Ecuador:
Consolidation of resistance against mining in Intag
After
12 years, powerful multinational mining companies have been unable
to bend peasant resolve in the zone of Intag, Canton Cotacachi,
Imbabara Province in the northwest of Ecuador.
This
nightmare began in 1991, when an anonymous Japanese man started
to travel around the area in his vehicle. Nobody knew exactly
what he was doing. Towards 1995, it became known that he was “prospecting
for mines” that is to say, he was looking for minerals in the
subsoil.
With
this exploration, what had been picturesque about this Japanese
man became a harmful nuisance. Because of the drilling and the
contaminating substances poured into the watercourses, the locals
started to feel noxious effects on the health of children who
bathed in the rivers, the cattle started getting sick and other
mishaps took place. The local population started to organize itself,
mainly promoted by the need to obtain information on what was
happening behind their backs. This was during the times of Bishi
Metals, a Japanese multinational company that remained in the
memory of the peasants as child’s play compared to what was to
come later.
It
was in this context that Defensa y Conservación Ecológica de Intag
– (Ecological Defence and Conservation of Intag - DECOIN) was
born, a grass-roots organization coordinating educational and
environmental protection programmes including a programme to protect
water basins and the establishment of the Junin Community Reserve
in addition to many other environmental and social initiatives.
Since
the entry of the multinational mining companies the inhabitants
of the communities of Cerro Pelado, Junín, El Triunfo, Villaflora,
Cuaraví, La Armenia, Cazarpamba and Barcelona – those most affected
by the mining project – have been ratifying their decision to
prevent the companies’ activities on their land. So far, the mining
companies have been unable to start mining activities proper,
as the concessions are located within the Junin Community Reserve,
an area of primary forest of enormous biological value located
in the buffer zone of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve,
one of the most important reserves in Ecuador. Furthermore, these
cloud forests are part of the Choco bioregion and are the Tropical
Andes hotspot, the most candescent hotspot of the world’s 34 most
important hotspots. This reserve is protected with great zeal
by the communities.
The
history of resistance against mining in Intag cannot be conceived
without other organizational pillars, in addition to a series
of positive events. One of these was the election in 1996 of the
economist, Auki Tituaña, a charismatic indigenous leader, as Mayor
of Cotacachi. The Mayor promoted a really participative political
process, which among other things, enabled the promulgation, by
initiative of the inhabitants of Intag, of a Municipal Ordinance
which declared Cotacachi an Ecological Canton (the text is available
at: accionecologica.org/descargas/ areas/otros/documentos/ordenanza.doc).
This is a unique regulation in Latin America and perhaps in the
world, aimed at protecting natural resources and in this way placing
an obstacle to mining.
Many
situations arose, but what finally ended Bishi Metals’ days in
Intag was the seizure of its camp by the community inhabitants
who were going to be affected by the mining project: guards were
evicted, the company’s belongings were removed and handed over
to the Mayor in custody, the mining camp was lifted and what was
left over was burnt. This led to a court case against some
of those participating in the action, who were denounced, not
by the company which more or less reluctantly seemed to accept
the peoples’ will, but by the Ecuadorian State, that is to say
the Ministry of Enery and Mines. As they were never able to demonstrate
guilt on the part of the peasants over these actions, following
a lengthy legal process the case was dismissed in 1999.
At
this point it should be noted that in Ecuador, the Mining Law
presently in force was funded by the World Bank through a Project
for Mining Development and Environmental Control (PRODEMINCA).
During the execution of this project, a series of irregularities
were committed vis-à-vis the World Bank’s environmental standards,
denounced at the time by DECOIN. The result of this complaint
was an investigation into the project by the same Bank.
The
areas of the mining concession in Intag were known as: Golden
1, Golden 2 and Magdalena 1. These consist of 7,000 hectares of
mining concessions which, following the departure of Bishi Metals,
were acquired by the Canadian mining company Ascendant. Presently
Ascendant has a total of 22,500 hectares in the Intag area.
According
to the testimonials of the local inhabitants, with the appearance
of this mining company in the Intag area the worst nightmare that
had ever occurred in the region began. The worst consequence is
the social conflict triggered by the offers made by community
relations officers – intermediaries between the company and the
communities by means of fictitious development organizations (first
the Garcia Moreno Development Council - Consejo de Desarrollo
de García Moreno - CODEGAM, followed by the Organization for Intag
Development - Organización de Desarrollo de Intag- ODI) – leading
to confrontations between relatives, friends and neighbours.
