Indigenous Protest Marchers Arrive in Quito, Warn Against Govt Attacks

A group of indigenous protesters has arrived in Ecuador’s capital Quito after a two-week march to protest against large-scale mining projects in the Amazon region. Some 2,000 people entered the city, some joining for the last 10 km of the route, reports La Hora.

The marchers are angered by President Rafael Correa’s government giving the go-ahead to a Chinese company’s $1.4 billion project for open-face copper mining in the land of the Shuar people, in the southeast. The government has said that Ecuador will get 52 percent of the profits from the planned extraction.

The march began 350 km south of Quito, in the Amazon town of El Pangui, on March 8, reports Associated Press. They arrived in the capital a day ahead of schedule, entering the city on Wednesday afternoon. This morning, some woke up at 3:30 a.m. to carry out rituals in a central park of the city, reports La Hora. They are planning to regroup at 9:00 and visit government buildings.

Indigenous and environmental groups have decried government efforts to repress protesters. Humberto Cholango, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), told Hoy that the marchers were on alert for attacks, and that communities throughout Ecuador were waiting to hear news of any aggressions. “If we receive ... attacks in the city of Quito on the part of the government, obviously we are going to defend ourselves across the country,” he said.

Correa has declared that the protesters have the right to demonstrate peacefully, but said they would be outnumbered by his supporters, reports the AP. “They’ll be welcome, and if they’re 500, we will be 50,000.”

The groups were denied permission by the transit authorities for buses to transport indigenous people to the capital for the protests, while government supporters were able to hire buses easily, reports the website. Another community leader told Hoy:

At this time [the authorities] have taken over the streets, the highways, in the cities and we're like strangers in our own country. They don't let Indians get on buses, hire buses.

The AP reports that a study found that some 205 activists have faced criminal charges under Correa’s presidency, mostly sabotage and terrorism.  A spokeswoman for the environmental group Accion Ecologica told the news agency that the government’s aim in  is to “intimidate those most critical of what the current regime considers to be priority projects.”

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