[R-G] Ecuador’s mining prospects and the conflict with affected communitie

[Anthony Fenton]

Ecuador’s mining prospects and the conflict with affected communities
Jennifer Moore

http://www.alainet.org/active/18420&lang=pt

“…what has happened to all of the oil extracted since March 22nd,  
1967? Ecuador has produced 4.035 million barrels of oil since that  
time which valued at nominal historic international prices represents  
a sum total of $82 million dollars. Where is this money? And I’m not  
speaking about riches, because the true riches are what have been  
destroyed, that weren’t in the ground, but rather in the  
biodiversity, in the life and in the cultures that have been lost.”  
- Ex-Minister of Energy & Mines, Alberto Acosta[1], for the 40th  
anniversary of oil extraction in the Ecuadorian Amazon[2]

Following attempts in recent months to obtain concrete responses from  
the government of President Rafael Correa with regard to its plans  
for large-scale mining in Ecuador, revelations resulting from the  
current national uprising called by the National Coordinator for the  
Defense of Life and Sovereignty are both surprising and worrying to  
those involved. Highway blockades taking place across South and  
Central Ecuador last week faced harsh repression from police and  
armed forces under direct orders from the government.[3] As well,  
statements by the President to the press revealed a marked change in  
the government’s tone and position, placing it in direct conflict  
with those organizing together with the National Coordinator.

While 2007 marks 40 years for Ecuador as an oil producing nation,[4]  
it has never been a major mineral producer and current large-scale  
mining projects have yet to enter into production. In particular  
cases, this is largely a result of tenacious community resistance,  
such as in the case of Intag in the northern province of Imbabura  
where struggles have been ongoing for ten years.[5] Legal reforms by  
past governments favoring private investment and internationally  
funded studies revealing rich mineral deposits throughout the central  
Andes and the southern Amazonian region of Ecuador[6] are making the  
country’s mining sector very attractive to foreign investors. A  
recent industry report entitled “Ecuador, Number One in Potential  
for Pipeline Ounces of Gold,” highlights Ecuador’s appeal to  
Canadian corporations in particular.[7] To date the Ministry of  
Energy and Mines has granted licenses for over 4,000 mining  
concessions[8] which cover roughly 20% of the surface of Ecuador,  
including many ecologically and culturally diverse areas, according  
to Acción Ecológica.[9]

In opposition to efforts to make Ecuador a major mineral producer,  
the National Coordinator for the Defense of Life and Sovereignty and  
thousands mobilized by its call are convinced that there are better  
alternatives for the future of their communities and the country. In  
places where major mining projects are being developed local  
communities are already experiencing tremendous “social  
contamination” even before mineral extraction begins.[10] In  
addition, considering the health and environmental deterioration  
being faced in areas of large scale production in other parts of  
Latin America,[11] the National Coordinator wants Ecuador to cut its  
losses before production gets underway so that Ecuador can declare  
itself “a country free of large-scale mining.”

The National Coordinator for the Defense of Life and Sovereignty

The National Coordinator for the Defense of Life and Sovereignty was  
established on January 26th, 2007, bringing communities in resistance  
together from more than eight provinces across Ecuador along with  
numerous environmental and human rights organizations, urban  
associations, and student groups. Lina Solano from the National  
Coordinator says that the “social and environmental impacts of large- 
scale mining are too great to justify this as a major source of  
income for the country.”

 From Ecuador’s experience as an oil producer she says “we already  
know where the profits will be spent.” She continues, “A large  
percentage will be used to pay off the external debt, that is to say  
it will also leave the country, while another large percentage will  
go toward the bureaucracy and the armed forces, with a minimum  
percentage remaining for education and healthcare, likely not even  
fulfilling the 30% established in our constitution.” Currently  
however, to achieve such gains the government will have to amend the  
Mining Law which requires foreign investors to pay a minimum  
conservation patent per hectare and 0% royalties.[12]

The current government has recently indicated that it is planning to  
present reforms regarding the Mining Law to Ecuador’s congress this  
month which would limit exploration concessions, reintroduce  
royalties, hold companies accountable for impacts of exploration  
activities and strengthen environmental regulations. The government  
has also signaled creation of an independent Ministry of Mines and  
creation of a state-owned mining company.[13]

However, the National Coordinator’s central demands are for the  
government to suspend current projects and place a moratorium on new  
concessions. Following investigations, they are ultimately demanding  
that current concessions be annulled. They premise these demands on  
Ecuador’s constitution which guarantees communities the right to  
fair and informed consultation with regard to state decisions that  
might affect the environment.[14] Both the President and the former  
Minister of Energy and Mines have agreed in recent months that the  
communities’ demands are just and that the overwhelming majority of  
current concessions are indeed unconstitutional for this very reason. 
[15]

As several major mining projects near production, the National  
Coordinator has been urgently seeking more concrete responses from  
the government. However, four months of marches, meetings and  
correspondence have resulted in numerous delays and little concrete  
action. As a result, on June 5th, the National Coordinator declared  
an indefinite cross-country uprising. Demonstrations taking place  
last week did finally receive a definitive response, but not one that  
they had been hoping for.

