[News] Ecuador - New indigenous uprising in defense of water
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Oct 30 11:45:04 EDT 2009
Ecuador: The Battle for Natural Resources Deepens
Raúl Zibechi | October 26, 2009
Translated from:
<http://ircamericas.org/esp/6510>Ecuador: Se
profundiza la guerra por los bienes comunes
Translated by: Monica Wooters
<http://americas.irc-online.org/>americas.irc-online.org
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6521
A new indigenous uprising began in defense of
water sources threatened by open air mining in
Ecuador in late September. This time indigenous
organizations find themselves up against a
government that claims to be anti-neoliberal, a
player in the "socialism of the 21st century,"
and one that has begun a "citizen's revolution."
"What happened in Cochabamba in the fight for
water will be dwarfed by what is about to happen
in Ecuador. An uprising is coming because it is
coming," affirms a convinced Carlos Pérez
Guartambel, president of the Azuay Union of
Community Water Systems (Unión de Sistemas
Comunitarios de Agua del Azuay).1 Pérez is
referring to the Water War of Cochabamba,
Bolivia, a vast social insurrection that put a
stop to the privatization of water and, in April
2000, began a succession of protests that brought
Evo Morales to the presidency.
"My parents taught me that water and electricity
are to be shared, not sold," he says almost
indignantly as we walk toward a community
assembly in La Victoria del Portete located in an
immense and beautiful valley, 15 kilometers from
Cuenca, (capital of the southern Azuay Province)
a pretty colonial town plagued by tourists. As we
turn right onto the Pan-American Highway, he
points out his parents' home where he was born a little more than 40 years ago.
"When I was a child I would go to a spring to
look for water with a ceramic jug. The jug was
sealed with a pocón, a biodegradable corn stalk
leaf. I never imagined that I would one day buy a
bottle of water, never. Each liter costs one
dollar and 30 cents, in other words, a liter of
water costs more than a liter of milk or a liter
of gas. The struggle for water will be the
struggle for life." The social distinctions
caused by the remittances sent back by emigrants
is obvious: next to modest homes with roofs made
of sheet metal they are building three story
houses, affecting an affluent appearance though
the inhabitants remain campesinos.
Carlos Pérez is Quichua (Quechua) and a lawyer
specializing in community rights with a
postgraduate degree in environmental studies and
he has also written an important book on
community justice. In the last few years he has
dedicated himself to the resistance against the
introduction of mining companies with eloquent
names like IAM Gold, in and around Quimscocha,
where a source of springs is located that
irrigate the valley where thousands of campesinos
practice animal husbandry. Pérez belongs to a new
generation of university educated indigenous
leaders that speak several languages, attend
international forums, and are trained in the use
of new technologies, but who also remain
dedicated to their communities and continue to speak their native languages.
When we arrive in Victoria del Portete, he parks
on the side of the highway where hundreds of
community members are congregating in a wide
terrace between the parish office and the church.
He climbs up to the municipal balcony and an
assembly of the local water system where many
important decisions will be made begins. "While
earlier governments threatened us with the
privatization of our water systems, that specter
has disappeared and been replaced with the larger
threat of mining companies," says Pérez before opening the event.
The Nero Projectthat has been in place in this
region for 24 yearsis perhaps the largest
community water system in the country servicing
6,000 families, some 30,000 individuals in 45
communities. Pérez relates the history of water
in his community explaining that, "Initially, the
families lived near the river or close to a
spring but never close to the road because they
preferred to be close to the water. After a while
the rivers became contaminated and the springs
provided less water. It was at this point, in the
60s and 70s, that organizations like Caritas
began to appear and install manual pumps in the
parish centers where the people lined up to get
water. But in some community councils the people
began to think about installing the water
infrastructure themselves, making it unnecessary
to carry water on their backs by installing indoor plumbing in each house."
As years went by, community water systems spread
throughout the country. In the province of Azuay
alone there are 450 systems that supply water to
30% of the population, especially in rural areas
and in the urban peripheries. In all, Ecuador has
some 3,500 water systems, built, maintained, and
administered by the communities themselves.
A Different Kind of Uprising
On Sept. 27, the Confederation of Ecuadoran
Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE, Confederación
de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador) began a
new front against a water law that they were not
permitted to participate in. The government law
went to parliament in mid-August but CONAIE had
already put together its own initiative in 2008
that was never taken into account by the administration.
The movements' critique of the Hydraulic
Resources Law is that it allows for the
development of mining projects in areas occupied
by springs that are major sources of water. In
addition, the law ensures water provisions for
the mining companies but not for indigenous and
campesino communities and does nothing to attend
to the issue of the contamination of waterways.
