Indigenous leaders from the Achuar, Shuar, and Zapara peoples have been staging protests outside the international headquarters of Burlington Resources in unified opposition to the company’s oil exploration and extraction policies in their territories. Purchaser of the oil concession referred to as Block 24, Burlington Resources owns blocks in the primary rainforest of the southern Ecuadorian Amazon, overlapping with the ancestral territories of the Achuar, Shuar, and Quichua peoples. The organized resistance of these indigenous peoples has prevented Burlington from winning approval for oil exploration on this land. In a recent assembly, these peoples decided to have their leaders travel to the United States to gain broader international support for their struggle.
