In ancient times, the east was the most relevant cardinal point, hence the verb used to locate the territory is “orientate”. Long before there were compasses with their magnetic north, the undisputed cardinal point was where the sun rose. In fact, the old Christian churches had to have their apses facing east; so that the sun would illuminate the altars against the light, during the first morning mass.

In our country, the Eastern region is the largest. However, for most of our republican life we ​​have refused to take this into account. In the 19th century, we treated it as a kind of tropical Siberia, which served only to send away those who were in the way of the rulers of the time. Being a liberal, I must admit that one of Eloy Alfaro’s worst mistakes was the withdrawal of missionary organizations from the Ecuadorian Oriente; Well, that helped Peru to expand to our East, under the pretext of living borders.

Oil had to come for us to be interested in that region. Half interest, almost indirect. The eastern provinces received only a fraction of the wealth they had given the country. And the ecological and social price they have had to pay is very high: oil spills in the jungle, uncontacted communities forced to integrate, thousands of people sick from exposure to chemicals used in hydrocarbons, etc.

I voted in favor of not exploiting the oil reserves in Yasuní. We must not ignore the damage that the hydrocarbon industry has caused to the diverse and fragile ecosystems of the Amazon. Our economic structure is no reason to continue irreparably destroying our natural heritage. I believe that the attitude of the current Minister of Energy is undemocratic and senile. Addiction is overcome only through shock. I know it won’t be pleasant, but in times of crisis, we start implementing new alternatives.

Now we need to think about what will be the activity that will enable Ecuadorians from the East to live prosperously and decently.

However, I believe that we urgently need to ask ourselves the question: what after oil? What will the people of Ecuador’s Oriente do when there is no more oil to extract?

As Galo Plaza Lasso implied in his sentence “The Orient is a myth”, agriculture is not an option in our Amazon region. Its vegetative growth is maintained by a thin organic layer of nutrients, which agriculture would destroy in the second harvest.

Tourism is an activity that would help share our natural wealth with the world

to be the only basic economic activity that brings in foreign capital without exporting goods. However, mass tourism would end up being as damaging as oil to the sector.

Now we need to think about what will be the activity that will enable Ecuadorians from the East to live prosperously and decently. Otherwise, we risk that the only answer that many of them will find on their own will be the production of cocaine and its marketing. (OR)