Summary
President [Rafael Correa] responded by calling the protesters "nobodies" and "extremists." The government detained a number of protest leaders, charging some of them with terrorism. One leader in the Amazon was briefly disappeared only to show up in a hospital in the Amazonian city of Macas with a gunshot wound to the head. Police officers were also injured in attempting to clear blockades.
Local and regional campesino movements, joined by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), cite the new constitution in arguing that the mining law is illegal. CONAIE, which represents indigenous people in Ecuador's Amazon, highlands and coast, is one of Latin America's most powerful social movements."The CONAIE will continue to struggle for territorial rights and against environmental pollution," said a recent statement from the indigenous federation. "We will closely monitor mining concessions and will condemn the lack of prior, free and informed consent by any means, including international mechanisms."See the full content of this document
Extract
Resource Wars in Ecuador
QUITO, ECUADOR- IN JANUARY, THIS country was shaken by mass protests against large-scale mining.
Indigenous people and campesinos- or peasant farmers- in Ecuador have long called for nationalization of natural resources. These days, many are demanding that they n...See the full content of this document
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