Ecuador: An Update on the Release of Javier Ramirez

from Earth First! Newswire

Last month, Javier Ramírez—an active Intag anti-mining organizer—was released from the Social Rehabilitation Center in Ibarra where he had been detained since April of last year. His arrest set a precedent for the region as he is the first inhabitant in some time to be incarcerated for openly opposing the contamination of his homeland under the brutality of CODELCO and ENAMI .

Ramírez was prosecuted for rebellion, sabotage, and terrorism. He was ripped away from his wife, Ileana Torres, and four children who, in his absence, took over his farm labor as a coffee harvester, not knowing when he would return. The experience within the center was degrading and horrific, yet Ramírez has returned to Intag where he continues to defend its cloud forests, farms, rivers, and overflowing biodiversity.

“I lived a nightmare in the Ibarra detention center, but I will continue this fight to protect our land, our water…it is the only inheritance for my children”, he states while also sharing that some of his relatives have joined the opposition with similar sentiments.

Ramiro Román, Ramírez’ lawyer, feels that his detainment was simply an attempt to intimidate the rest of the community. The opposition, however, is deeply rooted—Junin residents have been fighting the mining industry since the 90’s when Bishimetals, a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Corporation, began to first explore the territory for minerals. Bishimetals not only failed to heed to Ecuadorian laws, but it also neglected to prepare an EIS prior to exploration and inform communities about the project. Furthermore, it built its latrines right on the banks of the Junín River where it also dumped its garbage, causing skin diseases and other harmful effects.

Local communities have since organized and formed fronts against the mine with the support of international environmental networks. A group called Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag (Decoin) was created in 1995 and has been quite effective in helping to foster long-term local resilience in the area. Inhabitants network to flex with the rapidly evolving mining projects.

Even during Ramírez’ ten-month incarceration, many things changed in Junin. “Today my community is fractured”, he comments, “It is not the same land that I was defending before my arrest. Now there is another group that has formed to support the Llurimagua project which funds the Enami, the National Mining Company, and the state-owned Chilean company Codelco.”

The piece of project that is currently visible is 1.5 meter wide access that the workers implemented 300 meters before the entry of Junin. It leads to a site in which the drilling platforms would be built to probe for copper. It is estimated that Intag’s underground deposits contain over 318 tons of minable copper and some 2.26 tons of pure copper.

There has been an overall decrease in police presence within the last few months. However, uniformed patrol continue to ride horses along the narrow pathways near the site to prevent locals from impeding on the Enami operations.

The “authorities” have also released “responsible mining” standards and have held meetings in a various locations to present the mine as a beneficial alternative that will provide services such as drinking water, schools, and health clinics—and, ultimately improve their standard of living. Not only are such claims false—as the long-term welfare of the communities and the surrounding life is being endangered on behalf of immediate gains that serve foreign entities—but the groups that are supposedly there to support locals are inherently corrupted. For example, the fraud that Carlos Zorilla, the founder of Decoin, wrote back in 2008 still continues:

“To do some of their dirty work, Ascendant created the false ‘community development’ organization, CODEGAM, which has been accused of all kinds of divisive and illegal actions by local residents. CODEGAM publicly admitted in 2005 that all their funding came from Ascendant Copper Corporation (July 2005 El Comercio Article). As of August 2006, Codegam was inoperable because of in-fighting, and in early 2007, it broke off relations with the company, citing unwillingness to comply with previous agreements with the company. As of September 2007, CODEGAM was replaced by ODI, another company-made ‘development organization’.”

Despite having been imprisoned, Ramírez keeps a banner hanging in front of his home that says, “We shall defend our territory today, tomorrow, and forever”. Check out his potent words below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OhzXc6vdT70

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