As part of our project on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), we are featuring voices from the field, profiling indigenous participants in the workshops we held in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador between October 2017 and February 2018 in conjunction with COICA, Coordinator of Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin. All participants consented to their comments and photos being published. The views expressed reflect individual opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Equitable Origin.
For more information about our FPIC work, click here.
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Fidel Aguinda, Cofán Nationality, Dureno Community; Vice-president of the Ai`Cofan Organization of Ecuador (Sucumbíos Province-Ecuador)
To get to Lago Agrio, I must take a boat on the Aguarico River for 10 minutes and from there by car to Lago Agrio it takes me 2 hours.
In my community, 4 years ago we had an agreement for seismic exploration, for this negotiation we have not had an adequate Free, Prior and Informed Consultation process, but we have had a socialization. My community has a total of 500 members, 120 families.
The issue of FPIC is important for Indigenous Nationalities, we always hear the phrase, FPIC, but basically our leadership and the people do not know who should conduct the FPIC process, who should we demand FPIC from; the State? I think it is important that in the workshop we have had some representatives of different nationalities and it is a space that allows us to reflect. We have been able to exchange experiences and the activities in these 2 days of the workshop have been very important.
Fidel Aguinda, Nacionalidad Cofán, comunidad Dureno; Vicepresidente de la Organización Ai`Cofan del Ecuador (Provincia de Sucumbíos-Ecuador)
Para llegar a Lago Agrio, debo tomar un bote en el río Aguarico por 10 minutos y de ahí en carro hasta Lago Agrio me toma 2 horas.
En mi comunidad hace 4 años hemos tenido un acuerdo para la exploración sísmica, para esta negociación no hemos tenido proceso adecuado de una Consulta Previa, Libre e Informado, sino que hemos tenido una socialización. Mi comunidad tiene en total unas 500 socios, 120 familias.
El tema CPLI es importante para las Nacionalidades Indígenas, siempre se escucha las palabras de la CPLI, pero en el fondo nuestra dirigencia y el pueblo no conoce quienes deben hacer esta CPLI, ¿a quién debemos exigir la CPLI, al Estado? Me parece importante que en el taller hemos estado algunos representantes de las diferentes nacionalidades y es un espacio que nos permite reflexionar. Hemos podido intercambiar experiencias y es muy importante las actividades en estos 2 días del taller.
Karina Piruch, Shuar Nationality, Yamanunka Community (Sucumbíos Province -Ecuador)
My community is one a half hours by car to Lago Agrio. Our community is an oil community; we are in block 16 of Petroamazonas, they have been active in our community for 40 years. Previously we did not know what FPIC was. My grandfather tells us that the company came only to offer help in exchange for telling them that they are going to exploit oil. The elders said that they did conduct protests to demand [compensation] for the damages to the water sources , but they always reached agreements with [the] oil companies. In our community we are informing ourselves and preparing and already there are women leaders.
The workshop has seemed very interesting to me, this knowledge is important to take to my community and to be able to demand the remediation of the damages of the oil companies and demand at least basic services, that my community does not have yet.
Karina Piruch, Nacionalidad Shuar, Comunidad Yamanunka (Provincia Sucumbíos-Ecuador)
Mi comunidad se encuentra a una hora y media en carros hasta Lago Agrio. Nuestra comunidad es una comunidad petrolera estamos en pleno bloque 16 de Petroamazonas, llevan 40 años de actividad en nuestra comunidad. Anteriormente no conocemos lo que es la CPLI, mi abuelo cuenta que la empresa vino solamente a ofrecer ayuda a cambio de indicarles que van a explotar petróleo, los mayores cuentan que si se levantaron en manifestaciones sociales para reclamar por los daños en las fuentes de agua, pero siempre llegaban a acuerdos con los petroleros. En mi comunidad nos estamos informando y preparando y ya existimos mujeres dirigentes.
El taller me ha parecido súper interesante, estos conocimientos son importantes para llevar a mi comunidad y poder exigir la reparación de los daños de las petroleras y exigir al menos servicios básicos, los mismos que mi comunidad aún no tienen.
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