Will there be a Popular Consultation for Yasuní? · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

(All links are in Spanish, otherwise noted as [en] for English)
Following the president's decision last year to exploit the oil fields in Parque Nacional Yasuní [en] [Yasuní National Park] an oppositional movement began and became quickly organized. It started carrying out marches for collecting signatures in order to hold a popular consultation regarding Yasuni's fate.
On Saturday, April 12th the Yasunidos collective, along with other organizations, presented almost 750,000 signatures before the CNE [National Electoral Board, for its Spanish name] so that it may be passed on to the Consulta Popular del Yasuní ITT [The Yasuní ITT Popular Consultation]. The CNE accounted for receiving the signatures and indicates that the minimum signatures required were 583,324. It also announced that the signature verification procedure started on Monday, April 14th.
However, on Thursday, April 17th an incident occurred involving Yasunidos members. They blocked the boxes, containing the forms of the collected signatures, from being transferred between the CNE and the signature verification center. They claimed there were irregularities in the procedure.
Quieren sacar las cajas sin nuestro consentimiento pese a la petición de aplazar el proceso hasta obtener garantías pic.twitter.com/OjvUomKMkT
— Yasunidos (@Yasunidos) April 17, 2014
They want to take the boxes away without our consent despite the petition to postpone the procedure until we're certain.
On Friday, April 18th the CNE announced that the procedure is advancing in accordance to the established timetable and that the presence of supervisors guarantees its transparency and proper conduct. Nevertheless, activists continue to denounce irregularities with the procedure.
Militares @FFAAECUADOR nos cierran la puerta a #Yasunidos #DefiendeTuFirma #Yasuní pic.twitter.com/MIRPg8i1hg
— Yasunidos (@Yasunidos) April 18, 2014
The military @FFAAECUADOR closes the door on #Yasunidos #DefiendeTuFirma [Defend your signature] #Yasuní