Last Updated on August 14, 2026
On Monday Ecuador’s legislature approved a controversial new mining law that gives companies eight years to pursue large-scale open pit mining anywhere in the country.
The decision comes just a few days after indigenous groups set up a series of blockades in a continued effort to prevent the law from being legislated.
Indigenous People, environmental activists, and campesinos alike, say the law will be a social and environmental disaster that will infringe on the human rights of local communities, contaminate water supplies with heavy metals, and irreparably damage the environment.
Simply put, “We can’t accept the law. It will affect our environment,” said CONAIE President Marlon Santi, who, following last weeks protests, called for a national mobilization to demand that the government convene a National Assembly of Peoples to discuss the legislation.
Set for the 20th of January, the mobilization marks “[a] commitment to carry out a revolution,” says the indigenous leader Blanca Chancoso.
It is not an effort to “destabilize the government,” but one to prevent the theft of land, and to strengthen laws that protect the environment and
ensure food security.
“If the government wants to demonstrate that it is truly revolutionary [it] will have to join the Ecuadorian people for the revolution by the people and for the people,” says Chancoso.
Across the world right now, Indigenous peoples are facing a renewed assault on their lands, rights, and ways of life.
From extractive industries pushing deeper into ancestral territories, to governments rolling back hard-won protections,
the threat is global—and it is growing.
What makes this moment especially dangerous is how little attention it receives.
Stories like this are disappearing in real time. Mainstream media
barely covers it and the coverage is fragmented. The public is left without the context
needed to understand what is truly at stake.
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