More on Ecuador's anti-mining protests

Here's the link to a good report from Daniel Denvir in Upside Down World that chronicles some of the protests seen in Ecuador this week about the passage of the new mining law.

The report is biased towards the plight of the protestors and that's all right by me, though to its credit does give the other side of the story further down the note. I've mentioned previously that Denvir does a good job reporting on Ecuador and that hasn't changed. Do read for yourself about the reported police repressions that sounds pretty severe and make up your own mind. But most interesting is paragraph five that reports on the CONAIE national executive position. Here's the extract:

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After emergency meetings on January 7, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) called for a national mobilization on January 20, calling the government “dictatorial.” It is unclear whether the January 20 mobilization will spread road blockades to other provinces in central and northern Ecuador. Protesters are demanding a dialogue with central government leaders and for a broad national discussion on mining before any legislation is passed.

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As noted yesterday in this post, CONAIE is a smart, canny intelligent political animal. Note that it calls for its national mobilization on Janaury 20th, by which time the debate would have happened and the mining project voted into law. You telling me that CONAIE didn't know that? Wanna buy that bridge of mine?

This law is going through.

Interesting interview from Ecuador

This is the link to Daniel Denvir's interview (who's doing great journalistic work in Ecuador) with Monica Chuji, a local politician who knows the Correa government from the inside out. Here's the first paragraph of Denvir's note to get the context:

Monica Chuji is an indigenous Kichwa activist from the Ecuadorian Amazon. She served as an Assembly Member from President Rafael Correa’s Alianza País party in the National Constituent Assembly, drafting Ecuador’s new constitution. Prior to Chuji’s election to the Assembly, she was Correa’s Secretary of Communication and spokeswoman. In September, she broke with Correa and left Alianza País, the culmination of months of increasing conflict between the President and Ecuador’s social and indigenous movements.

An excellent interview then follows, giving us a different perspective of what is happening in Ecuador today. Here's the link again, so go read it.