Open up markets or else. This is often the ultimatum governments of developing countries are given as they try to find a way out of severe poverty and economic stagnation. This “development” is anything but and has always come at a very very costly human price: death, displacement and deeper poverty. This is to say nothing of the real agendas motivating the U.S. and other industrialized countries to promote this form of gun-point development.
This week, Ecuador’s congress sent out a message that it will not give in to such outside pressures as it seeks to develop. On June 16, it rejected proposed legislation to open up government-owned oil fields in the Amazon to foreign oil companies. President Lucio Gutierrez, who came to office on a left platform, pushed to open up the oil fields for nearly two years in reaction to an IMF mandate stating that without such “reforms” of the oil sector, the agency would withhold $120 million in “aid.”
Among the international oil companies who pushed hard for the “reforms” were Occidental Petroleum of the U.S., Canada’s EnCana Corp., Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro and Spanish-Argentine giant Repsol – all of which would have gained supremely had the fields been opened up. The dismissal of the legislation came as a shock to foreign investors, who are used to getting their way when it comes to matters of “development.” Any subscription-free links to this fascinating story would be much-appreciated.
One last thought: Perhaps the country’s dealings with the deadly legacy ChevronTexaco left behind prompted the congressional vote this week.
