Another Nail in Codelco’s Coffin
Mining in Paradise: The New Season: Another nail in Codelco’s coffin. Heck this season may be over before you know it. And this has to do with the fact that yesterday, Sunday the 25th of November (a day both Codelco and Enami will like to forget), the hundreds of participates at the Cotacachi County People’s […]
Read MoreLETTER FROM INTAG’S ORGANIZATIONS TO CHILE’S PRESIDENT / CARTA DE ORGANIZACIONES INTEÑAS AL PRESIDENTE DE CHILE
CODELCO IN ECUADOR- THE NEW SEASON: LETTER FROM INTAG’S ORGANIZATIONS TO CHILE’S PRESIDENT CARTA DE ORGANIZACIONES INTEÑAS AL PRESIDENTE DE CHILE ((ENTREGADA EL 8 DE NOVIEMBRE 2012; Delivered, nov 8, 2012 ) Apologies for the messed up formatting This is the letter that Intag’s organization sent to Chile’s president. It was […]
Read MoreNoticias sobre Codelco en Intag/ News About Codelco in Intag
Los interesados en informarse sobre los últimos acontecimientos relacionados a la presencia de Codelco en Intag, visite este blog: http://codelcofueradeintag.blogspot.com/ For those interested in news about Codelco in Intag, please visit this blog: http://codelcofueradeintag.blogspot.com/
Read MoreIntag residents travel to Chile in Style,, Inteños viajan a Chile con el Presidente del Ecuador
NOTE- FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN MORE DETAILS ABOUT CODELCO’S PRESENCE HERE, GO TO THIS SITE: http://codelcofueradeintag.blogspot.com/ Para los interesados en más detalles sobre la presencia de Codelco en Intag, ver http://codelcofueradeintag.blogspot.com/ Intag Folks go to Chile in Style (Spanish below) Part of the agenda included talks on reviving the Junin project This past 25th and 26th […]
Read MoreOctober 11, Miscellaneous
October 11, Water and Biodiversity Forum. Elections and more… 2190 The forum in Chontal this year was by far the most successful Water and Bidoviversity Forum we have ever had. 236 participants from 36 communities took their time (as far away as 3 hours on foot and truck) to spend the whole day talking about […]
Read MoreOctober 4– ECUADOR’S INFINITE CYNICISM AND OTHER NEWS
Rains are here again!! Water and Biodiversity Forum Ecuador’s Infinite Cynicism Español: Lo siento, no tengo mucho tiempo para traducir, favor usen google translate. RAINS ARE HERE AGAIN. And not a moment too soon. We had a hellishly long and dry dry season, with hundreds of hectares of mainly shrub and terciary forests burned […]
Read MoreSeptember 15, update
September 15, update – Dry, dry season – No mining news is good news? – Very disturbing rumors – Political climate check and… welcome to scandalville – Get Ready, the Chinese are coming! Dry, dry season. One of the driest seasons on record in most of Ecuador. So far eight provinces have declared States of Emergencies – including our Imbabura- due to the hundreds of fires affecting cities as well as rural areas. Quito and surroundings has been specially affected. All fires have been set intentionally. Intag is also undergoing a severe dry season, and fires set to prepare land to plant corn and renew pastures are now affecting native forests. All Parish governments are reporting problems with the fires (yet none are doing squat about it). Unfortunately, the Ministry of the Environment is doing nothing whatsoever about the situation here- not even investing in talks or radio program. DECOIN is financing the airing of 10 radio clips on the issue. We are hoping more organizations and local governments also do their share (by the way, we are about the only organization financing the operation of the radio–PLEASE donate if you want the radio to continue) No mining news is good news? Happily we have no hard news to report regarding the mining madness. However, an organization out of Guayaquil, Sambito S.A. Has been showing up in a lot of places lately asking to be allowed to do botanical studies; including within the Junin community reserve- and very close to the mining site. They say they have an agreement with the Minister of the Environment to do foresty studies This same outfit does environmental impacts studies for mining companies, however. So far, they have been turned back on three occasions by communities, but they keep insisting. Very disturbing rumors. (check back in a day or two) Political climate check and welcome to scandalville New elections in February and it’s hard to keep track of the scandals associated to the government and to the election process. The latest one has to do with hundreds of thousands of falsified signatures affecting the legality of several (all opposition) parties. Two of those opposition parties; the MPD and Pachacutic were already accepted as legitimate by the elections