The Shuar Arutam People Ratify Their Resistance Against Canadian and Chinese Mining Companies

In March 2023, the Shuar Arutam People (PSHA) elected its new government council, in their sixth ordinary congress attended by leaders from 47 Shuar communities. Jaime Palomino was chosen as the new president of PSHA, succeeding Josefina Tunki who concluded her mandate as the first woman president after leading the struggle in defense of the Shuar territory for four years. The PSHA Congress also acknowledged and celebrated the achievements and courageous leadership of Josefina Tunki, who made the PSHA’s struggle known nationally and internationally, and whose leadership also helped to confront internal challenges within the organization. 

Thanks to your solidarity, Amazon Watch sent 3,011 messages of gratitude from all over the world to thank Josefina and her organization for defending the Amazon. Amazon Watch has accompanied the PSHA’s struggle against mining on their territories for many years, and we are committed to supporting them in this next phase of their work.

PSHA’s new leadership defends the Amazon from extractive companies

On June 13, Jaime joined the national march organized by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) and the National Anti-Mining Front to publicly present the “Popular Mandate for a Mining-Free Ecuador” and demand that national and local authorities declare the entire country free of mining. Simultaneously there were mobilizations in 10 provinces of the country to deliver this mandate directly to the local authorities. 

“Fifty-seven percent of our territory is concessioned for mining activities, which affects important resources for us – water, trees, rainforest, and scenic areas for tourism,” explains Jaime Palomino, President of PSHA. “As Shuar, we live in a permanent relationship with these elements. But the government, without consultation, and disregarding our rights guaranteed by the constitution, auctioned off our territories. These concessions favor transnational companies, not Ecuadorian citizens, and certainly not Shuar families. In our world, as Shuar, mining is death. It is poison.” 

Also, in one of his first official statements, Jaime comments on the delivery of the anti-mining mandate on June 13. “Because we are being threatened by extractive companies, large-scale mining companies, handed over concessions by the corresponding governments and ministries in our territory such as the Lowell company, Canadian, [located] in the Shuar Warints center; and another mining company EXSA, China, from the San Carlos Panantza project; and also a large hydroelectric project on the Santiago river. Three activities have existed under the concession of the governments in office without prior consultation to those who live in those territories; violating the precepts that are written in the Constitution, not observing these mandates that correspond to us under the protection of all the rights that we have…”

This is an important moment for celebration. It is monumental that the PSHA ratified its resistance to mining activity in its territory because the community has faced divide-and-conquer strategies from the mining industry and the Ecuadorian government. Jaime denounced these industry strategies in his recent statements made on July 14, in a broad assembly of Shuar organizations, saying that mining “has threatened us in all corners of the Shuar Territory, breaking family ties and sowing poverty and environmental and social pollution.”

This transition and renewed anti-mining mandate picks up where the original mandate led by Josefina Tunki left off. Also, in the congress held in March, the PSHA adopted resolutions to strengthen their self-governance and territorial monitoring, update their life plan, promote alternative economies, and denounce the violation of their rights by the imposition of mining concessions in their territories. 

What does the Mandate for a Mining-Free Ecuador demand?

The June 13, 2023 march came amid a deep political crisis in Ecuador. In May, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso forcibly dissolved Congress and called for new elections amid an impeachment trial, and chose to govern by executive decree until snap elections on August 20. The ballot included a referendum measure that would prohibit mining in the Pichincha province, which incorporates the capital city of Quito and surrounding areas. It was successful, making it the second referendum to outlaw new mining projects at the provincial level. Meanwhile, court decisions have paralyzed key projects in Los Cedros, Rio Blanco, and Loma Largo, among others. 

Resistance to mining is growing in Ecuador, as CONAIE President Leonidas Iza explains: “Warintza is a territory of the Shuar nationality. Did the government conduct a process of consultation during the exploration process? No. Therefore, the entire process that is called ‘legal’ mining is a process tainted with illegality. All mining in Ecuador is illegal because they have not respected the Constitution where the government is obliged to guarantee Free, Prior, and Informed consultation. Mining ‘development’ is a myth. It is ravaging communities and Ecuador’s unique ecosystems. People have had enough. We are putting companies and investors on notice that they are not welcome in our territories, and we defend our rights.” 

The “Popular Mandate for a Mining-Free Ecuador” also demands that authorities at all levels of government declare their territories free of metallic mining; suspend existing mining activities in all Indigenous territories; designate water recharge zones and protected areas; refrain from signing agreements with mining companies or individuals; respect collective rights, especially the right to prior consultation; and establish comprehensive reparation processes for damages caused by mining. 

The Indigenous movement is doubling down on their demand that the presidential candidates in the coming run-off elections announce their public commitment to declare the country free of mining, to not criminalize human rights defenders, to carry out audits of all mining concessions and loans from international financial institutions to determine the illegality of such concessions and the responsibility for the dispossession of indigenous lands, and not to use the anti-mining struggle for electoral purposes. 

Next steps in Geneva

Next week, Jaime will likely join an international delegation of Indigenous leaders from various countries of South America to the headquarters of United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, to participate in the pre-session of Universal Periodic Review of the Canadian government. In this space, Jaime and the other leaders seek to provide first-hand information on the effects that Canadian companies have caused in their territories.

Jaime will participate in the process to denounce Canadian company Solaris Resources, which is conducting exploratory copper mining in a 10,000-hectare concession in Ecuador’s “Warintza Project,” overlapping PSHA territory. Their territory is located in the southeastern Ecuadorian Amazon in a unique and fragile Andean-Amazon corridor known as the Cordillera del Cóndor.  Solaris has used divide-and-conquer tactics to manufacture consent for the project, cherry-picking two of the 47 communities directly affected, supplying financial incentives, and touting this limited local support as stakeholder buy-in for the whole project, while failing to have obtained the consent of the PSHA. 

In March of this year, we began exposing the social, cultural, and human rights impacts related to the company’s Ecuador mining operations and the consequential environmental, business, and political risks faced by Solaris, its investors, and the mining sector writ large in our investigation, The Risks of Investing in Solaris Resources.

As the movement makes important strides, they count on your voice and solidarity to take on the mining industry’s public relations machine. We are on the side of truth and justice. Thanks to you, thousands have already amplified their campaign, “The Shuar have Already Decided: No Mining on Their Territories!” Onward to the next phase to get all Mining Out of the Amazon.

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