The Ministry of Government, with the support of the Armed Forces, seized around $22 million in machinery from the illegal miners of Yutzupino. They issued a protective action to get everything back.
Until Friday, March 11, 2022, it will be known if the backhoes will be returned to those accused of illegal mining in the Jatunyacu river, in the Napo province. The judge of the Criminal Judicial Unit of Tena, Luis Eduardo Mendoza Chávez, must decide whether to give way to the Protection Action filed by the owners of the seized machinery.
In the operations of February 13, in the communities of Yutzupino, El Ceibo and Silverio Andy around 148 backhoe loaders were seized used to illegally extract gold. Also retained 97 water suction motors84 motorized pumps, a truck, 7 cell phones, 3,373 gallons of fuel, 7 containers of chemical substances, 12 motors and 1,040 dollars.
On February 23, 2022, the owners of the machines used the legal remedy of the protection action in order to have the backhoes returned to them. The February 24 hearing was suspended. The judge asked for more evidence on the fact.
For the lawyer of the 12 groups that fight against the contamination of the waters of the rivers of the province, Andrés Rojas, protection action is not appropriate. The machines should remain in the hands of the prosecution for investigations.
Collectives hold Napo authorities responsible
The government ministry confirmed to LA HORA that the process is in the tax investigation stage, so The names of those responsible have not yet been made public. of the ecological disaster in the Amazon, which destroyed one of the main tributaries of the Napo river.
According to calculations by José Moreno, representative of the Napo Ama La Vida collective, on the island that was formed in the middle of the Jatunyacu River, around 2,000 people worked in artisanal and small-scale extraction.
For Rojas, extracting gold in a place without having the permission to do so already becomes an illegal activity.
Each backhoe needs at least 5 people to operate it.
According to a video shared on social networks, by the journalist Hernán Higuera, there were people who opposed the military controls in the area.
This is how it is tomorrow ⬇️ in #Yutzupinoafter the operation against illegal mining that took place yesterday in the area ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/18gIWnq8fo
– Hernán Higuera (@higuerahernan) February 14, 2022
Illegal mining expands without control
Illegal mining is a crime contemplated in the Organic Comprehensive Criminal Code (COIP) in article 260. The punishment for those responsible would be five to seven years in prison. for extracting, exploiting, exploring, taking advantage of, transporting and commercializing, without permits from the competent authority, mining resources.
In accordance with Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Projectbetween October 2021 and February 2022 illegal mining expanded by 70 hectares within the Confluencia mining concession (Code 400408) and Anzu Norte (Code 400443), owned by Terraearth Resources, an Ecuadorian company with Chinese capital that has been operating in the country for 20 years. They are inside the Tena project, which is a total of 7125 hectares for mineral extractive activity.
For José Moreno, the damage was to more than 145 hectares with around 300 craters in the river.
In a statement on its Facebook page, Terraearth Resource assures that, although the concession belongs to them, as they do not yet have an environmental license “has not participated in or authorized these illegal mining activitiesflatly rejecting comments that link us being totally false.
This newspaper tried to communicate with spokesmen for the company but until the closing of this edition it was not possible.
Collectives claim lack of action
For the lawyer of the Napo Resiste group, Andrés Rojas, there could be suspicion of complicity between the illegals and the concession company because it could be a “good business by continuing to extract the material without responsibility for environmental remediation or tax declaration.”
Collectives such as Napo Ama la Vida and Napo Resiste also accuse negligence of public officials such as the Governor of Napo, Wilfrido Villagomez, for do not file complaints about the environmental damage of the rivers in your province despite the fact that in November 2021 he was already informed of the entry of machinery into the Yutzupino area.
Rojas said that the problem is that at the time of seizing the machinery, it was not in operation but kept on farms near the exploitation area, so if it is not verified that they were used in the exploitation of the Jatunyacu River, they could be returned to their owners.
How much does a machine cost?
According to the Ministry of Government, each one of the backhoes It has a minimum value of 150 thousand dollars. In other words, only in heavy machinery is there an investment of more than 22 million dollars. If the value of motorized pumps and water suction motors is added to this, it is verified that the money handled from illegal mining is much higher.
For the Ministry of Government “an investment like this can only be made by companies or people with capital, obviously not linked to artisanal mining”
COMMUNICATION?
Given the protection action filed for the return of machinery seized in Yutzupino, such as @MinGovernmentEc We ratify that we will put our entire contingent to confront illegal mining that threatens nature and the well-being of citizens. pic.twitter.com/Oin1YSu9gT– Ecuadorian Ministry of Government (@MinGobiernoEc) February 23, 2022
Se extraían alrededor 500 gramos diarios de oro, valorado en 25 mil dólares.
