Neoextractivism and Its Contestation in Ecuador

Abstract

In its earlier years, the Correa administration enjoyed a “green” image, thanks to the Yasuní–ITT (Ishpingo, Tambococha, Tiputini) Initiative, a government-sanctioned proposition to leave more than 900 million barrels of crude oil underground, protecting a highly biodiverse forest, mitigating against climate change, and protecting peoples in voluntary isolation, in return for $3.6 billion in donations from the international community. We discuss the ideologies and practices of this Initiative, as proposed in 2007, and of the consequences of its dissolution in 2013. We draw on fieldwork in the Waorani community of Guiyero, within YNP, to highlight the gap between the “pristine wilderness” invoked by the government and the daily, lived experiences of life in the park, and to reflect on the contradictions and inconsistencies surrounding the Initiative, such as the Correa administration’s commitment toward indigenous and environmental concerns while simultaneously neglecting geographic, environmental, and socio-cultural aspects of Waorani life to exploit these lands. Soon after the dissolution of the Initiative, Correa conducted highly publicized meetings with a group of Waorani leaders who voiced their support for oil development in their traditional homelands, a choreographed performance of indigenous citizenship that obfuscated uneven, indigenous support for government policies. By lending their discursive power and symbolic capital in exchange for the socio-economic benefits, these Waorani also conveyed a sense of coherence to the ideologies and practices that constitute the Revolución. Meanwhile, a collective called Yasunidos formed a grassroots movement against the dissolution of the Initiative, demanding constitutionally guaranteed forms of political participation. Yasunidos faced an aggressive and combative government response that called into question the leftist/populist nature of the administration itself.