The leader of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), Leonidas Iza, denounced this Wednesday during a press conference that the president and his family business group Nobis have interests in mining.

They have become speculators and middlemen to obtain mining rights for commercial purposes, while we defend the heritage of Ecuadorians, Iza said.

He announced that on March 22, indigenous organizations will hold an assembly and define protest actions against the extraction of natural resources.

The leaders of the Shuar nation also spoke out against concessions granted to Canadian companies for large-scale mining in their territories, an activity which – as they commented – does not bring development to their communities, but rather poverty and desolation.

More specifically, they oppose the negotiation with the company Solaris Resources for the development of the Watintza mining project, located in the Cóndor mountain range, a mountainous region bordering Peru.

Last Monday, social organizations and environmental activists also rejected Canada's mining investments in Ecuador by staging a sit-in in front of the Canadian diplomatic headquarters in Quito.

The groups rejected the Noboa government's position of promoting Ecuador as a destination for this type of activity.

In a letter addressed to the Canadian Ambassador, Stephen Potter, they emphasize that the experiences of the peasant communities, indigenous and ancestral peoples on whose territories the mining companies operate are scandalous, as is the violation of human rights.

The document is signed by more than 80 groups, including Acción Ecológica, Quito Sin Minería, the Ecumenical Commission on Human Rights (Cedhu), the Regional Consultative Foundation for Human Rights (Inredh), among others.

rgh/apr