Just Water Allocation in the Dulcepamba Watershed
Current Reflections - The March for Water & Life
Nov 11, 2018 - Leading the March in Chimborazo Province.
Manuel Trujillo is holding the Amazonian river water in the clay pot that we brought with us all the way from Tundayme.
Participating in the 12-day National March for Water and Life across the Andean corridor in Ecuador was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I was unsure at first how I would be received on the March, which was led by strong indigenous leaders, who come from over 500 years of history of abuse, murder, and being stripped of their territory, their rights, and their traditions by foreigners who look like me—But I and the four other American women who joined the March at various points along the way were met with nothing but love and acceptance by everyone we met.
I became familiar with many of the struggles against natural resource extraction projects throughout the country, learned about Ecuadorian indigenous history and political movements, participated in indigenous ceremonies, meals, and traditions, and added several Kichwa words and phrases to my vocabulary. I was even invited early on in the March to join the communications team and took pictures and videos which were published by indigenous, environmental, and human rights organizations including: The Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations (CAOI), The Kichwa Confederation of Ecuador (ECUARUNARI), Radio Kimsakocha, the Regional Human Rights Advisory Foundation (INREDH), and Acción Ecologica, as well as national and international media outlets.
Unfortunately, I don’t have access to many of the images and videos I shot throughout the March because I was shooting on cameras that belong to ECUARUNARI, but I’d like to share a few snippets of my experience so that you too might be inspired by the spirit of the March, and its valiant leaders and participants.
The day the March was born
June 1, 2018, -When the communities of Río Blanco and Molleturo Parish secured an historic win in the local court in the city of Cuenca against the Chinese-owned mining company, Junefield Ecuagoldmining, we and over a thousand indigenous and campesino community leaders from all over the country where there to celebrate. It was the first time in Ecuadorian history that small-farming communities had successfully halted all mining activity in their region, expelled the para-military and national police hired to protect the mining operation, and freed their criminalized leaders in a court of law.
June 2, 2018 - Marching the streets of Cuenca the morning after the historic win of the Río Blanco court case against Junefield Ecuagoldmining. Darwin Paredes is in white next to Manuel Trujillo, waving.
Feeding off the renewed energy and hope that this legal win brought, we and national community leaders, led by the indigenous leader and lead lawyer in the Río Blanco case, Dr. Yaku Perez, decided in a traditional indigenous forum to plan a national march across the county. The purpose of the National March for Water and Life, as it become known, was to raise awareness and demand protection for the communities and ecosystems threatened and destroyed by mining, hydroelectric, and petroleum projects throughout Ecuador.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nations (CONAEI), the national umbrella indigenous organization of Ecuador, later approved the motion to organize the March.
Over the next 5 months, our delegation of community leaders from Bolívar Province went to monthly March planning meetings with other indigenous and environmental leaders in various communities throughout the Andean corridor. In these meetings we identified the dates and the route for the March, and discussed logistics such as transportation, lodging, food, media coverage, and the demands of the March.
June 2, 2018 - Led by Dr. Yaku Pérez in a traditional indigenous forum, over 700 community and organization leaders decided to march across the country to protect access to clean water, threatened by mining, hydroelectric, and petroleum companies nationwide
Luz Namicela Contento, president of her regional indigenous org, at a March planning meeting in Cañar
Almost 1000 people showed up at the March planning meeting in Cochancay
The Bolívar Province delegation and Yaku Pérez at a March planning meeting in La Troncal
The March route
Launching the March in Tundayme
November 3, 2018 -After a 14-hour drive through rolling mountains, past bright green cow pastures, rushing waterfalls, and a magical rainbow, we arrived in the small indigenous Amazonian parish of Tundayme. Tundayme parish is located in Ecuador’s Cordillera del Condor in the Province of Zamora Chinchipe in the southeast of Ecuador near the Peruvian border. Tundayme is home to several indigenous small-farming communities. It is also home to some of the principal headwaters of the Amazonian watershed, the largest freshwater drainage basin in the world. Unfortunately, it is also home to the Chinese-owned large-scale copper mining operation, El Mirador.
