Violent crackdowns by Ecuadorian security forces on antimining protesters there have highlighted the outsize role that Canadian mining companies play in human rights abuses in other countries, and the failure by the government in Ottawa to police their conduct. The latest controversy centers on Atico Mining, headquartered in Vancouver, whose La Plata gold and copper project in Ecuador’s Cotopaxi province, near Quito, has been opposed by residents for at least 15 years. At least 36 protesters were injured, one seriously, along with about 40 security personnel, in a series of protests that began on March 11 and turned violent after the company called in hundreds of police and paramilitary personnel to quell the protests. The protesters, largely campesino farmers, were opposed to a reported attempt to revive a consultation process by Atico that would put the stalled mining project back on the table. Clashes broke out again on March 18, after which 72 protesters were charged and accused of being “terrorists,” and again on March 19, when they set two security vehicles on fire, according to police. On March 25, an Ecuadorian court temporarily suspended the consultation process in response to a legal protection action filed by the mayor of Sigchos, home to the parish of Pablo Quemado where the consultation would have taken place. The mayor called for the “effective and immediate protection of the rights recognized in the Constitution and international human rights instruments, the declaration of the violation of one or more rights, as well as comprehensive…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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