Shuar Indigenous workers and miners demanding reform mandate
13:00 | The indigenous Shuar were concentrated in El Arbolito park and then marched toward the Carondelet Palace because, as their leaders, were adversely affected by the mandate.
Ecuadoradio

Since 1100 representatives of the Shuar people and workers miners dialogaron today with government officials to seek reforms to the mining mandate, which the Assembly approved the April 18.

The indigenous Shuar were concentrated in El Arbolito park and then marched toward the Carondelet Palace because, as their leaders, were adversely affected by the mandate.

Hours earlier in an interview with Ecuadoradio, the president of the Shuar Federation of Zamora Chinchipe, Ruben Naichap, said that about 800 workers Shuar were affected by the new rules.

Naichap explained that in his province, the Federation made alliances with mining companies and that Canadians "have respected their culture and benefited the community development".

Therefore, he planned to ask that in Zamora Chinchipe continued alliance with these companies.

For his part, the Shuar leader, Fernando Chumapi, explained that his proposal aims to respect for indigenous peoples and to ensure the participation of local communities in the shares of utilities and mining projects.

Before joining the appointment at the Presidency, the advisor of President Rafael Correa miner, Augustine Paladins, said that there is "political will" to the Government that the mandate be incorporated provisions that establish the obligation of consultation and negotiation prior to authorise new mining projects in the country.

The mining activities were suspended on April 18 earlier, when the Constituent Assembly adopted the Rule 5. The document determines the reversion of concessions and the suspension of work miners, until it approves the new law.