The following morning, the March for Water and Life started out small but strong. Around a hundred environmental defenders, led by indigenous leader, Yaku Pérez, set out past the heavily guarded entrance gate to the mining compound of El Mirador. We marched through alternating scorching sun and heavy rain through Amazonian rainforest, which gave way to a large open valley. The valley is filled with giant rectangular tailings ponds that stretch for over 200 hectares. Tundayme community leader, Luis Sanchez explained that these ponds hold the toxic semi-liquid waste generated from the processing of the copper that EcuaCorriente S.A. (ECSA) mining company is digging out of the earth in large, open-pit mines. He explained that the toxic liquids are seeping into the streams and rivers that feed into the principle waterways of the Amazon basin, killing riparian ecosystems and contaminating important sources of drinking water not only for eastern Ecuador, but also for parts of Peru and eventually Brazil.
The March in Tundayme "March for water, life, and the dignity of (indigenous) villages. Water is worth more than gold."
Members of the Bolívar delegation with the delegation from Río Blanco on the first day of the March in Tundayme.
Aerial view of El Mirador mine complex and tailings ponds
Nov 3, 2018 - Outside Sigsig County on the way to Tundayme
Where the small farming town of San Marcos once stood, now El Mirador mine's tailings ponds hold toxic waste that contaminates the headwaters of the Amazonian basin
Yaku Pérez photographing a sign next to El Mirador's tailings ponds that hold the mine's toxic waste which reads "Don't throw trash. Take care of the environment"
A short history of Tundayme's struggle
Tundayme and its smaller communities have been fighting the El Mirador mining project since 2006. Over the past 12 years, the mining company has brought in para-military and the National Police to stop the local resistance. The company has criminalized community leaders, accusing them of trespassing and sabotage of their own lands (similar to what happened in San Pablo de Amalí, where we live and work). The company has even gone as far as to (allegedly) murder a community leader, José Tendetza, who would not back down in his resistance.
But things got even worse when the company started forcefully evicting whole communities with bulldozers in the middle of the night. On September 30, 2015, at 4am, the last 16 families of the small-farming community of San Marcos were forcefully evicted from their homes, which were immediately bulldozed in front of their eyes. The community members were not even given time to collect their things and spent the next few days searching through the mud and rubble to salvage anything they could find.
Now, when looking over the vast tailing ponds compound devoid of any signs of life except for some shrubby grasses, it is hard to imagine what it was like just 3 years before when the community of San Marcos sat there, surrounded by old-growth Amazonian rain forest.
After passing the tailings ponds, we gathered on the banks of the only river that has not yet been contaminated by the mine. The water of this river is a clear deep red color, literally and symbolically an artery of the vast Amazonian drainage basin. There, mama Carmen, one of the indigenous elders, lead us through a traditional opening ceremony.
Mama Carmen sprinkling medicinal herbs on the palo santo wood fire during the March's opening ceremony
Darwin Paredes cleansing his shirt in the smoke
Tundayme teenagers on the first day of the March
We performed similar ceremonies in each of the over 25 towns and cities we passed through over the next 12 days.
We performed traditional indigenous ceremonies as we headed north up the Andean corridor
Crossing the country, chanting and singing, flags and banners waving
Since our goal was to cover over 900km (over 560 miles) in two weeks, we drove in a long caravan of cars, buses, and pickup trucks between populated areas. We would disembark from the vehicles outside each new town or city where we were met by sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands of local community and environmental defenders. We would march into the center of town, sometimes as far as 10 or 15 kilometers, chanting and singing, flags and banners waving.
The guardia, a group of young leaders in their teens and early twenties wearing the indigenous multinational rainbow flag around their necks, kept the marchers in line, making sure no one fell behind or was harassed by onlookers or the police.
