All of this is framed within questionable politics and violence, infiltrations across borders that imply the possibility of drugs. The news exploded in the most popular Ecuadorian newspapers last May 24^th.  For several weeks public opinion focused on the declarations and official documents, on the reactions of the miners and of the general public.

What happened?

Some entrepreneurs were changing the traditional and manual search for gold in the rivers to the north of Esmeraldas into an industrial type work:  excavators, tractors, capitalists and workers. The wildlife, already diminished alarmingly because of the lumber exploitation, received another serious blow, and the rivers – with their tributaries – suffered the consequences: refuse, earth moving, and pollution.

Thanks to the denouncements presented by the local people, supported by the faith community including the Comboni Missionaries, the Ministry of Health and the National Secretariat of Water did some research.  Their reports revealed the presence of arsenic, aluminum, iron, dirt and fecal residue in levels beyond acceptable limits. They determined that the water quality -the only water available in the entire region– was not fit for human consumption. They established that all the evidence indicated this situation was due to the process of extraction of gold called cementation: a process that is cheap for the entrepreneurs but of high cost to the ecosystem.

The sixth tribunal of Esmeraldas ordered “the total and absolute cessation of the illegal mining that was happening in the area of San Lorenzo and Eloy Alfaro”. Based upon this verdict and the technical reports, the president of the republic –the Ecuadorian regime is presidential– decided to intervene. He ordered a military operation, justifying it by article 783 of the Constitution that requires from the State “the protection of the patrimony, the right to peace, to security and to live in a society that is democratic and free of corruption.”  The Minister of Defense, Javier Ponce, informed the press that 67-70 of the 200 machines present in the area were destroyed. He said that there was no other way to render those machines useless because when they are confiscated, some corrupt judges find ways to return them to their owners.  This is what happened with the excavator confiscated on December 15, 2010. It was returned the following month.

The miners on their part made accusations against the government. They claimed the excavators destroyed were more than 100.  The 580 soldiers involved in the operation arrived “in helicopters, armed and threatening the population”. The area was “militarized” to block any outside help. The government left the population hungry because the intervention threw out of work about 3,000 – 3,500 families. This really meant that 15,000 people were left without food. The financial loss amounted to millions of dollars according to the Little Miners of San Lorenzo Association.

At first sight it would seem to be a classic conflict between private interests and the public good defended by the State: an action that would merit the applause of everyone, even of the Church dedicated to the work of justice, peace and the integrity of creation.  This applause was worth above all for the fact that the government brought food to help the families who suffered because of the intervention. It also presented a practical community development plan for the extraction of gold in a territory of 18,000 hectares, and it accepted to involve the population of the area in the “National Plan” that foresaw the construction of homes, schools, and health centers.

What happened, nevertheless, poured gasoline on the fire and started a war of words. This was because, as often happens in these cases, the part of the iceberg submerged is much larger than the part that is seen. Things reached the point where anonymous and crude threats were made against the leaders of the complaints. Some of these found themselves being followed around by unknown persons and they had to ask for protection from the public safety forces. One example of such messages: “Beware you, herd of toads of this Church (priests, sisters, secretary); we keep you under control.”  

To show that the events of these weeks have far away roots, it is enough to recall a few things.

In the 1980s the Norwegian government turned to the services of the Catholic University in Esmeraldas asking to organize a fishing cooperative for the Colombian political refugees. During the military dictatorship, many Ecuadorian families fled for political reasons to the other side of the San Lorenzo Bay in Colombian territory. Some later returned, but others continued to make a living from the gasoline contraband up to the time when Ecuador adopted the dollar as the national currency.

Not many years ago the government of Bogota sent soldiers into Ecuadorian territory in reprisal against presumed guerrillas, supported by the Quito government. Therefore the border between Colombia and northern Ecuador has always been “porous”. Only geographic maps made the borders clear. And what can be said of the banks interfered with or even closed after being accused of laundering Colombian dollars?  President Correa himself declared it’s only half a secret that the money laundering existed. And these dollars nourish the economy of Quito, the capital. The inhabitants of San Lorenzo and Eloy Alfaro also accidentally uncovered the cards game when they accused the government of wanting to tie them in with the FARC –a Colombian guerilla organization-: “We are not terrorists”, they claimed.

To this picture is to be added the permanent state of tension between the government and the Church, between the government and various corporations of civil society, and the financial powers that have dominated the nation for decades. The Church does not forgive the President for having promoted a new constitution that leaves open the road to abortion, euthanasia and divorce. The government does not accept any criticism from the Church. From the civil society side, as a friend of mine confided to me, the Ecuadorians wake up each morning wondering who will receive the slap in the face that the president thought up during the night. Even the most sincere supporters of President Correa –those who applaud his many interventions clearly inspired by the common good and social justice– lament his violent, extemporaneous, and theatrical methods which, it seems, only hide his lack of the future global vision.

In this situation the work of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) becomes problematic; and the promoters of JPIC values have to face concrete situations that alienate the sympathies of the very people they think they serve. To the eyes of these people they are defending theoretical values, which don’t interest anyone for being foreign to the reality. The intervention of the government in defense of legality and of the ecosystem has in effect left many families without work and without alternative income. All these people then are easily manipulated and easily transformed into “mercenaries” ready to organize protests and threats, in the interest of negative forces that prosper in a region that has been too long forgotten by the central powers.

The illegal economic activities in the zone have prospered for decades: it began with the lumber trade, continued with the land, and now explodes with the mining of gold. How to untangle this situation? To defend the water and the forest it is necessary to struggle against the infiltration of the Colombians who bring in the only sources of income and visible development: this it’s not an attractive choice for those who struggle every day searching for their daily bread. And so it’s no longer the paramilitary, or the guerillas, or the forces of public order who threaten the defenders of justice and of the ecosystem: it’s the very population who are being manipulated, who oppose their own interests in the long run in order to have immediate advantages.

Sadly this reminds us of colonial times –especially the English– when they ruled with the so called indirect rule –indirect government-. It happens then that those who profit the most are those who remain in the background, without even dirtying their hands.

See also:                                    

Fire to the excavators in Esmeraldas: http://www.eluniverso.com/2011/05/24/1/1447/fuego-maquinaria-mineras-esmeraldas.html?p=1354&m=2176

At the tip of dynamite: http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/a-punta-de-dinamita-477562.html 

Know Esmeraldas http://gosouthamerica.about.com/cs/southamerica/a/EcuEsmeraldas.htm

Ecuador Government Shuts down Illegal Gold Mines http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=44656