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| One of the activists handed over the dossier Leticia Ortiz on the impacts of Repsol in Yasuní National Park. Photo: Beno Bonilla |
During a visit a few days ago to the Spanish-Ecuadorian Business Forum, an event attended by the Prince and Princess of Asturias and various representatives of the oil company Repsol, a group of human rights activists handed the Prince and Princess of Spain, during their visit to the centre of Quito, a dossier with maps and various documents relating to Repsol's activities in Ecuador. The presentation of the dossier was accompanied by a protest in which the group of activists chanted slogans such as "Repsol Kills" due to the systematic damage to the environment and the violation of human rights of the inhabitants of Yasuní by the oil company.
Repsol has been operating in the Yasuní National Park since 2000, and also participated in the construction of the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline, which, according to Amanda Ruales, spokesperson for the group, has generated “an enormous social and ecological debt on the part of Repsol, with Ecuador and its indigenous peoples due to the impacts that have been seen on their environment, health and culture.” Repsol carries out its activities both on ancestral Waorani territory, as well as on the territory of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, and has received countless complaints of human rights violations, such as the repeated rulings of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal against the activities of the transnational.
Furthermore, the oil company holds sovereignty over Block 16, the territory in which it operates, denying at its discretion the entry of people who want to access the block. Amanda Ruales states that “the company prevents oversight of its activity. For example, in 2007 an Ecuadorian and international commission was expelled from Waorani territory that had been invited by the communities and authorized by the Minister of the Environment himself.” For the human rights group, this situation causes the population living in Block 16 to be, in fact, property of Repsol.
This year, the subsidy granted by the Spanish Agency for Cooperation to the Repsol Foundation in Ecuador was denounced in both Spain and Ecuador. According to activists, the subsidy implies "the legitimisation by the Spanish State of Repsol's dubious activities in Ecuador." The protest against this subsidy reached the Spanish Congress of Deputies with a series of questions and a non-legislative proposal, which is currently under debate.
Fountain: Tegantai Agency
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