The guardia also enthusiastically led us in the songs and chants, calling for all to join the fight for human rights and environmental justice and celebrating the rich and diverse cultures and natural environment of Ecuador.
The Bolívar Province delegation
August, 2018 - At the inauguration of Bolívar Province's Human Rights and Environmental Defenders' Council
Shortly after we started planning the March, several members of our Dulcepamba Project team (including myself) were elected to the Human Rights and Environmental Defenders’ Council for Bolívar Province, which is part of the Peoples’ Ombudsman’s Office of Ecuador. Through this Council, we met and became fast friends with community leaders throughout the province.
In defining the Council’s activities for the year, it became clear very quickly that the most prominent human rights issue in the province is the multidimensional effects of natural resource extraction in the forms of metal mining and hydroelectric development.
Private hydroelectric company Hidrotambo’s small run-of-the-river plant continues to put hundreds of people at imminent flood risk, while the company is now officially challenging the water rights of the 140 small-farming communities upstream of their intake works.
Additionally, 78% of the land of Bolívar Province has been authorized through concessions to multi-national metal mining companies, making it the Ecuadorian province with the largest percentage of its territory appropriated for mining activity. Chinese and Canadian-owned mining companies have already built compounds, bought and deforested significant plots of land, and are in various stages of metal ore exploration in three different parishes within the province. These mining operations are contaminating water sources and causing serious social conflicts.
The Council decided to prioritize the organization of, and participation in the March as its primary activity for the year.
Taking samples of contaminated water at the Curipamba Sur mining compound in Las Naves County as part of an inspection run by the provincial Human Rights and Environmental Defender's Council
Led mainly by the Dulcepamba Project team, Bolívar Province had the strongest presence throughout the March of any province or organization.
Bolívar Province delegation at the opening ceremony in Tundayme
A dedicated commission of 10 Bolívar representatives (including San Pablo de Amalí community president and Dulcepamba Project co-founder, Manuel Trujillo and myself) participated for the entire duration of the March. We carried banners for the province and spoke to the press on a daily basis about the issues Bolívar is facing, while Yaku Peréz mentioned Bolívar in almost every speech and interview he gave.
"Bolívar Province, Free of Extractivism. For Water, For Life, We Resist.
No to Hydroelectric Plants! No to Mining!"
Manuel Trujillo, San Pablo de Amalí president, Dulcepamba Project co-founder, and member of the provincial Human Rights and Environmental Defender's Council speaking at one of the daily press conferences during the March in Cuenca.
While the March advanced north through the Andean corridor, another delegation of Dulcepamba Project team members and dedicated Bolívar community leaders organized the second largest presence of any province for the entrance into Guaranda (the capital of Bolívar). Achieving this turnout was extra challenging because Bolívar is one of the most rural provinces in the country. Many of the 700 Bolivarences that Marched in Guaranda had to walk over an hour in the middle of the night from their farms to the road, and then take a 3-4-hour bus ride, only to march over 10km in the rain to, and then through the narrow streets of downtown Guaranda. But the Bolívar campesinos are both hearty and dedicated to the cause—so much so that over 300 of them showed up for the grand entrance into Quito just 4 days later…
November 10 - Over 700 marchers gather 10 kilometers outside of the city center of Guaranda, capital of Bolívar Province, ready to march into town
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"Don't forget the Dulcepamba River Watershed, Humberto Cholango" (National Secretary of Water) -with watershed image and all its 140 communities
Arrival in Quito
November 14, 7:00am -When those of us who had marched since Tundayme emerged from the Cutulagua church in the south of Quito on day 11 of the March, the people were already starting to amass. The two coach buses that we had organized to leave the Dulcepamba Watershed in Bolívar Province at 11:30pm the night before had just arrived without a single empty seat. The energy in the growing crowd started to rise as we stood in the church parking lot, talking about the experience of the March and practicing the songs and chants.
