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Several hundred people marched through the southern Ecuadorean city of Cuenca on November 14, to protest the Ibero-American Summit — a yearly meeting of government leaders and representatives from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries being held there — and the environmental destruction, violence and energy insecurity brought about by the right-wing Daniel Noboa government.

The march represented more than 70 different organisations from across the country, including indigenous water and land defenders, trade unions, university students and agroecological groups, and was part of a three-day counter-summit organised by grassroots organisations in the Andean city, over November 13–15.

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Protesting the Ibero American Summit in Cuenca, Ecuador. Photo: Ben Radford

People gathered outside the headquarters of the Drivers’ Union of Cuenca, where an ancestral ceremony was performed, before marching along an arterial road towards the Ibero-American Summit venue.

Luis Corral, spokesperson for the National Anti-Mining Front, told 91������̳ that protesters reject the summit because the governmental and business leaders meeting there “are key players pushing an agenda of destruction across the continent and the world”.

“The world is experiencing a civilisational crisis, a crisis of such magnitude that practically the entire continent is in flames.

“Global warming, caused by the development of the Global North, is generating planetary imbalance.”

Corral said that the marches in Cuenca and other regions were coordinated between the country’s grassroots movements.

November 15 also commemorates the massacre of hundreds of striking workers by the Ecuadorian army in 1922, Corral said.

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Protesting the Ibero American Summit in Cuenca, Ecuador. Photo: Ben Radford

Nilo Ortiz, a land defender from the northern province of Carchi, told GL about his region’s fight against mining interests. He said that government and state officials allow mining companies to extract minerals from the biodiverse and fragile region even if they don’t have proper documentation or comprehensive surveys.

“I’m here to defend the land,” he said.

“With mining, we gain nothing. We stand to lose flora, fauna, ancestral agricultural knowledge, community living and tourism — which we want to protect for the long term.

“Mining, on the other hand, is short-term. It brings violence, poverty, dispossession and hunger — which is what we don’t want.

“We will keep fighting. This is why we’re forming networks of communication and unity with the rest of the country, so we can understand their problems and they can understand ours.

“We have a large number of people who are defending the connection between nature and humanity.”

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Protesting the Ibero American Summit in Cuenca, Ecuador. Photo: Ben Radford

Anti-mining chants rang out during the march, such as “Water is not for sale, water must be defended!” and “If there is no water, there is no life!”.

Others chanted “Down with the summit!” and “Listen Noboa, the people are fighting back!”.

Corral and Ortiz both highlighted the role that transnational mining companies play in controlling and exploiting Ecuador’s resources.

“Thirty percent of [Ecuador’s] mining concessions are in the hands of Australian companies,” Corral said. “Therefore, Australia shares responsibility for the current and projected environmental crisis in the country.”

Ortiz said that foreign companies “employ local people temporarily and sporadically to make it look like they’re contributing to the country”.

“Something they don’t tell us is that 95% of the production, wealth and labour goes out of the country. In other words, these companies come here to impoverish us.”

Corral said protesters “reject the transnational capitalist agenda” promoted by the summit.

“We have been gathering here ... to tell the world that we are building a different future from the grassroots — a post-capitalist vision to confront the civilisational crisis, drawing on the wisdom of the rural and indigenous peoples of this mega-diverse country.”