[Marxism] Ecuador: National mobilization called for January 20

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Ecuador Anti-Mining Blockades Met With Repression, National  
Mobilization Called for January 20      

Written by Daniel Denvir, Photographs by Ximena Warnaars
Friday, 09 January 2009

The ongoing conflict over mining in Ecuador escalated this week as  
blockades shut down highways throughout the country’s Southern Andean  
highlands and Amazon rainforest, while nationwide protests have been  
called for January 20.

The government of President Rafael Correa has assumed an aggressive  
posture, insulting indigenous and environmental activists and  
pledging to secure approval for a controversial new Mining Law.  
Canadian companies hold the majority of mining concessions in Ecuador  
and are pressing for a new law that would allow for large-scale, open  
pit metal mining.

A number of leaders have been arrested and other protesters were  
beaten and shot at by police. Campesino and indigenous protesters,  
who depend on clean water to farm and for drinking water, are  
demanding that the government shelve President Rafael Correa’s  
proposed Mining Law, saying that it would be a social and  
environmental disaster. The rural blockades follow months of regular  
protests in Quito and other parts of the country.

Protesters also argue that the law contradicts important provisions  
of the new constitution protecting water, the environment and  
indigenous peoples’ rights. The document drew international attention  
for awarding legal rights to nature. The new constitution, approved  
by popular referendum in September, is the centerpiece of Correa’s  
first term.

After emergency meetings on January 7, the Confederation of  
Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) called for a national  
mobilization on January 20, calling the government “dictatorial.” It  
is unclear whether the January 20 mobilization will spread road  
blockades to other provinces in central and northern Ecuador.  
Protesters are demanding a dialogue with central government leaders  
and for a broad national discussion on mining before any legislation  
is passed.

Some protesters in the Southern provinces of Zamora Chinchipe and  
Morona Santiago suspended their blockades for 24 hours in response to  
the provincial governor’s promise to reach out to Francisco Cordero,  
the President of the Congresillo, Ecuador’s interim legislature.  
Other blockades were suspended in anticipation of the nationwide  
actions.

The blockades began on Monday January 5 in the Southern province of  
Azuay, cutting off much of the traffic into and out of Cuenca,  
Ecuador’s third largest city. Over the next few days, the protests  
spread to the neighboring Andean province of Loja and to the  
Amazonian provinces of Zamora Chinchipe and Morona Santiago.

ImageIn Giron, Molleturo, Tarqui (Azuay), Limon Indanza (Morona  
Santiago) and in El Pangui (Zamora Chinchipe) protestors have been  
beaten or shot by police. Police officials and journalists were  
released after being briefly detained by campesinos.

On January 6, campesino leader Vicente Zhunio Samaniego was arrested  
in the Southern province of Morona Santiago, showing up 16 hours  
later in a hospital with bullet wounds to the head. On January 7,  
protest leader Miguel Ángel Criollo and his son Orlando were arrested  
in an early morning raid on the village of Pueblo Nuevo in Azuay  
province. The newspaper El Universo reports that over fifty police  
officers from the Special Operations Group (GOE) took part in the  
raid. When villagers tried to defend the Criollos from arrest, police  
fired tear gas, forcing the evacuation of a local school.

In the city of Cuenca, police violently repressed protests at the  
Court of Justice. As six leaders began a hunger strike inside the  
building, the police attacked a press conference taking place outside  
the building, arresting Water Board leader Carlos Pérez Guartambel.  
Police used tear gas to disperse protesters attempting to defend  
Pérez. Police then forced hunger strikers and four women supporting  
them out of the Court building, dragging them by their necks. The  
governor of Azuay denied that Pérez was arrested, and he was freed  
later that day. The six hunger strikers are now in Cuenca’s San Roque  
Church.

  According to the newspaper El Comercio, Minister of Mines and  
Petroleum Derlis Palacios said that the government would push forward  
with the Mining Law. Palacios said that Ecuador “was a poor country  
that could not afford to just sit on these large resources.” He added  
that protests were the result of manipulation by indigenous leaders  
who mislead community members by claiming that mining would harm  
their access to clean water. Palacios said that the new law would  
ensure that water sources are protected. Congresillo President  
Cordero told El Comercio that protesters were using the  
demonstrations to advance electoral ambitions.

The CONAIE condemned the government’s description of protesters as  
“criminals and subversive terrorists,” saying that “the only thing we  
are fighting for is life and dignity for all of Ecuador’s citizens.”  
The CONAIE that such comments are aimed “to stigmatize [protesters]  
and prepare public opinion for even more severe repression.”

Correa is coming into increasing conflict with social and indigenous  
movement activists. On Thursday January 8, the United Labor Front  
(FUT), Ecuador’s largest labor federation, announced mass protests  
for a higher minimum wage increase for January 15. They say that  
Correa’s proposed increase of $18 a month, to $218, is a step back  
and fails to meet provisions in the new constitution ensuring that  
all Ecuadorians are paid a living wage.

Ximena Warnaars is an anthropologist and PhD student from the  
University of Manchester, UK living in Cuenca, Ecuador.  Daniel  
Denvir is a Quito, Ecuador based journalist in the process of moving  
to Philadelphia, and a 2008 recipient of NACLA's Samuel Chavkin  
Investigative Journalism Grant. He is an editor at  
www.caterwaulquarterly.com.
  
  
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