Brutal Police Repression

Attention last week focused on three highway closures which began on  
Tuesday and which blocked major arteries around Cuenca, the third  
largest city in the country and capital of the Province of Azuay.  
Other main routes were also closed in the Southern Amazonian  
provinces of Morona Santiago and Zamora Chinchipe, with additional  
demonstrations taking place in the central province of Chimborazo  
around the community of Pallatanga.

On Wednesday while visiting Azuay in order to survey areas affected  
by unusually heavy rains the week before, the President ordered the  
police to bring an end to the blockades[16] and stated to the press  
that the “elimination of mining concessions” proposed by the  
National Coordinator is “inconceivable” given the costs that the  
state would incur.[17] He refused to speak with protesters and police  
enforcement of his orders resulted in brutal repression against  
demonstrators, particularly within the vicinity of Cuenca.

Lina Solano describes how blockade by blockade hundreds of police  
used overwhelming amounts of tear gas and anti-riot vehicles to  
violently dislodge protesters from the highways which involved men  
and women of all ages. Dozens of people were taken into detention and  
injuries were sustained by a number of demonstrators, as well as  
several police officers. In the area of Tarqui, southwest of Cuenca,  
police exhausted their supply of tear gas while taking control of the  
demonstration and reportedly sprayed tear gas inside of several  
homes, nearly asphyxiating several children.

Several journalists on site were also threatened by police including  
attempts to confiscate the camera of an Indymedia journalist.  
Additionally, late Friday night in the area of Molleturo where  
campesinos were maintaining the last remaining blockage of the main  
highway connecting Cuenca with the port city of Guayaquil, they  
reported the arrival of over 400 soldiers and 150 police officers  
following which they decided to retreat from the roadway.

Detentions Target Leadership of the National Coordinator

Roughly thirty people were taken into detention between Wednesday and  
Thursday. Many even after road blocks had been cleared. Lina and two  
other organizers from the National Coordinator were amongst those  
held overnight on Wednesday.

Lina says that five police officers aggressively detained her and  
Nidia Soliz, also from the National Coordinator, late Wednesday  
afternoon. For roughly three hours they were held together in a  
locked car without windows and driven around the countryside before  
being taken to provincial police headquarters. Lina says the officers  
were driving “at top speed, braking abruptly, presumably so that we  
would bang ourselves against the inside walls of the car.” Earlier  
in the day, Fernando Mejia of the National Coordinator was also  
detained.

Lina believes that their leadership was clearly targeted. Other  
demonstrators also reported being interrogated by police about the  
homes and whereabouts of leaders from the National Coordinator. Early  
Thursday, student supporters in particular from the University of  
Cuenca along with many others held tenacious demonstrations in front  
of government and judicial offices such that the three were granted  
Habeas Corpus by midday. Others held in detention were also freed,  
although at least 11 have charges remaining against them.

“We are incredibly surprised,” says Lina Solano of the National  
Coordinator for the Defense of Life and Sovereignty, “because we  
didn’t think that a government based upon the defense of our country  
and our sovereignty [would allow such repression to take place.]”  
She quotes former Minister of Energy and Mines, Alberto Acosta as  
having said that “not one drop of blood will be shed, no matter how  
profitable a project might be.”

In addition, Lina says that “There’s an effort to minimize  
participation in our movement, to say that there are only a few  
hundred people in opposition and that in reality the rest of the  
population is in favor of these mining projects. However,” she says,  
the reality is otherwise and says that “in all this time that the  
Coordinator has been organizing since the 26th of January of this  
year, there are thousands of people mobilizing, as much women, men,  
elderly, children and youth - whole families in fact - that are  
demonstrating more than anything in defense of our water since this  
is the resource that is most put at risk by large scale metal  
extraction.”

Communities from the provinces of Imbabura, Pichincha, Bolivar, and  
Cotopaxi have also participated in previous demonstrations. As well,  
the two largest indigenous organizations in Ecuador, the CONAIE and  
ECUARUNARI, both released public statements last week expressing  
solidarity with their struggle.[18]

Government Priorities Conflict with Community Interests

President Correa’s statements to the press last Wednesday are also  
“incredibly worrying,” says Lina. “To give a completely negative  
response and to say that the government is not going to support the  
communities’ petitions is a marked change.”

“In the beginning,” she recalls, “the government maintained that  
communities’ interests would be put first before those of private  
corporations and that what the communities are asking for is just and  
that the government would see how to deal with the issues. But now,”  
she says, “the government seems to be planning to make mining a main  
source of sustenance for the country following the depletion of oil  
and to be arranging for the state to earn a percentage of mining  
profits to put toward areas such as education and health.”

“This is horrible from our perspective, because it’s like  
negotiating with our lives, and in particular with the lives of  
thousands of rural families who are most directly affected by these  
mining projects.”

