Fausto Arechua
Fausto Arechua is a campesino, farmer, President of the Buenos Aires Recinto, and defender of the water and nature in Bolívar, Ecuador. From his position as President, he has manifested and led legitimate actions of peaceful protest in opposition to the extractive activities located in his territory, which affected the water sources that sustain several indigenous, montubia and campesino communities from the Andes of Ecuador.
Due to his defence and resistance work in the context of extractive activities of the Curipamba – El Domo project, operated by Curimining S.A., subsidiary of Canadian mining companies Silvecorp Metal Inc. and Salazar Resources Ltd., Fausto Arechua was criminalised and sentenced to four years in priscon for the crime of violation of private propoerty in relation to events in which he was not involved.
Human rights defenders have been victims of a wide range of violations in Ecuador, such as police brutality, judicial harassment, arbitrary detentions, smear campaigns, threats, harassment and the oppression of indigenous and campesino communities.
