Indigenous leaders denounced this Friday, February 2, 2022, damages due to mining activities and asked the authorities for measures of protection, repair and control.
“We request the (declaration of) emergency for the province of Napo, not only because of mining but because of the violation of the rights of peoples and nationalities,” said the president of the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of that province (FOIN), Rocío Cerda, in an appearance accompanied by leaders of different national and regional organizations.
According to the testimonies of local leaders, Napo is experiencing a critical situation as a result of extractive mining activities, both illegal and legal, which are carried out without the required prior, free and informed consultation processes with the native population.
A particular case is that of the community of yutzupinowhere complaints are reported for contamination of rivers by mercury, destruction of jungle nature, harassment and threats to community leaders, according to the complaints.
Cerda stressed that the Armed forces recently carried out an operation in various communities in the area, after 150 excavators and 4,000 people will participate in illegal mining activities “under the protection of legal concessions of the company Terraerth Resources”.
The natural territories of Napo are affected by around 137 mining concessions, but the problem around the sector yutzupino was exacerbated by the entry half a year ago of heavy machinery and equipment from the Chinese-owned mining company that, after a demand for protection and protests from those affected, backed down and maintains activities temporarily suspended.
The vice president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), Zenaida Yasacame, censured that despite the complaints regarding the situation in the province, “until now we have not been heard,” and asked the government that “this is not a temporary suspension”, but a definitive one of the extractive activity, “which the Ecuadorian Amazon suffers for more than 40 years”.
The Confederation demands the seizure of the machinery, investigations and sanctions against the authorities that have allowed the entry of the mining company, and like other organizations, a dialogue table with the Amazonian nationalities to analyze the environmental impact.
For his part, the general coordinator of the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (Coca), JOsé Gregorio Díaz Mirabal, He asserted that in Napo “the rivers are dying from mercury contamination” and wondered “where are the agreements signed at the international level.”
At the same time, he declared the Amazon basin, which encompasses nine riparian countries “in emergency” and the affected province “in resistance”, after condemning that in this region considered the lung of the planet, “all the rights of families are being violated and of nature.”
Díaz Mirabal pointed to Presidential Decree 151 promulgated last year, which stipulates an action plan to intensify mining in the country, as a trigger for the situation and pave the way for the most harmful illegal practices with the environment.
