______, E:....::C~O_-_J U S T I C E
he Urarina, who call them
selves "KachA· , meaning ~'lhe Urarina Survival T people,'" are a semi~nomadic Amazonian people who have inhabited Update: the Chambira and UrilUyacu river basins Continued Resource north o£ the Maral)on river in Peru for at
least 500 years. The Uraril\a al\d the Exportation and Disease Mayorunas (Matses) remain the largest Importation by umitle:d Amazonian Indigenous groups in Foreigners and Newly Peru. However, the relati\'e: isolmion of
the Urnrina has been imen1.1pted as their Initiated by Multinational traditional territory has occn invodcd by Oil Companies colonists. loggers. river traders, and drug· + by Ritchie Witzig and Massie/ Ascencios voyeur tourists. All of these groups have
brought significam disease pressure on Resource Exploitation Update
the Urarina that threatens their 'vay of life The Urarina people live in a Oood The most rcccm and grave threat to zone that is projected to have signifi~m and survival as documented in the article Urarina su ,.;val is disease importation oil rescn•es. Three multinational oil com· caused by the three multinational oil panics ocgan drilling from the Chambira published in Abya Yala News Vol. 10. companies who entered their territory in oil field located at Santa Martha on the late january 1997 to build an oil drilling Chambira river. Santa Martha is an old Nllmber 2 (Sllrnrner 1996). site ror I>ctrolcum c;~traction. Urarina corrummity located in the heart
Vol. 10 No. 3 17 Eco-Jusr 1 ce
of Urarina land that was temporarily row river. at times only 30 meters wide. an Urarina individual under the control vacated due to the semi-nomadic naturt In the dry season when the river is 10 of the SlL and living in Nueva Esperanza. of Urarina cuhure. The Chambira oil meters lower there arc certain to be more This Urarina man who signed the docu· fields arc pan of Block 3 owned by accidents of this type. There are no stud· mems is not a leader of the Urarina, and Petroperu. the Peruvian national oil ies ongoing by the government , any only represents himself. The total "com· company, but the rights to drill directly NGO. or the oil companies of this pensation'" to the Urarina nation from on the Chambira river were transferred to impending ecological deStruction. this ·agteemtnt'" was a speedboat and Enterprise Oil Co., of Great Britain in monthl)' promises of gasoline given to the 1996. The rights were sold because impostor "leader'". The total effect was to Petroperu did not have the capital to ini SIL and Missionary Control give an extra St>eedboat to SIL tiate drilling. Against the " "shes of the The Summer Institute of Linguistics Unfortunately, it is difficult to undo a public, the Peruvian government now (Sil or l LV· lnstitmo Linguist ito de fr:.mdulent '"cont~ct'" as described above wants to privatize Petrope:ru. The s."le of Verano) used an impostor Urarina quickly. and it enables the oil companies the oil rights to Enterprise had the effect ~Je,adcr" to help the oil compar'lics create to establish thetnselves while the legal of privatizing the entire Chambim oil an appearance of legitimacy in their inva· defense of the Urarina is being organized. field withOUl privatizing Petroperu. sion of Urarina land. The Sll is an evan· As they have done elsewhere in the gclical organization of atnateur and pro~ \Vestern Amazon. the SIL have again Enterprise subcontracted Parker Oil fe.ssional linguists who attempt to influ. proven 'vith the Urarina that Indigenous Drilling Co. of Tuls.,, Oklahoma, and the ence the societies in 'vhich they work by self·detenninmion is e.~actly the opposite Santa Fe Petroleum Co. of Lima. to drill transl:.uing the Bible into native ian· of their mission. the Sama Manha well. Constnlction of g.•ages. SIL has had .-- -,...