authorities, then later were told that tens of thousands of the their signatures were false, and unless they get the required signatures by the 24th of this month, that they will not be able to participate in the elections. Both parties have been participating in elections for decades. Main opposition leaders are accusing the Election Commission of being manipulated by the Executive. Correa’s party did not scape the scandal, however, and over 120,000 falsified signatures detected by the pro-government election Commission, but since the government party had plenty of extra signatures, it will not effect their ability to participate in the election. One of the many sub-scandals related to this is that there is a campaign (written papers) warning people not to give their signature to any party, which obviously will affect the opposition party trying to get new signatures. Alberto Acosta, a close ex-ally of Correa and co-founder of Correa’s Allianz Pais party, is now the leading opposition candidate, and just about all of the parties on the left have united, as never before in Ecuadorian history, to support a single candidate against Correa. He is opposed to large-scale mining and actually has a very good chance of wining- if the government keeps from playing too dirty (and THAT, dear readers is a very big IF) The Chucky Seven… The above is just one of the numerous (and growing) scandals lately affecting this government. One of the more troublesome scandal has to do with the 40 million dollar decision in favor of Correa suppossedly given to the judge in finished form. Correa sued the owners of Ecuador’s largest newspaper for, El Universo, for frankly, I forget exactly what- there have been so many lawsuits against journalists and newspapers by this government. Ok, I remember now, it was for libel; apparently one of the articles their paper published contained something nasty about Correa (can you imagine a journalist saying something nasty about a polititian????). The author of the article is exiled in Miami*, as he was also sued and faced several years in jail for writing it (If you are wondering whether this is the same government that recently gave Julian Assange asylum, you would be 100% right) To make a very long and interesting story short, the owners of the paper sued the judge that ruled against them an in Correa’s favor, and had indisputable evidence that someone outside the court system, using a computer with the nickname Chucky Seven, had written the full court decision. There have been allegations that it was Correa’s defense lawyer who drew up the decision for the presiding judge. The judge overseeing the case against this partial judge threw it out for no real reason. I think in the end he the new judge claimed that there was nothing illegal in a judge using a pre-written decision!!!! The defense lawyers said they’ll take it to international tribunals. **Miami is also the city where one of Correa’s closest collaborator and current head of the Central Bank (and o happens to be Corra’s cousin) recently bought a home. Correa himself has an apartment in Brussels. Yes, folks, this is the government of the People’s Revolution, who despise the imperialistic north (North except for China, that is). Get Ready the Chinese are Coming!! The government of Ecuador seems to be enthralled by the Chinese these days. They recently declared that they are ready for the Chinese to help them with infrastructure projects. This is besides the petroleum and mining companies that are already installed in the country (recently, a new Chinese company expressed interest in acquiring another mining company in Zamora Chinchipe). The Chinese are also funding and working on the two biggest hydroelectric projects, and have shown interest in helping Ecuador with a very large petrochemical plant on the coast (12 billion $ worth). The announcement of the infrastructure interest came not too long after the largest bridge in Northern China collapsed 9 months after its inauguration. The announcement also coincided, to the day, of denouncements made public by Ecuadorian employees working for the two hydroelectric projects of poor treatment (abuse for some)!!! As I’ve mentioned before, the Chinese have money up their ying-yang, and need copper and petroleum (and regional presence). Ecuador needs money, since most international lending institutions don’t want to lend them money for past payment defaults. Currently Ecuador owes China about 8 billion $, which they are paying back mostly with petroleum (at 7% interest)
Read MoreMining Paradise: The Police and Army visit Junin- on the same day!! La policía y ejército visitan a Junin- en el mismo día!!
