On days when the sun is strong, a penetrating odor of oil fills the air in the rural areas of Pacayacu, a town of 11,000 in the Ecuadorian Amazon province of Sucumbíos. “We can’t block the sun with a finger,” says Henry Castro, president of the local government. “The [town] is totally polluted.” Poverty abounds amid a profusion of oil infrastructure around Pacayacu, which sits in an Amazon crude production zone known as Libertador. The oilfield forms part of a larger hydrocarbon concession area, called Block 57, being exploited by Petroamazonas, Ecuador’s state-owned oil company. At Libertador, Petroamazonas is currently extracting 22,000 barrels of crude daily. Oil infrastructure in Pacayacu and the surrounding canton of Lago Agrio is extensive. On farms, along roadways and... [Log in to read more]