The law also attempts to bring all of the water
systems under one centralized state authority
implying the loss of community control over this resource.
Ricardo Buitrón of Ecological Action (Acción
Ecológica) has undertaken a detailed study of the
law and concludes that "it contains elements of
privatization for both water and land usage in as
much as those resources become the sole property
of the benefitting industry or business for other
uses. The hydraulic infrastructure becomes
private property in addition to surface
watersuch as wetlands."2 The law allows for
water resources to be acquired in the purchase of
land and permits the owner to use the water as he/she sees fit.
Buitrón also criticizes the fact that the law
contains no clauses that allow for
deprivatization that would make it possible to
take back control over water resources that are
currently under private ownership. In addition,
thousands of potable water councils are given no
real recourse as their members are now merely
consumers subject to the Sole Authority of the
state that controls the entire hydraulic network.
Humberto Cholango, director of Ecuarunari, the
Quichua organization of the sierra, offered some
compelling facts during a press conference held
on Sept. 24.3 Forty-five percent of water
resources have been privatized through legal
concessions, but 55% of it is being used
illegally; 1% of those using water resources
consume 64% of the water available and 86% of
Ecuadorians consume just 13%. "The law does not
say anything in regard to these points and the
National Development Plan favors the mining companies and flower growers."
The law does not contemplate sanctions for
contamination or water quality control. "The
human right to water is restricted to access to
potable water and domestic uses without
considering the rights linked to health, food
sovereignty, and culture," adds Buitrón.
For his part, Cholango insisted in the role of
the indigenous communities in the construction of
water system networks: "We have constructed
irrigation canals, consumer water systems, and
now, with this Executive Law, they want us to
simply be consumers and not actors. Even in
article 97, they are trying to exclusively
administer and take control of community water
systems through the Sole Authority. This is a
threat to our water councils."4 The result, in
his opinion, is prioritizing the use of water for mining exploits.
The protests began with roadblocks and
demonstrations to force the government into a
dialogue and a chance to present their own Water
Law inspired by the Sumak Kawsay, the idea of
"Buen Vivir" or "Good Living" that is guaranteed
in the constitution. President Rafael Correa's
response was harsh: "Who do these leaders think
they are?" He accused them of being "extremists,"
of "playing the game of the right," and of being
coup mongers, comparing the situation in Ecuador with that of Honduras.5
On Sept. 30, the police fired shots against
indigenous Shuar in the Amazonian province of
Morona Santiago. According to a communiqué from
Ecological Action, Bosco Wizuma, a bilingual
professor, was killed when he joined a group of
500 that blocked the bridge spanning the Upano
River. It seems that it was a "trap" because the
leaders were called to a dialogue "in order to
distract the leadership and the local media."6
There were dozens of wounded, including several
police. President Correa quickly changed the
discourse and called for the dialogue: "Welcome
brothers. This government is for all of you, the
indigenous people, the Carondelet Palace
[Presidential Palace] is yours."7 This was
perhaps the only way to defuse the conflict that
threatened the stability of his government. In
effect, although the uprising did not originally
have the strength of other indigenous actions,
professors and members of other social sectors
began to join the movement. And when there is a death, anything is possible.
Dialogue and Tension
The CONAIE leadership decided to suspend the
actions of the struggle when the government
opened a negotiation period. However, a good
portion of the country, the grassroots movement,
the communities, continued to stage roadblocks
and shut down markets. There is a division
between the organizations that make up CONAIE, in
particular between those from the sierra
(Ecuarunari) and those from the jungle (Confenaie).
The climate of distrust did not abate. On Monday,
Oct. 6, the televised dialogue began in the seat
of government, the Carondelet Palace. Thousands
of indigenous people came together outside of the
palace, waiting several days for the results of
the dialogue. Under a tense climate, 130 leaders
entered the palace to meet with Correa. On the
first day they came to agreement on six points.
Among those highlighted were the institution of a
permanent dialogue between both parties, the
government will take into account the Water Law
initiative of CONAIE, and that it will receive a
Mining Law proposal from the indigenous movement.
A good example of the climate in the negotiations
is the following dialogue: "Marlon Santi, head of
CONAIE, asked for respect for the indigenous
people. His words are in relation to the
declarations in which they were referred to as
'crazies' and were not given representation. The
response was direct. Correa interrupted and asked
for the names of the officials in order to
'dismiss them from government immediately. Who is
that idiot?' Correa asked twice. 'You, Mr. President,' the leader responded."9
The indigenous organizations were able to
institute the dialogue, as they had hoped. On
Oct. 14, the Executive Office released Decree No.