Mayor
Tituaña addressed the company in an open letter (15 December 2004),
giving details of their lack of compliance with the laws: “Since
the initiation of the presence of Ascendant Exploration in our
Canton, […] its officials have never informed us about their plans,
nor have they requested the corresponding authorization to carry
out their activities in our territory. Furthermore, the serious
lack of consultation regarding your company’s mining project with
communities that may potentially be affected is an inescapable
violation of Ecuadorian constitutional rights, a violation that
we will never let go unpunished […] the will of the communities
has not been respected nor have the local development plans been
prepared in a participative way among the canton’s social
actors. Furthermore, threats […] that they will be killed have
been received by our leaders fighting against mining”. One
of the aspects that is strongly questioned is the validity of
these mining concessions.
Complaints
made by the inhabitants to Human Rights organizations include:
the offer of money to the presidents of the communities in exchange
for their signature in favour of mining; the presence of bodyguards
and para-military troops strongly armed with pistols, tear-gas
and bombs, who on various occasions have shot in the air above
the community members; payments to attend meetings convened by
the mining company; pressure on the participants to sign blanc
sheets of paper; hiring of non-authorized outsourcing companies
and; repeated invasion of private property.
The
mining concession is located in an area inhabited by the settlers
of five communities (some 150 families), that should be evicted
by the project. Traditionally it has been hard for the communities
to obtain title deeds for their possessions. They have difficulty
in obtaining the documentation to be submitted and in justifying
their rights over the land. A short while after the arrival
of the mining companies, well-known land traffickers (people who
professionally devote themselves to allocating themselves possessions
and showing, with false documentation, their rights over these
properties) have repeatedly attempted to take possession illegally
and register lands located on or around the mining areas. They
have managed to do so on some occasions in a matter of days thanks
to the complicity of corrupt officials. They have also made illegal
purchases within areas of the State Forestry Heritage or mining
protection areas or even of lands that had already been sold to
other people at a lower price. All these confusions have led the
Anticorruption Commission (CCCC) to make an exhaustive survey
that should finalize very shortly.
Since
September 2006, the local communities have condemned the repeated
and systematic attempts made by the mining companies to discredit
and slander people and organizations that have taken up a position
against mining. According to the Ecumenical Commission on Human
Rights (CEDHU), one of the most aggressive ways in which these
attempts have been made is through a campaign of systematic complaints
against various leaders and peasants who have intervened following
each attempt at entry to the mining concessions by the company
staff or their followers.
Due
to the sequence of events described above, resistance to mining
in the zone has increased and today has the unanimous opposition
of all the local governments in the region. Each one of the seven
parochial governments in the Intag area and the Provincial government,
in addition to the communities within the limits or adjacent to
the mining concessions, have publicly expressed their opposition
to the mining project.
In
addition to resisting mining, the interesting organizational process
that has taken place in the Intag area has provided an opportunity
to improve organic coffee production, almost totally exported
to Japan at an appropriate price, maintained in spite of market
fluctuations. Other organized groups make handicrafts using
sisal, hand embroidery, soaps made on the basis of Aloe Vera and
other natural products. The Junin community, the centre
of resistance, has a community tourism initiative, gathering most
of the community families, and hosting an average of 650 tourists
per year and generating significant benefits. Furthermore,
a group of game-wardens has been set up who monitor environmental
protection and the integrity of the primary forests, water and
biodiversity.
Men,
women, and young people have gathered in various organizations,
each with definite aims. The process of resistance to mining has
also led to a generation of proud women and men leaders, who are
aware and prepared and who know their rights. The common position
in the area is “No to Mining,” and this position is nonnegotiable.
It is for the environment, water, life and future generations.
It is for the cloud forest, the Rock Cock, the Spectacled Bear
and thousands of other species.
On
a political level, the process taking place in Ecuador is a door
open to the definitive triumph of this process that has lasted
for 12 long years. The dialogue is open. Much hope has been deposited
in the Constitutional Assembly, although as Intag has explained
“We cannot wait for the Constitutional Assembly, this is a daily
struggle.” And
neither are the economic interests dormant.