Mining Paradise: The police and military harass Junin. In the same day! Within hours of each other, first a squad of 20 anti-narcotics police take to hills above Junin supposedly based on a denunciation of a plantation of coca. Hours later- and I am not making this up- a squad of 8 military personnel, all […]
Read MoreMining Paradise, August 2012: I WAS WRONG ABOUT CORREA– (ME EQUIVOQUÉ SOBRE CORREA)
I WAS WRONG ABOUT CORREA — Español a contiuación I admit it, I thought he would wait until after the elections- due to take place in Februrary- before sending in the mining thugs to try to impose the government’s mining agenda on Intag’s communities. Yet, as I recall, I think I mentioned the fact that […]
Read MoreMINING PARADISE 2012: CODELCO HOPES TO START EXPLORING JUNIN IN 2013
MINING PARADISE 2012: CODELCO HOPES TO START EXPLORING JUNIN IN 2013 This last Thursday (July 26), the governments of Ecuador and Chile signed a bilateral agreement to strengthen their political, cultural and economic ties. In the economic sphere mining took center stage. I am reproducing the part on mining below, and as you can see, the government of Ecuador would like Codelco to start exploration in the Junin concessions (now called Llurimagua), in the second semester of 2013 (4-5 months after Ecuador’s next elections). Another aspect of this agreement that stands out is Codelco’s willingness to distort the truth so openly. I am referring to the part in the agreement where it says that Codelco started the process of obtaining the environmental license, and the socialization of the project. The truth is that so far, there has not been any socialization by Codelco within the Llurimagua concession. Another worrisome aspect is them mentioning that they hope to start the advanced phase of exploration, which is much more impacting that the initial exploration (heavier equipment, deeper holes, more drilling). By Ecuadorian law, before advance exploration can take place, the companies have to conclude the initial phase of exploration. And for both, you need comprehensive Environmental Impact Studies. One can surmise a number of things from this very short extract: a) Truthfulness is not an issue for either Codelco nor the Ecua government. b) Ecuador’s government will not demand that Codelco does any kind of legitimate Environmental Impact Assessment. The mid 2013 start date for advanced exploration does not leave enough time to do a proper EIA in such a biodiverse and wet forest area, containing so many species of animals facing extinction. c) It looks like either the government will exonerate Codelco from doing a initial Environmental Impact Assessment, or they will accept the very poor initial EIA done for another mining site (Paraiso). This EIA was done by another concession owner, it was done for a concession about 10% the size of the new concession; encompassed different altitudes, had considerably less micro watersheds, different types of forests, and different social and cultural settings than the Llurimagua concession. For example, the Paraiso concession hardly had any primary cloud forests, and only had within in, 5 micro watersheds. By contrast, the Llurimagua concession- if as it appears on an official map- encompasses two of ex- Ascendant Copper concessions, which would make it nearly 10,000 hectares; has dozens, and perhaps over one hundred micro, small and medium watersheds, and has more communities within in and adjacent to it than the Paraiso concession. This is an area also rich in pre-Incan archeology sites. Keep in mind that the Paraiso EIA was so badly done, that it was an embarrassment. And this the document that Codelco will probably use in order to forgo doing the EIA for initial exploratory work. d) Conclusion: The Ecuadorian government will not be looking out for the well being of Intag’s communities or the environment, nor too worried about enforcing it’s own progressive Constitution, or basic laws protecting human rights. August 4th is the date set for the State owned mining company to meet with some communities in the Junin area. So, keep tuned The extract follows “MINING (The parts agreed to) in the field of mining, to further strengthen the cooperation and exchange of knowledge and experience. This, under the Interagency Cooperation Agreement on Mining Matters, signed on September 2008 and its amending protocol signed on August 2010 They agreed to further the facilitation of the Cooperation Agreement for Mineral Exploration agreed between the then Ministry of Mines and Petroleum of Ecuador and CODELCO, signed on June 5, 2009 which was ratified, as stated in the Convention itself, with the National Mining Company (ENAMI EP), with the signing of the Agreement for Mineral Exploration by CODELCO ENAMI EP on November 28, 2011 for the duration of four years, renewable in equal and successive periods if the parties so decide . In the framework of said agreements, CODELCO has undertaken prospecting and exploratory activities in approximately 20 prospects, and of which only one was selected (the Llurimagua prospect) for advanced exploration, and four for followup exploration. During 2012 the process to obtain the Environmental License and socialization with the authorities and communities began, so as to proceed with exploration work with drilling in the Llurimagua prospect, approximately, during the second semester of 2013. the complete Agreement is available here> http://www.scribd.com/doc/101334073
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