Farmers, indigenous people, students, union members, women, and other social sectors that oppose extractivism in that area are convened to attend this demonstration.
This is a day of protests, with a march, a mass, an art festival, and other activities in opposition to the Loma Larga mining project, being conducted by Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals, to which the government of President Daniel Noboa has granted an environmental license.
However, a report from the Cuenca Drinking Water Company (ETAPA) affirms that the exploitation phase is not viable because the Irquis, Portete, Tarqui, and Yanuncay rivers, which originate in the Quimsacocha protected paramos, supply Cuenca’s drinking water and irrigation systems.
In response to those warnings, several social, political, business, student, and civic groups joined the movement in defense of Quimsacocha.
In this context, Noboa ruled out his government continuing with the Loma Larga mining project in the southern province of Azuay and shifted responsibility for potential international lawsuits to local governments.
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