96 that establishes the formation of a Mixed
Commission made up of CONAIE and its three
affiliates (the Coast, Sierra, and the Amazon) as
well as the government represented by the
Ministry of Justice, the Secretary of
Communities, Social Movements, and Citizen
Participation and several other institutions.
This commission will debate the two water laws
(the government's and that of the indigenous
movements) as well as the proposals to reform the Mining Law.
But the accusations continue. After Correa's
weekly address on Saturday, the Amazonian leader
and ex-assembly member, Mónica Chuji, accused the
president of being a racist: "The president
proved me right through his words, gestures, and
actions that characterize him as a racist.
References to indigenous leaders as 'hook noses,'
'long hairs,' and 'golden ponchos' are racial
slurs. Using kichwa [indigenous language] for
demagogic purposes and later denying its official
use is a racist attitude. Marginalizing the
Ecuadorian indigenous population by reducing
their votes at the polls is a racist attitude."9
Although the defusing of the conflict is
important, the precedent set by the massacre in
Baguá, Peru,10 makes many fear the worst, though
the differences continue to be important. Pepe
Acacho, president of the Shuar Federation (of the
Amazon), does not agree with the resolutions: "We
have been struggling for eight days and it is an
injustice that we are not demanding that Morona
Santiago be declared an ecological province, free
from mining and petroleum exploration."11
The Problem of the Country's Model
The new Ecuadorian Constitution is one of the
most advanced in the world on environmental
issues. In one point it defines nature as having
rights. The constitution was approved on Sept.
28, 2008 by 64% of Ecuadorians in a plebiscite.
"Nature or Pacha Mama, where life is created and
carried out, has the right to integral respect
concerning its existence, maintenance, and the
regeneration of its life cycles, structure,
functions, and developmental processes," as
stated in Article 71, consecrated in the "Rights of Nature."
The problem is open air mining, on which Correa's
administration has made a major bet. Alberto
Acosta, founder of the Country Alliance (Alianza
País)the movement that brought Correa to the
presidencyand ex-president of the Constitutional
Assembly, is raising a discussion very close to
that of the indigenous movements: "The mining
law, approved after the constitution, is putting
the Magna Carta in danger. This is the root of
the problem. Why is this? Without a doubt it is
the incoherent aspects of the government that
clearly continue to inspire neoliberal policies,
that continue to represent the interests of the
most traditional economic groups."12
Acosta maintains that the progressive South
America governments "have not discussed nor have
they put into question the extractionist model,"
not even the "most advanced" countries such as
Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. In his opinion,
the firm belief that "the practice of natural
resource extraction will show us the road to
development" has up until now impeded the ability
to get passed this model and maybe even find "a
new form of insertion into the international market."
A second problem is Correa himself. Acosta
comments that Correa recently entered into
political life in 2005, when in Ecuador, the
indigenous uprisings have been ongoing since
1990. He tends to think in personal terms: "He is
assuming the role of the bearer of collective
political will and he doesn't realize that in
large part the earlier historic process is the
explanation for the positive results of Correa
and Alianza País." The absence of an organic
structure, movement, or party, according to
Acosta, creates a situation in which Correa does
not understand "that he is there, in the
presidency, thanks to the great effort made by the Ecuadorian society."13
The economist Pablo Dávalos agrees with this idea
but he also believes that Correa's government
continues to be a neoliberal one. Today, capital
needs to "link with territories at the vortex of
financial speculation" as a way of moving beyond
the crisis.14 Meanwhile, the movements have
declared the Amazonian region in the south,
including Zamora and Morona, mining-free
territories. A collision with multinational mining companies seems inevitable.
Within the Correa government as well as in the
party that supports him, Alianza Paísand this is
keythere are several members of the right. As a
consequence, concludes Dávalos, beyond the
declarations about socialism and revolution,
Correa's movement is "derived from
post-neoliberalism, that is, a continuation of
neoliberalism but under the categories of
territorial and resource dispossession, and the
deterritorialization of the state.
The alternative would look more like the ITT
Initiative that seeks to leave petroleum in the
ground and search for another development
model.15 ITT are the initials for the three
exploration wells found in the Yasuní Park zone
in the Amazon (Ishpingo, Tambococha, and
Tiputini). In mid-2009 the Correa government took
on the project, the brainchild of Acosta when he
was minister of Energy and Mining. The proposal
was to abandon petroleum exploration as a
contribution on the part of Ecuador toward the struggle against climate change.
The ITT represents 20% of the country's entire
reserves. The Ecuadorian economy is based on
petroleum: 22% of the GDP, 63% of exports, and
47% of the state budget depends on petroleum. But
therein lies the significance of the proposal: it
would avoid some 410 tons of CO2 emissions, slow
deforestation and contamination, and it would be
a major contribution to the development of a post-petroleum economy.
