Ecuador’s leading environmental group fights to stop forced closure

NGO Accion Ecologica responds to the government's attempt to close the organization down

Members of one of Latin America's most well-known environmental organisations, Accion Ecologica, are fighting for their survival against a controversial attempt by Ecuador's government to shut them down.

The move by the government came six days after violence between soldiers, police and indigenous Shuar people opposed to a Chinese-run copper development, Panantza-San Carlos, in the Cordillera del Condor region, and just two days after Accion Ecologica had called for a Truth Commission to be set up to investigate events there. The attempt to close the organisation has sparked severe criticism from UN human rights experts and outrage from numerous civil society organisations in Latin America and elsewhere.