Yasunidos, the environmental group that promoted the historic plebiscite held on Sunday in Ecuador to stop the oil exploitation of an important deposit in the Amazon, demanded that the Government immediately cease the extraction of crude oil, after winning the popular consultation.
The environmental group recalled in a statement that the results of the plebiscite on Block 43-ITT., located within the Yasuní National Park, must be applied immediately once the results are officially proclaimed.
In this way they responded to the Minister of Energy and Mines, Fernando Santos Alvite, who on Wednesday anticipated that the government of conservative President Guillermo Lasso is going to ignore the results at the national level.
In statements to journalists, Santos Alvite stated that, for the Government, the results of the consultation at the national level are not applicable when arguing that the Constitution states that only the inhabitants of the area where the deposit is located can decide on it, therefore which urged environmentalists to ask the Constitutional Court for clarification.
The victory of the "Yes" prevailed
With 97,84% of the votes counted nationwide in this historic, globally precedent-setting plebiscite, the "Yes" vote to cease the activity of Block 43-ITT won with 58,97% to the "No" vote with 41,03%.
However, in the Amazonian province of Orellana, where Block 43-ITT is located, the "No" vote won with 57,99% of the votes compared to 42,01% for the "Yes" vote.
The Minister of Energy and Mines assured that the Lasso administration will maintain the operations of Block 43-ITT, which currently produces some 58.000 barrels of oil, but will prepare the plans to dismantle the facilities in case the next president, who will assume power in November, decides to abide by the results at the national level.
For Yasunidos, these statements by Santos Alvite "put democracy at risk" since the Constitutional Court was the one that allowed the plebiscite to be held under the conditions in which it was held.
"If there are indications that the government or its officials intend to violate what we, the Ecuadorians, elected, we will immediately ask the Constitutional Court to enforce its ruling and remove the officials who seek to jeopardize the constitutional order," Yasunidos warned in its statement.
They also called on citizens to "be vigilant and defend their 'Yes' vote on August 20," a call the group managed to achieve after gathering 757.000 signatures and waging a ten-year legal battle with Ecuador's electoral bodies.