On the other hand, the Ecuadorian government is
asking the international community to compensate
the equivalent of 50% of the income that could be
gained by drilling for the petroleum. The German
government and parliament responded positively,
putting forward 50 million Euros annually for the
13-year duration of benefits that the oil wells
would have produced. Norway and the Community of
Madrid have also shown interest.
Although there are many people involved in the
project that see it as an ecological revolution,
Acosta maintains that "it emerged from the
indigenous peoples' resistance movements,
particularly in the central-south of the Amazon,
that were struggling against the expansion of
petroleum activities toward their territories, in
addition to groups of mestizo communities in the
northern Amazon and the indigenous peoples
affected by the activities of Chevron."16
End Notes
* Interview with Carlos Pérez.
* Ricardo Buitrón, El Telégrafo, ob. cit.
* See the press conference at:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN3x3vE1jfE>www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN3x3vE1jfE.
* Ecuarunari communiqué in Ecuachaski, Sept. 17, 2009.
* Agencia AFP, Quito, Sept. 25, 2009.
* "Noticias del Levantamiento en Defensa del
Agua-1" at: <http://www.accioecologica.org/>www.accioecologica.org.
* El Comercio, Quito, Oct. 3, 2009.
* El Comercio, Oct. 6, 2009.
* Oct. 11 declarations at:
<http://ukhamawa.blogspot.com/>http://ukhamawa.blogspot.com.
* See "Massacre in the Amazon: The U.S.-Peru
Free Trade Agreement Sparks a Battle Over Land
and Resources" at:
<http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6191>http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6191.
* El Comercio, Oct. 6, 2009.
* Interview with Alberto Acosta, Sept. 6, 2009.
* Idem.
* Pablo Dávalos, ob. cit.
* Matthieu Le Quang, interview with Alberto
Correa; Alberto Acosta, Eduardo Gudynas,
Esperanza Martínez, and Joseph H. Vogel, "Leaving
the Oil in the Ground: A Political, Economic, and
Ecological Initiative in the Ecuadorian Amazon,"
Americas Program Policy Report (Washington, DC:
Center for International Policy, August 13,
2009),
<http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6345>http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6345.
* Idem.
Translated for the Americas Program by Monica Wooters.
Raúl Zibechi is an international analyst for
Brecha of Montevideo, Uruguay, lecturer and
researcher on social movements at the
Multiversidad Franciscana de América Latina, and
adviser to several social groups. He writes the
monthly "Zibechi Report" for the Americas Program
(<http://www.americasprogram.org>www.americasprogram.org).
To reprint this article, please contact
<mailto:americas at ciponline.org>americas at ciponline.org.
Sources
Acción Ecológica: <http://www.accionecologica.org/>www.accionecologica.org.
Confeniae (Amazonian indigenous organization):
<http://www.confeniae.org.ec/>www.confeniae.org.ec.
Ecuarunari (Quichua indigenous organization):
<http://www.ecuarunari.org/>www.ecuarunari.org.
Hydraulic Resources, Water Uses, and Implementation Law (Republic of Ecuador)
<http://www.senagua.gov.ec/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=159&Itemid=140>http://www.senagua.gov.ec/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=159&Itemid=140.
Water Law for Good Living (CONAIE)
<http://www.ciudadaniainformada.com/.../Ley_de_aguas_para_el_Buen_Vivir.doc>www.ciudadaniainformada.com/.../Ley_de_aguas_para_el_Buen_Vivir.doc.
Alberto Acosta, Eduardo Gudynas, Esperanza
Martínez, and Joseph H. Vogel, "Leaving the Oil
in the Ground: A Political, Economic, and
Ecological Initiative in the Ecuadorian Amazon,"
Americas Program Policy Report (Washington, DC:
Center for International Policy, August 13,
2009),
<http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6345>http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6345.
Pablo Dávalos, "Levantamiento indígena y
revolución ciudadana: los impasses del
posneoliberalismo," <http://www.alainet.org/>www.alainet.org, Oct. 10, 2009.
Raúl Zibechi, interview with Carlos Pérez Guartambel, Cuenca, May 22, 2009.
Ricardo Buitrón, "Comentarios al 29 de setiembre" on the Water Laws.
Ricardo Buitrón, "Si el río suena", El Telégrafo,
oct. 13, 2009, at <http://www.telegrafo.com.ec/>www.telegrafo.com.ec.
Yasser Gómez, "Los gobiernos progresistas de
Suramérica no han puesto en tela de juicio la
validez del modelo extractivista", interview with
Alberto Acosta in Mariátegui, Sept. 6, 2009 at
<http://mariategui.blogspot.com/>http://mariategui.blogspot.com.
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