Indianske grupper bragte Ecuadors præsident til magten, men har nu vendt sig mod ham – han vil udvikling, hvor de vil undgå miljøødelæggelser.
Indigenous protesters in Ecuador have begun a two-week march across the South American country against plans for large-scale mining projects, BBC online reports Thursday.
Several hundred protesters set off from an Amazon province where a Chinese company has been authorised to develop a huge open-cast copper mine.
Ecuador’s main indigenous organisation, Conaie, says mining will contaminate water and force whole communities off their land.
President Refael Correa says royalties (afgifter) and taxes from the mine and similar projects will fund roads, schools and hospitals, and that local people will benefit from a generous share of the revenues. He has accused Conaie of trying to destabilise the country.
Under the slogan “For Life and Dignity of the Peoples” the march set off from the town of El Pangui in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest region. Some carried banners reading “Chinese companies get out of Ecuador”.
The marchers hope more people will join their protest along the 700 km route to the capital, Quito in the Andean highlands.
Earlier this week the Ecuadorean government signed an agreement with Chinese mining company Ecuacorriente to invest 1,4 billion US dollar in a copper mining project near El Pangui.
Conaie – the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador – says indigenous rights to be consulted about development on their ancestral territories are not being respected.
Ecuador’s indigenous movement played a leading role in the overthrow of two previous presidents in 1997 and 2000. Conaie supported Mr Correa’s rise to power in 2007, but has since fallen out with him over his development plans.
