Excerpts from Mayor Auki Tituaña’s letter to Ascendant Exploration:
“From the very first days of Ascendant Exploration’s presence in our County, we have witnessed serious instances of irresponsibility on the part of your employees, who have neither informed any institutions of their plans or, what’s worse, not even asked for relevant authorization to undertake mining activities in our territory.
During these past months, and as consequence of the presence of Ascendant Exploration in our county, the communities’ decisions, as well as the different local development plans – created in a participatory manner with the different social actors of our county- have not been respected. What’s more, we have received reports and denunciations of a dramatic and worrisome increase in the cases of libel and slander, and death threats to leaders who struggle against mining.
For the above reasons, I would like to clearly state my political will to continue to fight, and to support the measures the communities and organizations in Intag and Cotacachi take against mining activities, in defense of life, and to implement our constitutional rights.”
Please read the full text of Mayor Auki Tituaña’s letter: English Version | En Español.