The Subsecretary of Mining, Jorje Jurado, also made a further  
announcement last week stating that a High Level Commission would be  
struck to produce a report within 30 days concerning Project  
Quimsacocha. Project Quimscocha is a large gold mining initiative  
lead by Canadian company IAMGOLD in the high plateau (páramos)  
surrounding the communities of Tarqui and Victoria del Portete where  
local resistance has been vociferous.

However, Lina says that this announcement is a “step backward”  
from what the government previously promised. “Something along these  
lines was offered months ago by the Ministry of Energy and Mines,”  
she says. “When we spoke with the President on March 26th he gave  
the green light for then-Minister of Energy & Mines, Alberto Acosta,  
to initiate a series of exhaustive audits concerning current  
projects. However, time has passed and they had to wait for people to  
protest so that they can now talk about striking this high level  
commission. We don’t know what it will mean, who will participate  
and if it will entail the suspension of this project.” Above all,  
Lina is concerned that people will put their hope in this commission  
and that it will end up as another waste of time while advanced  
mining projects carry on toward production.

The Ongoing Struggle

Overall, looking back over the last five months, Lina says that the  
National Coordinator has succeeded in generating national debate on  
the issues. However, looking ahead she says, “unless other organized  
sectors and the rest of Ecuador respond to what is happening,  
regrettably we will not be able to withstand this.”

Considering international solidarity she notes that Ecuador is unique  
in Latin America for not having a large-scale mining industry and  
emphasizes the country’s right to make sovereign decisions. “We  
ask everyone who understands what is taking place here to support  
this struggle. This is really about our national sovereignty and our  
right to say no, which I believe is incredibly important at the  
international level.”

She adds, “Within the system that we are living in decisions are  
being made not even by a small group of countries anymore, but rather  
by a small group of transnational corporations. And these decisions  
are being imposed all around the world often by blood and fire. In  
this regard, all international solidarity is important to us in order  
to reclaim our right to self-determination.”


[1] Ex-Minister of Energy & Mines, Alberto Acosta, stepped down on  
June 14th in order to declare his candidacy for the National  
Constituent Assembly for which elections will take place on September  
30th.

[2] Alberto Acosta, “Contra la paradoja de la abundancia,” La  
Insignia, 1-jun-07; Discurso de Alberto Acosta, economista y ministro  
de Ejergía y Minas de Ecuador, en el cuadragésimo aniversario del  
primer pozo petrolero ecuatoriano en la Amazonia; http:// 
www.lainsignia.org/2007/junio/econ_001.htm;

[3] El Mercurio – jueves 28 de junio de 2007

[4] Alberto Acosta, ibid.

[5] “Breve Historia de la Resistencia a la Mineria,” Intag,  
Ecuador, Sept 2006; http://www.decoin.org/historia.html

[6] Acción Ecológica, “Conflictos y Resistencia Frente a la  
Actividad Minera,” http://www.accionecologica.org/webae/images/2005/ 
mineria/documentos/intro.pdf

[7] James O’Rourke, “Ecuador, Number One in Potential for Pipeline  
Ounces of Gold,” Madison Avenue Research, 11 Apr 07; http:// 
madisonaveresearch.com/ecuadorgold.htm

[8] El Comercio – martes 5 de junio de 2007

[9] Acción Ecológica, ibid.

[10] Eduardo Tamayo G., “Ecuador: Trasnacionales mineras a la  
ofensiva,” ALAI, 15-dec-06; http://alainet.org/active/15025&lang=es

[11] See: Luis Vittor, “Cerro de Pasco y la expansión minera, un  
conflicto infinito,” ALAI, 07-jun-06; http://www.alainet.org/active/ 
17965 & Luis Vittor, “Conflictos mineros en los Andes,” ALAI, 19- 
apr-07; http://www.alainet.org/active/17001%E2%8C%A9=es

[12] Acción Ecológica, ibid.

[13] Alonso Soto, “Ecuador plans to send Congress broad mining  
reforms,” Reuters, Jun 22-07; http://www.reuters.com/article/ 
bondsNews/idUSN2245561420070622

[14] Constitución Politica de la Republica del Ecuador, (aprobada el  
5 de junio de 1998, por la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente),  
“Capítulo 5: De los derechos colectivos,” http:// 
www.ecuanex.apc.org/constitucion/titulo03c.html#5

[15] El Comercio – jueves 31 de mayo de 2007; and Alberto Acosta,  
ibid.

[16] El Mercurio – jueves 28 de junio de 2007

[17] Movimiento para la Salud de los Pueblos-Latinoamérica, Boletin  
de Prensa, “Paro por la Defensa de la Vida y la Soberania: No a las  
Transnacionales Mineras,” 28-jun-07

[18] CONAIE (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador),  
Boletín de Prensa, Quito, 29-jun-07; http://www.conaie.org/es/ 
ge_comunicados/co20072906awa.html & ECUARUNARI (Confederación de los  
Pueblos de Nacionalidad Kichua del Ecuador), “Llamamos al Gobierno  
de Rafael Correa a no ser cómplice de las empresas mineras,” Quito,  
28-jun-07; http://www.ecuarunari.org/es/noticias/no_20070628.html


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