The leader of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conai), Leonidas Iza, on Wednesday denounced in a press conference that the president and the family business group Nubis have interests in mining.
“They become speculators and middlemen for mining rights for businesses, while we defend the heritage of Ecuadorians,” Iza said.
He announced that on March 22, indigenous organizations will hold a meeting and determine protest actions against natural resource extraction.
Leaders of the Shuar nation also spoke out against concessions granted to Canadian companies for large-scale mining in their lands, an activity that, they commented, does not bring development to their communities, but rather brings poverty and desolation.
Specifically, they are opposed to negotiating with Solaris Resources to develop the Watenza mining project, located in the Condor mountain range, a mountainous region on the border with Peru.
Last Monday, social organizations and environmental activists also rejected Canadian mining investments in Ecuador through a sit-in outside the Canadian diplomatic headquarters in Quito.
The groups repudiated the Noboa government's position of promoting Ecuador as a destination for this type of activity.
In a letter addressed to Canadian Ambassador Stephen Potter, they point out that the experiences of peasant communities, indigenous peoples and ancestral peoples on whose lands mining companies operate are scandalous, as well as a violation of human rights.
The document was signed by more than 80 groups, including Acción Ecológica, Quito Sin Minería, the Ecumenical Commission on Human Rights (Cedhu), and the Regional Consultative Institution for Human Rights (Inredh), among others.
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