This is an urgent letter from Domingo Antun, leader of the Shuar Arutam Maikuaints Peoples in Ecuador. The Maikuaints are facing imminent displacement as Solaris Resources, a transnational mining corporation, advances operations on Shuar ancestral territory without tribal consent. This is not merely a land dispute but an existential crisis for a people whose spiritual, cultural, and physical identity is inextricably bound to these lands and waters.
This territory carries profound significance for the Shuar people—it represents not just their home but their ancestral heritage and the foundation of their cosmology and way of life. The threat of permanent contamination poses an irreversible risk to their continued existence as a distinct Indigenous people. The community has made it clear they will defend their territory by any means necessary. This is, in their own words, a life or death situation that demands immediate international attention and intervention.
On behalf of and representing the ASSOCIATION OF SHUAR NUNKUI CENTERS, a subsidiary of the SHUAR PEOPLE'S organization ARUTAM, we publicly denounce the mining company SOLARIS RESOURCES INC.
Through this open letter, we express our deep dissatisfaction with and rejection of the actions of the international mining company Solaris RESOURCES Inc., which is operating in our ancestral and community territory. We consider these actions illegal and unconstitutional due to its failure to comply with and disrespect the special protection framework for the Indigenous peoples and nationalities of Ecuador, especially the Shuar of the Cordillera del Cóndor.
This company has violated a series of regulations, including international pacts, conventions, and declarations, as well as the Ecuadorian Constitution and national legislation that protect the collective rights of us, the original and ancestral peoples and nationalities of these territories. In contrast to the aforementioned regulations, we note that the company seriously violates our rights, generating a negative impact on our organization and the harmony of our communities.
Among the most worrying effects are:
1. Social division between families and communities
2. Alteration of the environmental balance and pollution of our territory
3. Destruction of biodiversity and threats to the lives of future generations
4. Dispossession of our territories without our consent, violating our collective rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples
5. Construction of a gigantic hydroelectric dam on the Santiago River for mining activities.
Furthermore, this hydroelectric project will affect the territory of the Nunkui Association, leaving the lands of the Shuar communities of Ampam, Tarquino, Yunkumas, Unión Zamora, Kuankus, and San Pedro Yukiankas underwater.
6. They issued individual titles, distorting the naturalization of ancestral and collective lands, deceiving them into believing that these documents would benefit families only for the processing and legalization of mining titles.
Furthermore, we emphasize that the Ecuadorian state has not conducted any prior, free, and informed consultations with our population before allowing the development of this project, which puts this private interest above the collective good. The Ecuadorian Constitution and numerous constitutional rulings, including those from the Constitutional Court, clearly establish that the state, and not the company, is obligated to conduct such consultation before the start of each stage of the mining project's development, but this has never happened.
Therefore, we warn that the company must assume the legal and social consequences for its actions within our territory. For the aforementioned reasons, we publicly denounce the company's concealment of information about the true negative impacts of its mining activity. According to the latest technical report on its operations, to which we have obtained access through our own means, since there is no transparency on the part of your company, we have precisely identified the serious consequences this will generate in the future for this entire region and our communities. Given this situation, we declare ourselves in a state of permanent alert and reiterate that we will not allow the development of this illegal, unconstitutional, and destructive activity. Our struggle is firm and constant in defense of our territory, our lives, and our identity as Shuar.
We call on representatives of the United Nations, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights, the International Labor Organization, and other relevant organizations to mediate these events, which will have many devastating consequences for our community and for the natural balance of the territory. Respecting our rights is not an option; it is an obligation.
Sincerely, SHUAR NUNKUI ASSOCIATION
Codenpa • Ministerial Agreement 158
San Antonlo - Limón Indanza
Morona Santlago
Wakan Tsaank Antun Yapakach&
PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SHUAR NUNKUI CENTERS - PSHA
Cell. 0997479289
Email: wakanantun@gmail.com
Top photo: Exploratory drilling sites at Solaris Resources’ project. Photo by Ian Willms.
More information:
A Canadian Mining Giant vs. the Guardians of the Amazon
‘Canadian Companies Destroy in the Name of Canada’
Bullets and Beatings Support Canadian Mines
Indigenous Resistance to a Made-in-Canada Mine