------.v;;:------,---, ~ the oil field staned in January, 1997 and a represemati\'C , by May I. Enterprise/Parkert'S.,nta Fe had (Ronald Manus) liv- ''"""' ~ drilled a complete well but fonunately ing intenniltently in g did not encounter enough oil to warrant the Urarina commlk 5 funhcr exploration. The latest news is nity of Nueva ~ that the company has moved to lot 32. Esper:mza for the §: which is just nonhwest of their original past 30 years. The ! site and is still deep in Urarina territory. Urarina have t to pursue further exploration in the next retained their cui~ i two years with a go\'emmcm contract. turc and spirituality ~ despite SILS anctnpt l! to influence them. Spills Before Drills As the outside Even before ther struck oil, there agency with the were ecological disasters. On April 30, longest domicilial 1997, the steel bouom of a barge bring experience in ing up supply oil w 3S punctured by a Urarina territory, the huge capirona (Calycophyllum sp.) tree SIL has never tried 10 kilometers from the oil well, causing to empower the oil contamination of the entire Chambira Urarina in any way river downstream. The barge was then to protect their towed upstream, moored at Sama lands. Colb)• and Manha, and surrounded by pylons Dennen's recent attempting tO control the oil leak (sec book about oil Figure 1). One Urarina cacique (leader) exploitation in the in the Hormiga river off the Chambira Amazon, .. Thy \Viii c01nplained that the fish entering his be Done· has docu grounds had been contaminated from the mented that the his oil, and were swimming imo the tOry of the SIL has Hormiga looking for fresh water. been to help divide Amazonian river dolphins (lnia geoffren Indigenous peoples L ...... ______s~ t,;;~!li;!!!o_ ____: ~.j,~ _ _j sis) which were numerous in the and even help oil companies enter 1M tom.'"'"' rrid"P'rrid ptito6rotiM of oil righn in Chambira river basin ha,•e since noticed Indigenous areas. When the oil compa· Peru. m. lot~ ha>o ""ntly been 18 At::fta Yala News E co - J u sT I CE Disease Importation \'CI'}' real danger that resistant P. falci oil workers will take away any hope or parum strnins are being transt>Orted to controlling the P. faldpanun cpidtqliC Mtdrinarional oil txploration = Malaria, the Charnbira by the oil workers loading that is currcmly decimating the Urarina pertussis. and cm·ironmcntal contaminalion the suppl)' 1>.1rges in Santa Clara. people. hnplimcmation or Convention Oil drilling teams are renowned for 169. of which Peru is a signatory nation transporting new su-aii\S of disease into The Peruvian government has no (199'1) would help to protect the cultural territories they exploit. The oil explo· health post in the entire Chambim river rights of the Urarina as well as legall)' title rmion and drilling teams are based in the basin. The nearest health post is In their land. Legal recognition of their ter field with support offices in lquitos and Maypuco. more thai\ I week by canoe ritorial boundaries would lead to self Lima, but their personnel are imponed from Urarina territory. Colonists on the determination for the Urarina giving from various areas in Peru. the United lower Chambim have access to boats and them some recourse to protect their ,...,ay States, and Europe. The Sama Fe lquitos motors which can shuttle sick persons to of life. '\!) office use the small Nanay ri\'er port com· Maypuco and on tO lquitos. The Urarina munity of S."lnta Ckua to lo.1d all their have no transponation except canoes. equipment onto barges for transtxm to R. Witzig ltos ptJiormed mtdical surveys, Jiseose lttot· the Chambim. Santa Clara is currently As of May 1997. the Peruvian non· mtnl, suppfftd mtdlcin~. end lraintJ UJorino village governmental organization CEDIA htafth warkm fYHWJ in bc!ir medirof and pvbfir htofth suffering the most intense and drug resis on strM sepatote flips Ia the (hombiJa basin silut tant P. falciparum epidemic of any area in (Centro Para el Des.1rrollo del lndigena /992, with a Iota/of 13 months in the lit/d. This ron· Peru. as well as an outbreak of penussis Amazonico) had counted over 3.200 lintring ptojut w#lic.h the outbar for~ndtd ;s Ihe (whooping cough). Urarina in the Chambira basin alone Amazonian lndigtn Pcnussis appeared last February in (there are also Urarina in the Uritiyacu The aul~r hos da Vol. 10 No.3 19