An agribusiness installed in the field to process the crop that is lost, an option proposed by the candidate to represent the ‘Montubio People’

The 69-year-old from Porto Velez, Simón Vélez, seeks to wrest the leadership of the ‘Pueblo Montubio’ from Manuel Gonzaga, who will fight for re-election, on the day of this Saturday, November 13, to be held in Milagro, in Guayas.

His vision as a candidate for representative of the ´Pueblo Montubio´ is to bring together those who work the land, but also the fishermen of rivers, shrimp pools and the sea who identify themselves as part of this cultural group.

If he wins the presidency of the organization, he will seek for it to have a greater political weight and he says that they will come out to protest for their rights, but without disrespecting democracy, he emphasizes.

“We have to strengthen the president (of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso), but that he also let himself be helped by the people who know about the country’s problems. Many bureaucratic employees do not have that experience, they are studied, but they do not have that experience of having managed the agricultural field, which is difficult, it is a huge world. They have to be updated. You have to support the president, but all the ministries have to work harder, ”says Vélez.

What worries the peasants who identify themselves as montuvios the most?

First, we are unprotected from the government side. If I lead the ´Pueblo Montubio´ we want to propose to the Government a dialogue so that they can assist us with projects not only in irrigation, but also with real credit, not by hand, that is given to large farmers, the small ones stand in line at the bank and they return it without accessing. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has to work more in the field and do what happened in the governments of the past. During the seventies, rice was stored and exported to Taiwan, the first producer and exporter of the grain, but there are times when they have a deficit so they buy a lot from Colombia and at that time also from Ecuador. The problem of the rice growers (overproduction) is government negligence. They have the embassies and commercial advisers and they do not worry about looking for a market to export rice, as well as bananas and shrimp. It is so that our farmers are calm and do not have the problem of storing the rice, they are damaged and then the big merchant comes and buys at low prices, so they have to sell and lose money. In Manabí we produce fruits, we have the land, the labor, Manabí is the granary, the storehouse of all the products that are consumed and we can export a lot, but we need government help.

What will he do if he is chosen as president of the ‘Pueblo Montubio’ to improve the rural economy?

We are going to ask that the ´Pueblo Montubio´ secretariat be returned to work with the real farmer. Ask the Government to fix its eyes on the countryside, on fishing.

This is what the current leadership has agreed with the Guillermo Lasso regime. What balance do you make of the current directive?

Comrade Manuel Gonzaga (current president and candidate for reelection) does a very good job, but he lacks political weight, we have to have that to rub shoulders with the big producers and they place the agribusiness here in the countryside. How do the peoples progress? We have to go to the neighborhoods where there are thousands of unemployed young people and with the small industry to process with them, for example, in Manabí the mango, the orange, the mandarin. Millions of fruit trees are lost. How are we going to fight poverty, crime if we do not enter the neighborhoods to keep them away from bad things. I told Gonzaga that whoever wins, we will still work together to move agriculture forward. The peasant gets up at three or four in the morning to work, and then goes to sell at prices that the merchant wants because we do not have the processing of the product.

How will the leadership of the ‘Pueblo Montubio’ have a greater political weight?

We are going to achieve this by getting into social and agricultural policy, not the one made by those who do not know about this. We have to be part of the Assembly, of the State. We have to fight for that secretariat of the ‘People Montubio’ Today we have the promise of comrade Guillermo Lasso that he will give us back legal life, that’s what we are doing, but we have to talk about it with the President of the Republic and his ministers because it is not only to create it without a budget . It is with one to be able to work. It is also fighting for laws that help the true peasant, montuvio. We will fight for that, whether I or Manuel arrives, we agree on that.

The ‘Pueblo Montubio’ did not support the protests of October 26 and 27 promoted by the indigenous movement. What do the bases say about it?

We are more numerous than the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie). We have more than three thousand peasant organizations affiliated to the ‘Pueblo Montubio’ with millions of affiliated montuvios. We can also make our agenda and go out to demand our rights. Conaie has politicized this a lot. As we montuvios say, each one pulls for their mill and we are not going to orchestrate that to them. We are going to participate in marches, in claims with all the peasant communities. The problem is that the ‘Pueblo Montubio’ has been badly managed. Here on the coast there are montuvios fishermen, we are numerous. We want peace and stability in the country. We have to support governments that want changes, progress, that man have a job, that we are going to demand. If the Government supports the ‘Montubio People’, we are also able to support it, but we want work, a state presence in the countryside, in health, education, housing, roads. The Ministry of Agriculture that has to help with technical advice, improve planting technology, in irrigation. The problem is that there are protests that are actually driven by politicians on duty who are blackmailing.

Why is the area destined for short-cycle crops, which supply domestic consumption, in reduction in the country since 2002?

You have to take the small industry and install it in the field, where the fruit is processed so that it is not wasted. Why does the peasant no longer want to sow much and prefer to sell the land to the landlords? It is because the prices they pay us for our products are pitiful. A hundred of oranges cost a dollar, but only those who pick them in the field earn $ 10, $ 15 or $ 20 a day, how are we going to pay them? Then the orange rots on the tree or on the ground because there is no where to process or sell it. The large juice producer has its own raw material production and the small ones have no place to sell.

What would the State intervention look like in the management of these processing plants?

You don’t need companies of millions. Associations can be organized and the support of the State will be given in the guarantee that we can import the machinery. Now the new tariff law is being debated, so we want to see that the machinery we use in the field has low taxes. We want to work in a different way, with technology. The children of the peasants are studying agronomy, veterinary medicine to keep the cattle, but we are running out of cultivating, but the big companies are doing it. The factories are also to process peanuts, corn, seafood.

How else can small farmers get better prices for their crops?

The entire peasant agricultural sector has to meet periodically with the Government so that there is a fair price for the products. Organizations with the support of BanEcuador and the National Finance Corporation can process and export as well. Colombia and Peru do. (I)