Ecuador’s new mining law prompts further protests and concern

Published by MAC on 2009-01-26

Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, has approved the country's new mining law - prompting further demonstrations, and raising fears of renewed violence being meted out to protestors.

Ecuador president backs new law to enable mining

Reuters

15th January 2009 11:14am EST

QUITO - Ecuador President Rafael Correa on Thursday said he will not back down from a recently approved law that encourages mining and has sparked protests by Indians and environmentalists.
The new law slaps royalties on mining companies and lifts a nine-month ban on exploration that hurt the stock price of companies operating in the Andean nation. Foreign mining companies have found massive gold, silver and copper deposits in southern Ecuador.
"It is necessary to propel responsible mining," Correa said during his state of the state to the assembly. "I will not back down on the mining law."
Correa has to ratify or make changes to the new mining law approved by the assembly earlier this week. The socialist had threatened to veto the law if lawmakers made deep changes to the legislation.

The law sets at least 5 percent royalties based on sales and boosts government controls over the nascent sector.
The law could spark new anti-mining protests by Indian groups and environmentalists who say the legislation favors foreign companies over poor communities and threatens the country's pristine environment. Sometimes violent protests have kept investors worried over the development of the sector.
Worldwide mining companies are slashing investment plans and selling assets to keep much-needed capital as international credit grows scarce and the price of industrial metals plummet on fears of global recession.

Miners including Corriente Resources (CTQ.TO) and Kinross (K.TO) sit on multibillion dollar metal deposits, but analysts say the development of those projects could be delayed due to the global crisis.
(Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by David Gregorio)

Mining protests marginalized - but growing

21st January 2009

On Tuesday, nation-wide protests over large scale metal mining called by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) demonstrated growing, broad-based participation. Roughly 12,000 people from indigenous, environmentalist, human rights, campesino and rural water organizations participated in diverse actions across eleven provinces of the small Andean nation.
Taking place only a few days after the popular President Rafael Correa celebrated two years into his first mandate, government and media reactions aimed to diminish the day's significance. The press and government insisted that protests were poorly attended trying to infer that national consensus has been reached over a new mining law.
Ecuador has been an oil producer for over forty years. Although large scale metal exploration has been ongoing since the early 90s, no project has yet reached production. Mining activities are currently suspended until the new law is passed.
Attempts to minimize conflicts aim to clear the path for largely Canadian transnational corporations to bring gold and copper finds into production. Future mining revenues are promoted as the next source of state revenue for recently expanded social programs.
Thousands protest in the central highlands
Particularly strong participation took place in the central highlands where around 9,000 indigenous people shut down transportation along the Panamerican Highway in the provinces of Cotopaxi and Tungurahua.
In Cotopaxi, men and women of all ages maintained blockades in high spirits animated by jokes and even laughter as they faced police and angry bus drivers. These demonstrations passed without serious incident.
While Cotapaxi is not the focal point of major mineral exploration, indigenous people in the area showed solidarity with communities in other parts of the highlands and the Amazon affected by large-scale metal mining. Defence of their right to water, enshrined in Ecuador's newly approved constitution, unites them.
Nancy, a young woman from the community of San Juan, emphasized the importance of access to clean water for indigenous communities. "In San Juan, we already have poor access to water. Without water, what can we do?"
President of the CONAIE Marlon Santi pointed out that the "majority of mining concessions are on indigenous and campesino lands." He also challenged President Correa's program of "change," saying that "the people who grow potatoes, who grow maize, who live in the Amazon and the mangroves, we are where change is coming from."
Santi added that today's mobilizations shows that the opposition to mining is not relegated to "four nobodies," as Correa has charged.
Protesters violent and subversive
However, while government declarations and media coverage downplayed the day of action, they also portrayed activists as subversive and police as victims.
The President and the Minister of Government Fernando Bustamante were quoted by various national press saying that the indigenous confederation is trying to destabilize Correa whose popularity hovers around 70%. These unfounded allegations are based on the fact that the national indigenous movement has played an important role in the overthrow of two past governments, most recently in 2001.
The CONAIE emphatically denies that this was part of their objectives. Rather, the day of action was carried out in the spirit of building alliances between urban and rural organizations, as well as indigenous and non-indigenous communities. Demands focused on the need for greater democracy and respect for the collective rights of communities.
But media coverage emphasized injuries and arrests, emphasizing injuries sustained by eleven police in isolated confrontations with protesters. Police forces were more than doubled Tuesday and came into conflict with activists during efforts to reopen highway transportation north of the capital and in the Province of Imbabura.
"At the end of the day, we are always painted as the bad guys," says Janeth Cuji, Director of Communication for the CONAIE. The CONAIE reported ten arrests as well as two hospitalized with injuries. They added that several buses of activists were held back from attending demonstrations taking place in Quito and denounced heavy police presence saying that "repression and detentions aim to silence voices in defence of life."
Various Ecuadorian human rights and urban-based organizations also denounced the detentions. They expressed their solidarity with demands for debate over the country's dependence on extractive industries considering the social and environmental costs of large scale metal mining.
A long term struggle
Tuesday's mobilization is also seen as just one more step in lengthy struggles by communities already affected by large scale mining.
These groups, many of which have been struggling against mining at the local level for years, first coalesced in a national movement shortly following Correa's inauguration in 2007. Their key aim was that Correa declare Ecuador free of large scale metal mining. Most recently, ongoing efforts have taken place in protest of the new mining law which they say privileges transnational companies.
Within the last two weeks in the South of Ecuador, three days of road blockades were sustained in the Province of Azuay followed by a six day hunger strike in the provincial capital of Cuenca with participation from the highlands and the Southern Amazon. Demands focused on dialogue with the government and reiterated opposition to gold and copper mining in headwaters in high wetlands (paramos) and Amazonian rainforests. As a result of these earlier actions, two activists remain imprisoned and many others face charges.
Yet despite further anticipated repression this week, around 2,000 people from across the province joined a peaceful march Tuesday. A wider range of organizations and communities participated than has been seen for about a year and a half. The demonstration concluded with a pampamesa, or a mass communal lunch, in the city's central park.
Nidia Soliz from the Peoples' Health Movement of Cuenca outlines some persistent concerns with the new law.
She observes that it gives top priority to mining activities by declaring them a public utility in all phases of development, guaranteeing access to infrastructure, water, and energy for companies which could come in conflict with needs of local communities and lead to expropriation of their land. She concludes, "The bill pertains to an economic objective of the government, as well as the greater interests of multinational organizations and transnational mining companies, regardless of possible impacts on remarkable biodiversity and headwaters, as well as community health and well being."
Despite growing dissent, the government says community needs will be met and that the new mining law is ready for final approval this week. But hopes that those involved will simply accept that decisions around mining are already made is wishful thinking. Instead, it appears that a broader movement based upon the defence of water, nature and collective rights now enshrined in the country's constitution is emerging to continue the struggle for more profound changes in Ecuador.

