...1) We vehemently reject this “Impacts and Benefits Agreement” signed between the “Strategic Alliance” , created by the company and presided by Mr. Vicente Tsakimp, former president of the PSHA as well as the syndicates from the Yawi and Warints centres and the Canadian company Solaris Resources Inc. in regards to the Warintza project since:  

a) The so-called “Strategic Alliance” to which the centres of Yawi and Warints supposedly belong, is an illegitimate fabrication of the mining company which is trying to, in exchange for the costs this project will generate, offer benefits to manipulate the Shuar thus sponsoring their presence and exploitation of our territory. 

b) This “Strategic Alliance” is not an “innovative relationship” as Solaris portrays it.  It is the same strategy that many mining and oil companies have used to advance their projects, while side-stepping and disrespecting the legitimate and traditional Indigenas organizational structures. This constitutes a violation of the rights established in the Ecuadorian Constitution, Article 51, number 1: “Maintain, develop and strengthen their identity, sense of belonging, ancestral traditions and forms of social organization”, as well as Article 5 of the ILO169 which determines that one should “respect the integrity of the values, practices and institutions of these peoples.”

c) The “Community Consultation” that the President of Solaris refers to is deceiving  and constitutes a serious violation of our right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent which dictates that these processes should be performed “by the competent authorities”  of the Ecuadorian State and NOT a mining company (Article 57, number 7). Furthermore, according to international standards which demand obligatory compliance, the Prior Consent process should be performed “through their own representative institutions” (Article 6, ILO169) and NOT  through institutions invented by the company. The sole representative in this case is the Council of the Shuar Arutam Peoples and their maximum decision-making body, the Assembly...