Ecuador: Shuar Arutam People denounces to Canada’s Ambassador Solaris Resources attempt to bring heavy machinery into their territory without their consent
"The Shuar Arutam People (PSHA) Denounces Mining Company Solaris Resources Inc.’s Violent Attempt To Bring Heavy Machinery Into Our Territory", 08 September 2021
...On August 26, 2021, the Shuar Arutam People, along with 136 other Ecuadorian and Canadian organizations, including MiningWatch Canada, sent a letter to Sylvie Bédard, Canada’s Ambassador to Ecuador, asking her to issue a formal public statement condemning Canadian mining company Solaris Resources Inc.’s death threat against the president of the Shuar Arutam People (PSHA), Josefina Tunki, and her colleagues.
The letter also denounces the corporate abuses by Solaris, which has promoted community division, intimidation and militarization of the Shuar Arutam territory in order to advance its Warintza mining project, and calls on the Canadian embassy and government to take immediate action...
“The Shuar Arutam People”, through its highest authority, the Assembly that represents 47 centres, has decided to reject large-scale mining projects in our territory. In addition, these concessions have been granted without having respected our right to prior, free and informed consent, which is why they must be cancelled...
On August 26, 2021, heavy machinery from an unidentified owner, accompanied by the Political Lieutenant of San Antonio, Sandra Rogerón and the Councilor of the Limón Indanza Canton, Jonny Martinez, attempted to forcibly pass through the community control of the Shuar center Maikiaunts supposedly for the construction of the Warints to Yawi road...
The Governing Council of the Shuar Arutam People (CGPSHA), in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, the ILO Convention 169, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, demand:
- To the national government, presided over by President Guillermo Lasso, the Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources and the Vice Minister of Mines, to suspend large-scale mining activities carried out by Solaris Resources Inc. in our territory...
- To the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, the Prefecture of the Province, the Ministry of the Environment and other competent authorities to release a statement about whether or not there are agreements for the alleged development of the Warints-Yawi road project...
- The right to peaceful resistance that the Maikiaunts Women's Collective should be respected...
- To the Minister of Government and Vice Minister of the Interior, investigate and make a public statement about the creation of a “private guard”, which, according to posts made by residents of Warints and Yawi, would have the endorsement of the Ministry of the Interior, and the financing of Solaris Resources...
- We call on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and other United Nations bodies to demand the Ecuadorian government to strictly comply with the human rights of the PSHA and its 47 communities against the serious denunciations and threats that we express in this letter...
- We must point out that anything that happens in our territory will be the responsibility of Solaris Resource mining company, its private armed security group...