Daniel Denvir contributed reporting from Cotapaxi. Photos are by Daniel Denvir, Klever Calle and Carlos Zorrilla.

Appeal from the UK's Latin America Mining Monitoring Programme (LAMMP)

21st January 2009

We write to express our deep concern about criminal investigations and arbitrary detention of members of the "Frente de Mujeres Defensoras de la Pachamama" This grass-root group emerged spontaneously in response to concerns about environmental deterioration of important rivers affected by mining and governmental plans to expand mining into predominantly agricultural land. Since 2007, the group has been growing in membership and now is one of the most important advocacy groups for rural and indigenous women. They seek to build the capacity of women to participate in all aspects of development and to create interest and knowledge of such a complex activity as mining

The "Frente de Mujeres Defensoras de la Pachamama" is committed to democracy and the rule of law. Their struggle to protect the environment is based on their concerns about the Earth that their children will inherit. We believe that organisations such as the "Frente de Mujeres Defensoras de la Pachamama" play an important role in bringing government agencies and corporations closer to the concerns of ordinary citizens about environmental issues usually associated with mining.

With this letter we urge you to respect the women defenders' rights to participate in public affairs and to use peaceful public protests without fear of arbitrary detention and police repression. They count on the support of international organisations, as well as the support of peasants and indigenous groups within Ecuador.

We are confident that your government will do its utmost to prevent any acts of violence or harassment against Frente de Mujeres Defensoras de la Pachamama.

Yours sincerely,

SEND TO:

Addresses:

Presidente Rafael Correa

Palacio Nacional,

Garcia Moreno 1043

Quito,

Rafael.CorreaDelgado@presidencia.gov.ec

presidencia@presidencia.gov.ec

Fernando Gutiérrez Vera

DEFENSOR DEL PUEBLO DE ECUADOR

Telefax 02 330 1112

Email: fernando.gutierrez@defensordelpueblo.gov.ec

PLEASE SEND COPY TO LAMMP
Glevys@lammp.org.uk

La presente es para manifestarle nuestra profunda preocupación por la investigaciones criminales y detenciones arbitrarias a miembros del grupo Frente de Mujeres Defensoras de la Pachamama. Este grupo de base ha emergido espontáneamente en respuesta al deterioro de importantes ríos debido a la contaminación minera y a los planes gubernamentales de extender la minería a zonas predominantemente agricultoras. Desde el 2007 la membresía del grupo ha venido creciendo, y hoy es una de las plataformas más importantes para las mujeres de orígen rural e indígena. El grupo busca fomentar la capacidad de las mujeres para participar en todos los ámbitos del desarrollo local, estimular su interés y dearrollar sus concocimientos en un tema tan complejo como lo es la minería.

El Frente de Mujeres Defensoras de la Pachamama es un grupo comprometido con la democracia y el respeto a la ley. Su lucha es por proteger el ambiente, y responde a la preocupación sobre el futuro que los hijos herederán. Nosotros creemos que organizaciones como el Frente de Mujeres Defensoras de la Pachamama juegan un papel importante, ya que sirven de fuente de información para los gobiernos y corporaciones sobre las preocupaciones que agobian a cuidadadanos comunes y corrientes en relación con los impactos ambientales tradicionalmente asociados con la minería.

Con esta carta respetuosamente solicitamos que se respite el derecho de las Defensoras a participar en asuntos públicos y el derecho a usar la protesta pública sin miedo a detenciones arbitrarias y represión policial. Las Defensoras cuentan con el apoyo tanto de organizaciones internacionales como de grupos indígenas y de campesinos de Ecuador.

Confiamos en que el gobierno hará todo lo posible para prevenir cualquier acta de violencia o de intimidación en contra del Frente de Mujeres Defensoras de la Pachamama.

Muy atentamente,

MANDAR A:

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