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THE NEXT ROUND IN INTAG? ENAMI TAKES ITS FIRST STEPS
State-owned mining company talks of opening an office in Intag
Radio Intag, conservation, and the work ahead
ENAMI stands for Empresa Nacional Minera, Ecuador’s state-owned mining company. It came into being in 2009, after the passing of the new mining law, in order not to let the transnationals be the only ones pillaging the country’s mineral resources. They have ZERO experience in large-scale metal mining, since Ecuador has no large-scale metal mines.This is why the Ecuadorian government, in its infinite wisdom, decided to strike a deal with CODELCO, the Chilean state-owned mining company, and the largest producer of copper on the planet (11% of the world’s total). CODELCO has zero experience in mining anywhere else but very, very dry deserts. Their main operations are in the Atacama desert, where sometimes it doesn’t rain at all, and the average rainfall is 1mm per year. CODELCO, if your read these blogs every once in a while, were mining paradise a couple of months ago; just west of JUNIN.
I reported 3 weeks or so ago how ENAMI employees came to Intag on World Environmental Day (June 5th) to interview people in order to, supposedly, get a better grasp of people’s perceptions on mining-
Well, if our usually reliable source proves correct, yesterday ENAMI took the first step in stablishling a presence in Intag. They allegedly met with a few people in a very small village close to Garcia Moreno (Villadorita), and, according to our source, said they were interested in establishing an office. They also offered to help the communities with all kinds of things,. Plus..blablablablablabla. Not very creative. The same sh..,, just a different bull.
As soon as I get a confirmation or more news Ill post.
RADIO INTAG. Is the local radio station that has been around for about 8 or 10 years. It’s the only radio station that comes in clear in most of Intag, and one that at least DECOIN has used a lot of in the past, and supported for all these years buying air time. It is also the baby of a very proud Inteño, who has shelled out a lof of money from his own pocket to maintain it. It is also a radio station threatend by sick politics of the Correa gov. I supposed most of you don’t know that the Ecuadorian government- led by Correa himself- has an very nasty and abusive campaign meant to silence all but the government media. He lashes out several times a week against the “corrupt press”, publicly insults journalists (TV, radio and paper) and even tells his loyal followers not to buy certain, non-governmental press. Well, lately the government has closed down six radio stations for, allegedly, not complying with regulations. As you might have guessed, they are almost exclusively critical of the regime. In order to keep doing our part in supporting the Radio, we are going to start buying more air time to broadcast environmental messages. We hope other organizations also help, but it seems we are the only ones right now helping the radio. If you are interested in helping out, please get in touch.
Otherwise, it seems like a El Niño weather phenomenon is heading our way, which means more rain, less crops, and ruined roads. Last year was wet enough to significantly impact good Intag’s coffee harvest.
Even though it’s becoming more difficult to buy land because land price rise and bureacratic hassles, we are still trying to set up community reserves to protect biodiversity and water. Just the parish of Cuellaje has some 3,600 hectares owned and administered by them, and something like 40 communities own their own watershed and or forests reserves. The Apuela Parish government has over a thousand hectares in their name.
Good bye to a good friend and backer.
One of our most important backers helping us set up dozens of community reserves, just left Ecuador for home (England). We wish Fiona all the best, and are sincerely and deeply grateful for her and Rainforest Concern’s support all these years. They will still be involved in Ecuador, but much less than the past few years.
By the way, we are trying to get enough funding to kick off an environmental education project off the ground. Please don’t be shy if you want to help. We want to visit 15 schools and share with them information about Intag’s biodiversity, give away books and posters, and hopefully, go for walks in the forets with the kids. Thank you Angela Lee for teaching our people about how to do this invaluable work!!!
This is it for now. Too tired. More as soon as I confirm the news about ENAMI.
