reinforce the blockade with 20 more bodies. We went to Mindo do set up a communications center, make phone calls and send emails from a sympathetic eco-tourist resort. The news came in that the police were starting up the hill- and we had not heard from our Accion Ecologia contact that stayed behind at the drop off point- we assumed that he was arrested. Finally, when it looked like all was lost, the news came in that the report of police ascending the hill was a false alarm; someone had mistaken a crew van for a police squad. The order to evict was NOT a false rumor, so it was a good thing that the camp was reinforced.

We made it back to Quito where I now sit pecking at my laptop. My companions from Amazon Watch are flying back to the U.S. tonight so I am on my own until my departure Feb 20. I will be leaving for Puyo soon to spend the remainder of my time working with the tribes. Almost all my time will be spent working in an office and staying in a tourist hotel with maybe a few 1-2 day trips to remote communites. This work will be totally legal, safe and, hopefully, sane… so please don't worry yourselves with visions of me hacking through the jungle with a machete; I am not on the "frontlines".

I thank my friends and organizations which have made this work possible with your financial and moral support. For more information on the Mindo-Manbillo blockade, see www.amazonwatch.org. Pay particular attention on suggestions for writing/emailing letters of concern to the pipeline companies and the Ecuadorian government.

I will try to write another note from Puyo.

Amor y paz,

Longwire