Intag, June 2019
Note: The Manifesto was signed by representatives of dozens of organizations (scanned signatures available on request)
We , the legitimate representatives of our communities, our organizations, our water boards, and prominent residents of the Intag area, express in a concise but firm manner:
That we do not recognize of board of directors of communities manipulated by mining interests, including those of Cerro Pelado, Barcelona, Junín, and Chalguayaco Alto and Bajo, which are located in the area of influence of the Llurimagua mining project and adjacent to it; noting that many of the board members are current, or former workers of different mining companies, therefore, they do not have the slightest legitimacy before the people. Therefore, whatever they sign in favor of mining, will not be valid.
We strongly reject the presence of all mining company in our territory, and specially, ENAMI EP, CODELCO, EMSAEC, CORNERSTONE, and BHP. Let your shareholders know that the people of Intag WILL NOT ALLOW MINING to take place in our territory.
That we declare ourselves in environmental and social emergency before the possible presence of artisanal miners from Buenos Aires area and other parts, and that as we will fight against the mining transnationals, we will fight against the small mining and artisanal mining.
Those of us who sign this document have no doubt that the farce of “responsible mining” is nothing more than a farce, designed to deceive the Ecuadorian people.
We are more than convinced that the wealth of Intag and Ecuador in general does not lie in the subsoil. It lies on the earth: in its people, its cultures and traditions; its fertile and productive soils, in its freely running and clean rivers; in its biodiverse forests, and in the countryside, which gives life to thousands of peasant families and our sisters and brothers in the city.
We demand from the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Resources, the Ministry of the Environment, ARCOM, ARCA, SENAGUA and ENAMI EP, and related consultants, to refrain from entering our territory until they first respond to all observations and resolutions issued by the General Comptroller of the State and the Ombudsman’s Office. Until they comply properly, their presence in our territories will be seen as a provocation.
We will not allow our Constitutional rights to a good-faith prior consultation to be trampled upon , to live in an environment free of contamination, and we will defend to the last consequences, the rights of our Mother Earth.
We demand that the corresponding state entities refrain from approving environmental licenses and permits for the use of water for mining, and that they immediately revoke the mining concessions where the environmental consultation was not carried out in good faith, and prior to the start of activities of exploration; including the concessions that affect the Protective Forests Los Cedros, Cebu, El Placer-La Florida, Siempre Verde, and Neblina South.We urge the Constitutional Judges of Imbabura to act in accordance with the precautionary principle, safeguarding the rights of nature, the right to free and informed prior consultation in favor of Los Cedros Protected Forest.
To national and foreign investors who dream of investing their capital in mining projects in the Intag area: know that instead of finding good business, what they will find will be a people firmly united in rejecting their presence.
((Signatures available on request))
