CONAIE President Leonidas Iza condemned the presence of soldiers in the exploitation areas as most of them are located in indigenous communities.

They are going to militarize mining territories, but people live there, comrades from communes, communities, peoples and nationalities, peasant brothers and sisters, Montubio comrades, all living on agriculture who do not want to mine, Iza said.

He reiterated that the Lasso administration has failed to comply with the agreements reached at the dialogue tables established after the historic strike in June.

During those talks they agreed, among other things, to guarantee the right to a prior, free and informed consultation before executing oil and mining projects.

According to the CONAIE leader, the minutes of the talks are not respected and they intend to militarize the country under the pretext of fighting organized crime. Drug trafficking will not be curbed with more soldiers and police officers, he insisted.

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