Indigenous and environmental leaders in Ecuador say they are facing state intimidation

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.