Undermining democratic capacity: myth-making and oil development in Amazonian Ecuador

Resumen

In 1967, Ecuador entered the world petroleum market when a significant oil discovery was made in the country's northeastern rain forest, known as the Oriente. Once again, Ecuadorians were faced with a question that had persisted since independence from Spain in 1822: how to incorporate the country's Amazonian territories. The oil boom, which began around Lago Agrio in 1972, seemed to provide a definitive answer (Schodt 1987, p. 107).