BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Ecuador's government says it has started dismantling infrastructure on a controversial oil drilling block in Yasuni National Park, just as Friday's court-imposed deadline for completion looms.
The Ministry for Energy and Mines said in a statement Wednesday evening that it shut one of 247 wells in the 43-ITT block — the Ishpingo B-56 well.
It’s been a year since the historic referendum to halt oil drilling in the national park in the country’s Amazon, but the Waorani Indigenous people who live there and rights groups say nothing has been done.
The government last week asked the constitutional court for an extension of five years and five months for the state-run oil company Petroecuador to cease operations and get out.
“I have come to verify that the decision of last year’s referendum, where the citizens voted in favor of the closure of this field, is being complied with," said head of the ministry, Antonio Goncalves, in the statement. “To comply with the closure of the ITT is not an easy job, it requires special and technical planning.”
The wells should all go offline by December 2029, the government has previously said.
The announcement of the B-56 well closure came hours after an Associated Press story about the frustrations of the Waorani people and others who complained the government has taken no action over the past year.
The AP has received no response to requests for comment from the ministry and Petroecuador over the past three days.
The Ecuadorian government does not get to set its own timeline and has shown little political will to close operations, said Kevin Koenig, climate and energy director for the nonprofit Amazon Watch, in response to the government statement.
“The government is bound by its obligations to the constitutional court, which gave it a year to close 227 wells. ... The fact that they closed one yesterday does not mean that they are complying with the court order," Koenig said in a call from Yasuni National Park.
“They're not meeting their judicial obligation to the court, they're not fulfilling the mandate of the Ecuadorian people and they're not respecting the rights of the Waorani,” he said.
Yasuni National Park is one of most biodiverse regions on the planet. Besides the Waorani, it’s home to two of the world’s last Indigenous communities living in voluntary isolation, the Taromenane and the Tagaeri people, according to the nonprofit Amazon Frontlines.
Ending oil drilling at the 43-ITT oil block could cost $1.3 billion, according to government estimates.
Oil accounts for nearly one-third of Ecuador’s GDP, and its economy is struggling to meet its domestic debt obligations.
Follow Steven Grattan on X, formerly Twitter: @sjgrattan
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FILE - Waorani Indigenous women take part in a demonstration in Quito, Ecuador, Aug. 20, 2024, demanding authorities comply with the decision to halt oil drilling in a national park in the heart of the country's share of the Amazon where they live. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)
FILE - Waorani Indigenous women take part in a demonstration in Quito, Ecuador, Aug. 20, 2024, demanding authorities comply with the decision to halt oil drilling in a national park in the heart of the country's share of the Amazon where they live. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)
BUKWO, Uganda (AP) — Thousands of mourners in Uganda paid respects to Rebecca Cheptegei, the Olympic athlete who died last week in Kenya after her partner set her on fire, at a military funeral in a remote town near the Kenyan border.
Military officers played a prominent role in the funeral because Cheptegei held the rank of sergeant in Uganda's army, said military spokesman Brig. Felix Kulayigye, adding that she deserved a “gun salute that befits her rank."
Athletes, family members and others delivered their eulogies before thousands in a sports field in the district of Bukwo.
Cheptegei, who was 33, will be buried later on Saturday.
She died after her body suffered 80% burns in the attack by Dickson Ndiema, who doused her in gasoline at her home in western Kenya’s Trans-Nzoia County on Sept. 3. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed to his injuries.
According to a report filed by the local chief, they quarreled over a piece of land the athlete bought in Kenya.
The horrific gasoline attack shocked many and strengthened calls for the protection of female runners facing exploitation and abuse in the East African country.
Cheptegei’s body was returned to Uganda Friday in a somber procession following a street march by dozens of activists in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret who demanded an end to physical violence against female athletes.
Cheptegei is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in a worrying pattern of gender-based violence in recent years. Kenya’s high rates of violence against women have prompted several marches this year.
Ugandan officials have condemned the attack, demanding justice for Cheptegei. First lady Janet Museveni, who also serves as Uganda’s education and sports minister, described the attack as “deeply disturbing.”
Don Rukare, chairman of the National Council of Sports of Uganda, said in a statement on X that the attack was “a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete.”
Four in 10 women, or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women, have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey.
Many Ugandan athletes train across the border in Kenya, an athletics powerhouse with better facilities. Some of the region’s best runners train together at a high-altitude center in Kenya’s west.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics, finishing in 44th place, less than a month before the attack. She had represented Uganda at other competitions.
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Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.
Members of the public gather for a funeral service of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei ahead of her burial in Kapkoros, Bukwo District, Uganda Saturday, Sept. 14. 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Members of Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) carry the coffin of their colleague Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Koriny Cheptegei, ahead of her burial in Kapkoros, Bukwo District, Uganda Saturday, Sept. 14. 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Members of Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) stand at the casket of their colleague Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Koriny Cheptegei, ahead of her burial in Kapkoros, Bukwo District, Uganda Saturday, Sept. 14. 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Members of the public gather for a funeral service of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei ahead of her burial in Kapkoros, Bukwo District, Uganda Saturday, Sept. 14. 2024. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Mourners pay respects to Ugandan athlete who died after her partner set her on fire
Mourners pay respects to Ugandan athlete who died after her partner set her on fire
FILE -Rebecca Cheptegei, competes at the Discovery 10km road race in Kapchorwa, Uganda, Jan. 20, 2023. (AP Photo, File)
