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LATIN AMERICA |
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Indian
Representatives Give Petition to Ecuadorian
Government
QUITO – Delegates from the Shuar and Achuar
Indians delivered to a governmental
commission a petition as the Confederation
of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador, or Conaie,
and the Ecuadorian government are holding
discussions, which began because of the
Indians’ fears over a bill they say will
privatize water.
The government delegation went to Amazonia
on Saturday, where the protest has been
under way since last Monday, to meet with
representatives of the Indians.
The meeting with the Shuar and Achuar tribes
took place in the town of Sucua, in
Morona-Santiago province.
Miguel Carvajal, the coordinating minister
of internal and external security, who
headed the government delegation, said that
the government complied with what it had
offered to do before the meeting, namely to
receive a list of the tribes’ demands and
construct an agenda for dialogue.
President Rafael Correa said Saturday that
Conaie, Ecuador’s largest Indian
organization, had requested to meet with him
about the water bill, adding that he would
receive their representatives “with open
arms.”
The government announced Friday that it
would receive Conaie leaders that afternoon
at the Carondelet Palace, but the meeting
was postponed for logistical reasons.
Conaie launched a nationwide mobilization
against the water bill currently before
Congress, saying the measure could lead to
privatization of that valuable resource.
Correa reiterated Saturday that his
government has no intention of privatizing
water and stressed that the nation’s
constitution expressly prohibits such a
move.
On Wednesday, an attempt to break up an
Indian road blockade in the southeastern
Amazon province of Morona-Santiago left one
Indian dead – a teacher and a member of the
Shuar nation – and 40 police wounded,
according to the official tally.
Correa said Saturday that police arrived
“unarmed” in Morona-Santiago to break up the
protests and that therefore they bore no
responsibility for the Indian’s death.
But U.S.-based Amazon Watch, a group that
works to protect the rainforest and the
rights of indigenous people in the Amazon
Basin, contradicted Correa’s version of the
events in a press release Thursday, saying
law-enforcement officers “backed by a
helicopter, opened fire on demonstrators
armed only with ceremonial spears.”
The group said that “privatization of water
sources, prioritization of water access for
industry, loose regulations for water
contamination, and lack of community
participation in water management were the
foremost concerns” the protesters have about
the water bill.
Amazon Watch said the Confederation of
Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian
Amazon, Conaie’s Amazon arm, also is
“calling for the repeal of the country’s
mining law and for an end to oil and mining
activities in the region.”
Ecuador’s teachers’ union also joined the
strike to protest an education overhaul
being proposed by the government, the group
said.
Amazon Watch said the violence in Morona
Santiago was reminiscent of incidents in
June in Peru, where protests were launched
over pro-investment decrees to “give away
(Indians’) resources and their territories
to extractive industries and multinational
corporations.”
A June 5 crackdown on a road blockade in an
Amazon region of that neighboring country
left 24 police officers and nine civilians
dead, according to official figures.
The protests were called off after the most
controversial decrees were repealed.
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