Mines and mud-slinging

>> Controversy over an Ecuadorian mining
project and its supporters leads to
finger-pointing accusations in Canada

by ANURAG DHIR

Last Thursday morning, in a conference room at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Ottawa, a Canadian mining drama—by way of Ecuador—played itself out before a handful of registered attendees who had responded to a quarter-page ad in the Ottawa Citizen.

At issue was a mine in southeast Ecuador that could potentially exploit billions of dollars worth of copper and gold. But the Mirador mine project was suspended late last year following outbreaks of violence among the Shuar, the area’s indigenous people, who were outraged over a lack of consultation.

But last week’s visit to Ottawa by José Aviles and Rubén Naichap, two former leaders of Shuar organizations, wasn’t to explain their opposition to the project; rather, they were here to accuse Ottawa-based industry watchdog MiningWatch Canada of genocide for helping block the mine and the subsequent 5,000 jobs it would supposedly bring to the impoverished Shuar.

However, according to Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE), an umbrella organization representing nine indigenous groups in the Amazon, including the Shuar, Aviles is in no position to represent them, in Canada or anywhere else. In January, Aviles was removed from his post as president allegedly for, among other things, “deepening division and… mortgaging property of the organization and helping himself to the material goods of the organization,” according to a resolution passed at a CONFENIAE congress. The organization claims that Aviles is running a counterfeit group “to confuse public institutions, governments and international cooperation organizations about what is happening in the Ecuadorian Amazonia.”

Co-host Rubén Naichap was also expelled from two of the largest Shuar organizations in southeast Ecuador several years ago for alleged “conflictual, divisive and individualistic conduct,” according to statements by the same two groups.

Poverty, business and reputations

While the Mirador mining project, operated by Vancouver-based mining company Corriente Resources, was suspended in early December 2006, the meeting in Ottawa demonstrated that the fight to reopen it is intensifying.

In a presentation titled “The Business of Poverty,” the two men—through an English translator provided by their Quito-based sponsors, a mining industry public relations firm called Kokopelli—sent a message that the only way the Shuar can rise out of their “crushing poverty” is to allow Corriente Resources and Toronto-based Aurelian Resources to access the wealth beneath their feet. Naichap cited “30 years of NGOs in the area who raise money that we never see” for this dire situation.

However, the only NGO named during the presentation was MiningWatch Canada. The research and advocacy organization was criticized for “inciting conflict and division on the Mirador mining issue.”

Speaking to the Mirror, Joan Kuyek, MiningWatch’s national coordinator, denies the accusations. “We didn’t even know what was happening [in southeast Ecuador] until we received reports on violence in a demonstration on December 2, 2006,” Kuyek says, referring to a demonstration near the Mirador mine that resulted in the shooting of police and protest leaders. An Ecuadorian congressman was also injured and detained by the Ecuador military. “An international commission went to investigate and we reported what they said. We have no campaign whatsoever against Corriente. We provide independent information otherwise not available in Canada.”

Legitimacy concerns

During the meeting, Aviles admitted that he was expelled from CONFENIAE, but insists he remains the legitimate, elected representative. Naichap claimed he has received full support from his people, adding that local leaders recently signed an appeal to let the Mirador mine project reopen.

But Jamie Kneen, the communications coordinator at MiningWatch, says mining corporations sometimes use divisions within communities to their own ends. “These companies are very precise about who they want to work with, and will try to create organizations and new structures within communities to get around those who oppose their projects,” he says.

Meanwhile, tonight, Thursday, Oct. 11, a short documentary by Montreal filmmakers Laetitia Bertolino and Martin St-Pierre entitled Amazonie, cuivre et cie, examines the issue of the Mirador mine and the Shuar people. The film follows Rosa Awananch—a consented delegate from Federation of Shuar Centres in Ecuador—on a nine-city speaking tour around Quebec, offering a first-hand account of the effects of large-scale mining projects on the Shuar region and its people. Amazonie, cuivre et cie screens at the Alizé (900 Ontario E.), 8 p.m., voluntary donation.