The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) and the Frente reject the participation of the Minister of Energy and Mining, Fernando Santos Alvite, who is representing Ecuador at a mining meeting held in Toronto, Canada, to promote investment in the sector. antimining.

Social organizations presented their opposition, claiming that Santos Alvite’s presence at the convention is the so-called Canadian Association of Researchers and Developers (PDAC) shows that the Government is “in violation” of the obligations agreed after the national strike in June 2022.

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They claim that the minister is “selling Ecuador as a destination for mining investments in the world, without taking into account the high level of conflict that already delivered mining concessions are creating in at least 8% of the national territory.”

Conaie and the Anti-Mining Front released a ten-point statement on Monday summarizing their position against promoting the country as a mining investment destination:

The Minister of Energy and Mining spoke on Monday morning at the mining convention in front of investors from various countries.

Santos Alvite expressed that “mining is the future of the country”, and that for this it is necessary to respect the processes of previous consultations, as a prelude to the opening of the mining cadastre.

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He stated that in 2022, the country’s mining exports were $2.775 million and 132,000 jobs were generated. For the year 2030, it is predicted that exports will reach 52,000 million dollars, and investments of 18,000 million dollars have been received.

He added that the Government is committed to the fight against illegal mining. In this framework, in January of this year, the executive power declared this illegal activity a threat to the security of the state.