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| Photo: Sapara Communication |
The Amazonian Women, who began a journey on March 8 to show the dangers looming over their families due to the advance of extractive industries in Ecuador, were received by President Lenin Moreno and the Minister of Justice Rossana Alvarado and the Minister of Petroleum Carlos Pérez García in the banquet hall of the Carondelet Palace.
The president was emphatic in stating that some of the points of the Amazonian Women's mandate can be resolved in the short term, and he demanded that the ministers expedite the fulfillment of the demands set forth. He also said that all demands will be fulfilled in accordance with the legal and technical possibilities that the government deems feasible.
Nina Gualinga, a Kichwa woman from Sarayaku, indicated that the Amazonian Women demand that the agreements signed with the oil company Andes Petroleum, in blocks 79 and 83, in the Landayacu well, be annulled. They also consider any agreement signed by the GADS and the oil companies to be illegitimate. She pointed out that the socialization and prior consultation processes that have been carried out do not comply with international standards and have been carried out based on lies, manipulation, without transparency and without good faith.
Alicia Cawiya, a Waorani representative, mentioned that she is very concerned about the situation in Yasuni and the oil exploitation in block 43, because the oil spills threaten their territory. We want the Taromenane and Waorani brothers to have our own territory where we can live. If you extract oil from Yasuni, you will kill our people. We want you to respect our territory. Our grandparents left the territory so that our children could live. Oil has not meant development for the Waorani, it has only left us with oil pollution and diseases.
In response to the statements by the Minister of Petroleum that Block 10 in Pastaza is an example of environmental and social management, Zoila Castillo, leader of CONFENAIE, said that this is a complete lie. She stressed that the forest in Block 10 is contaminated, there are illnesses in children such as cancer, there are women who have died of cancer, 50 years ago there was good fishing in the Villano River, now there is nothing. She said that in Nankitza the Shuar were evicted and persecuted.
We want him, as Amazonian President, to help solve the problems of the peoples of the jungle.
Finally, the President said that the demands of Amazonian women will be addressed positively, "we will see how far we can accommodate all the mandates," he said; "if there is a minimum possibility of fulfilling it, we will attend to it."
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