November 14 - Thousands of marchers participate in the opening ceremony, preparing to march 25 kilometers through the capital city of Quito
Marching to the President´s office in Quito
Marching in front of the National Assembly in Quito
Marchers in front of the heavily guarded Ministry of Renewable Electricity (which has jurisdiction over hydroelectric projects)
After a few quick speeches and an opening ceremony, we lined up, several thousand strong, and began the 25-kilometer march mostly uphill to the National Assembly. Acción Ecológica’s group of women drummers kept the beat throughout the long slow haul up Maldonado Avenue, as reporters and media cameras swarmed the long procession.
A delegation of 10 March representatives entered the National Assembly, including Manuel Trujillo, while 10 others, including Dulcepamba Project team member, Darwin Paredes entered the Contraloria General del Estado. In both meetings, the problems in Bolívar Province were specifically raised.
The following day, the March continued through the streets of Quito: We marched from ministry to ministry to the President’s offices.
A Big Step Forward for the Dulcepamba Watershed Farmers
Arguably, the most successful stop was the last of the entire March. We had managed to arrange a meeting to specifically address the issues in the Dulcepamba Watershed with the national Secretariat of Water (SENAGUA). At 5:30pm on November 15, hundreds of marchers crammed into the stadium-style hearing room on the first floor of SENAGUA’s national office. There we were received by General Sub Secretary, Bolívar Beltran and his staff. They listened carefully to the testimony of how they (SENAGUA) ignored 140 small farming communities’ basic water needs when they granted private hydroelectric company, Hidrotambo S.A. a water right for 3 times the amount of water that even exists in the Dulcepamba River during the dry season.
November 15 - Clips from the meeting in SENAGUA
The affected farmers explained to the SENAGUA officials how Hidrotambo is now using their exorbitant water right to officially oppose every single one of the water rights applications they (the farmers) have submitted.
Manuel Trujillo also spoke about how, due to the irresponsible design of Hidrotambo’s intake works, the company put his community of San Pablo de Amalí in grave danger of flooding. Even after Hidrotambo caused a flood in 2015 that killed two women and a child, swept away 12 houses, 33 cultivated properties, and the only road out of town, SENAGUA and other government agencies continue to grant the company operating permits and licenses.
SENAGUA's General Sub Secretary, Bolívar Beltran addressing the Dulcepamba Watershed farmers
The General Sub Secretary, Bolivar Beltran appeared to be moved by the testimonies, or at least felt the pressure of hundreds of indigenous and campesino community leaders from across the country watching his every move. He made four clear and firm promises to resolve the various administrative cases the Dulcepamba farmers have pending, as well as form a commission to resolve Hidrotambo’s oppositions to their water rights. He promised then and there, with hundreds of marchantes as witnesses to do all this before the end of 2018.
The March Put Us on the National Stage
The March brought the efforts of the Dulcepamba Project from being known and recognized in the Dulcepamba Watershed and among a small circle of environmental and human rights NGOs and universities to the national stage. The issues we confront through our work and our strategies for addressing them were broadcast through media channels across the country, while our meeting with SENAGUA opened up a direct connection and dialog with the highest SENAGUA officials that we did not have in the same way previously.
That all said, SENAGUA has yet to comply with their promises.
Through a combination of our more direct line of communication with top SENAGUA officials, media pressure, and watchdog letters from respected institutions world-wide, we are holding SENAGUA accountable to follow through.
Part of the Bolívar Province delegation on the March with Yaku Pérez
Through the March, we also connected with environmental and human rights defenders dealing with similar issues with natural resource extraction companies all over the country. These leaders have asked us to visit their communities to share our story and strategies and support them in their efforts.
November 24 - One week after the March at a community meeting in Telimbela Parish, Bolívar Province, where a Chinese mining company has recently started exploration
November 24 - Manuel Trujillo speaking in Telimbela Parish about his experiences resisting a large, powerful natural resource extraction company (Hidrotambo S.A.)
The Dulcepamba Team