Critics say referendum on rewriting country’s eco-friendly constitution is president’s latest pro-extractivist move
Indigenous and environmental leaders in Ecuador say they are facing a wave of state intimidation ahead of a national referendum next month on whether to rewrite the world’s only constitution that recognises the rights of nature.
The pressure is being applied by the rightwing president, Daniel Noboa, who has begun his second term with a Trumpian agenda of consolidating power and sweeping away legal and social barriers to extractivist businesses, such as mining.
The 37-year-old heir to the powerful Noboa family business group says the existing constitution is an obstacle to his national security and economic development agenda, which includes the construction of a US military base and new housing and hotel complexes on the Galápagos Islands, a Unesco world heritage site and biosphere reserve.
The referendum on 16 November will decide whether to establish a constituent assembly to reform or replace the constitution, a process that would enable the president to put pressure on the main organisation that is resisting his push for more power: the constitutional court. It will also address several other far-reaching changes proposed by Noboa, including a reduction of seats in the legislative assembly, party funding and foreign military bases.
