| Sumario: | This paper analizes the relationship between oilspills and ecological conflicts in the northern Amazon of Ecuador. The central idea is that conflict management by the state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, can lead to “efficient” negotiations in the short term, at the cost of a longterm perspective, that seeks the institutionalization of agreements and an effective treatment of the structural causes of environmental conflicts. This context is determined by an inadequate environmental management in the Northern Amazon and constitutes the background of wider protracted conflicts, in the Central and Southern parts of the region. Especially, the resulting tense social relationships are actually worsened by the mediatization of the Chevron-Texaco trial. As a matter of fact, it will probably remain the framework for oil policies. Without a redefinition of public policies -especially a responsible and equitative environmental and social policies– this could lead to a crisis of democratic governability.
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