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Press Release Ecological Action

Early this morning, October 18, 2011, 500 special forces soldiers and police entered the Río Grande area using gas and violently repressing the families who had been living in the Resistance Camp to Defend Río Grande since June.

The police report says that the entry was peaceful, but the events recorded so far say otherwise: women and children were dragged and at the moment two women are injured, a child was run over and two children are missing. The leader Alfredo Zambrano has several wounds on his head and is currently under arrest.

The reason behind such actions is the government's interest in building a dam that would flood some 6,000 hectares of high-quality agricultural land in Río Grande and cause the eviction of more than a thousand families, causing the destruction of one of the most fertile areas in the middle of a semi-arid environment, such as the province of Manabí.

The Committee of Peasant Communities of Río Grande denounces that they were never consulted as mandated by Article 398 of the Constitution. They have also filed numerous complaints with the Attorney General's Office for abuse of authority, for theft of documents in the Action for Protection trial, for injuries to a resident of Río Grande caused during operations of the construction company, and for falsification of documents. The residents of the sector are protected by the Collective Rights recognized in the Constitution and other international agreements for belonging to the Montubio People.

This dam was commissioned by the National Water Secretariat (SENAGUA) to the Chinese company Tiesijun and is part of the Chone Multipurpose Project. Its supposed benefit is the control of floods that periodically affect the city of Chone, however several studies have shown the ineffectiveness of this work, indicating that the main cause of the flooding has to do with a series of floodgates built by shrimp farmers downstream of the Chone River that prevent the natural flow of the river during the winter. and others ieconomic interests related to the shrimp and petrochemical industries behind this dam.


We urgently need your help by sending letters of support to the inhabitants of Rio Grande to the following addresses (please click on the links, the suggested text is below):

Eco.Rafael Correa President of the Republic of Ecuador
Mr. Javier Ponce Minister of Defense of Ecuador 
Cristóbal PuninaNational Secretary of Water, SENAGUA

Suggested text:

Dear Mr. President:

We have learned that today there has been a violent eviction of the settlers of the Resistance Camp to Defend Río Grande, who, in exercising their collective rights recognized by the Constitution of Ecuador and international agreements, are exercising their right to decide on the development model they want to implement on their lands.

We would like to express our solidarity with the residents of the area and respectfully request:

Stop the repression in the Rio Grande area
That Mr. Alfredo Zambrano, arrested early this morning, be released
Let the fate of the two missing children be made known
That a comprehensive restoration process be initiated for those affected, and that there be a guarantee that the abuses committed will not be repeated.
That a consultation process be initiated with the people directly affected, and their decision be respected.

Sincerely

Name, organization and country


Other references: The Trade

CONTACT IN THE AREA
Elvis Suarez 094-680050
President of the Committee of Peasant Communities of Río Grande

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