Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

220 Pitfalls and Pipelines: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
peoples and our civil liberties. This is the first time that an oil company has
signed such an agreement in Bolivia and in Latin America.” 26
The scale of this achievement should be considered in the context of the
initial offer made to the Guaraní by Repsol in 2006. Under that proposal,
there was no obligation for Repsol to make even a minimum payment
by way of compensation, no recognition of the Guaraní land rights,
and—by contrast—there was a requirement that the community give
Repsol a full release against any past, present and future liabilities. Just
as egregious was the requirement that the Guaraní submit proposals for
investments to a committee, which included Repsol representatives with
an absolute right of veto over any project proposed. In the event that a
project was approved, the funds were to be paid directly to the individuals
or organization who would manage it and the Guaraní were denied any
control over the funds or the selection of the project managers.
This achievement is the result of six years of sustained efforts by APG
IG and Equipo Nizkor. Ranged against us have been the corporate legal
departments of the various oil majors involved, and the continuing and
very public opposition of the Bolivian government. Tactics over that time
have included intimidation, culminating in August 2010 in the severe
beating of, and the shooting at, one of the community leaders.
The importance of the agreement can hardly be underestimated, and
yet it almost did not happen. The opposition coming from the Bolivian
government and the local authorities was aggravated when several local
and European NGOs, non indigenous organizations known as “social
intermediaries,” abandoned the Guaraní people of Itika Guasu at the
most critical stage of their confrontation with Repsol. These NGOs, “were
advising the Guaraní to abandon any legal strategy against Repsol... [A]
s the Guaraní of Itika Guasu went their way, engaging in negotiation with
Repsol as well as a legal strategy against the company, the intermediaries
resisted community authority, sowing local discord even as a viable
Guaraní agreement with Repsol evolved.” 27
At the time when the negotiations were about to be resumed, the
individuals making up the leadership of the APG IG lacked the most basic
means of survival. This situation of “economic strangling” made it very
difficult to travel around the communities to explain their legal strategy.
It was clear that this situation was part of the overall pressure in order to
undermine any possibility of taking decisions autonomously and to stop
the Guaraní having their property rights and their right to consultation
recognized by the companies.