'Beggars sitting on a sack of gold?' Ecuadoreans protest mining.

Six years after working to elect Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa, the country’s indigenous population is now taking to the streets against the very government they helped bring to office.

Hundreds of people from Ecuador's Andean and Amazonian indigenous groups marched into Quito today, after a 14-day trek across the country.  Dressed in colorful traditional clothing, they are protesting against the government's large-scale mining projects, which they say go against Mr. Correa's electoral promise to protect the rights of nature, and could impact their access to clean water. 

“What we're asking is for the government to honor our democracy,” Humberto Cholango, head of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the largest indigenous group, told foreign reporters on March 21, the eve of the protesters' arrival into Quito.

“We ask the president to stand by the promises he made five years ago,” Mr. Cholango says.

Rights of Mother Nature

Correa took office in January 2007 with a progressive platform that gained widespread support by indigenous groups. This was thanks in large part to proposals such as the inclusion of the "Rights of Mother Nature" in the country's new constitution, approved in 2008. Ecuador was the first country to approve such legislation, which stipulates that citizens have rights to healthy and ecologically balanced environments, and have a duty to respect nature.

While the president remains hugely popular among large swathes of the population for his social projects aimed at the poor and the disabled, his relationship with indigenous people has been far from rosy, most recently due to his desire to build a large scale mining industry on biodiverse, indigenous land.

“We can't be beggars sitting on a sack of gold,” said Correa earlier this month, referring to the country's need to tap its natural resources. The government hopes to attract $3 billion in mining investments by next year – a significant contribution to its economy. “It is a lie that good mining destroys water,” Correa said.

Motivation to mobilize

Correa's administration says indigenous organizations are just trying to destabilize the government ahead of the February 2013 presidential elections.

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