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Summer 2022: Crisis averted?
After 17 days and over 14,000 people participating, the protests were called off in July of 2022 (Sands, 2022).
"We have achieved the supreme value to which we all aspire: peace in our country," said the conservative president Guillermo Lasso (Sands, 2022).
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Just like in 2011, when Chevron was ordered to pay billions, it remains to be seen whether Lasso will uphold his promises.
In September of 2022, at the end of a lengthy negotiation, Lasso agreed to stop approving new oil and mining projects on indigenous people’s lands, including archaeological zones and areas under environmental protection (Valencia, 2022).
Clashes with oil companies continue in 2023!
In 2023, even as Ecuador struggles to get out under its debt and make concessions to indigenous communities, workers at Petroecuador are protesting against low wages, corrupt appointed leaders, and reduced production affecting their livelihoods (Valencia, 2023).
In December 2022, in the village of membersDicaro, of the Waorani blocked a road, insisting on their constitutional right to decide whether the state-run oil company PetroEcuador can drill there (La Prensa Latina, January 2023).
